MAIN OR FIRST FLOOR 



The Avery collection of Chinese cloisonne enamels, con- 

 sidered to be the finest collection of its kind in the United 

 States, is included among the exhibits of the Department of 

 Ethnology and is arranged in a series of cases at the south 

 side of the central portion of the hall. 



The distinguishing feature of cloisonne enamels is that 

 the vitreous pastes are separated by partitions formed by 

 soldering thin upright ribbons of metal to the metal ground, 

 the sections between the partitions holding enamel of dif- 

 ferent colors, laid on in the form of paste and fused by 

 firing. The art was practised by the Egyptians, Greeks and 

 Romans and handed on by them to the Byzantines, from 

 whom it was borrowed by the Chinese in the fourteenth 

 century, its later development being practically confined to 

 the Chinese and Japanese. 



The four halls comprising the western portion of the 

 main floor of the Museum, reached from the Avery collec- 

 tion by ascending a few steps to the west, contain the col- 

 lection from the Indians of Southwestern United States, 

 Central and Northern California and the Northwest Coast. 



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