AXA has offered the Château d'Ecouen's National Renaissance Museum a new  French national treasure : earthware floor tiles from the château de Polisy

Photo of Pavement de Polisy - (C) RMN / René-Gabriel Ojéda

This national treasure, with no known equivalent, is remarkable for its size, covering some 28 square meters, its state of conservation, the quality of itsdesign and the variety of its colors. The model is Italian, probably supplied by the architect Sebastiano Serlio, and the production French, by a studio from the Champagne region. Created in 1545, this highly rare piece represents an exceptional testimony to the history of ceramics and the spread of earthenware in France, emblematic of the artistic ties between France and Italy in the middle of the 16th century. 

With the acquisition of this remarkable piece, the AXA Group is making it possible to further strengthen a series of works that are particularly representative of European ceramics of the time, exhibited in the National Renaissance Museum at Château d'Ecouen. As the only French establishment dedicated exclusively to the Renaissance, Château d'Ecouen is able, thanks to its outstanding range of collections, to offer a complete vision of European artistic profusion between the 15th and 17th centuries. 

The AXA Group's contribution to safeguarding French cultural heritage comes to 29 million euros over the last five years. In this way, AXA has enhanced public collections with various masterpieces, including two sketches by Rosso Fiorentino and Houdon's Vestale (Louvre Museum), as well as the magnificent Dogon statue (Quai Branly Museum), Ingres' portrait of the Duke of Orleans (Louvre Museum), and Nicolas Poussin's Flight into Egypt (Lyon Museum of Fine Arts).