Saint-Porchaire Ceramics: Rediscovered Treasures of the French Renaissance

The covered cup here stands almost 10 inches high and weighs very little, because its clay walls are so thin. The curators think its black knotwork and fleurs-de-lis were pressed in with bookbinders' brass stamps. Inside the bowl, where only the person drinking would see it, sits François I's crowned, fire-breathing salamander.

Only about 70 Saint-Porchaire pieces are known to survive, and most of this group, lent from a private collection, hasn't been shown in public since the late 1800s. You find them in Gallery 238, the small room usually kept for Renaissance jewelry, next to coarser, brightly glazed French earthenware from the museum's own collection.

It's one room of jewel-like objects, made for leaning in close, with the armor and metalwork of the surrounding Deering galleries as context. It's free with museum admission, and it closes on 15 November, when the jewelry moves back in.