A window onto everyday life

As a complement to the presentation “Treasures”, team of curators at the Cluny museum wished to shine a spotlight on another aspect of medieval artistic production: objects from everyday life.Organised around several themes – medieval households, art of the table, religious devotion, care of the body, toys and games, measuring instruments, and reading and writing – these objects offer glimpses into how people in medieval society spent their hours and days.

Be they luxury items conceived for an aristocratic elite or common objects destined for more modest folk, their functions seem surprisingly close to ours, responding as they do to material and human needs that transcend the centuries. Nevertheless, it is worth digging a little deeper. A distinguishing feature of medieval furniture is that it was easily transportable, for the wealthiest classes were often on the move. Plates and forks were missing from medieval tableware, which often consisted of ceremonial pieces in affluent households.

The games and toys on display serve as a reminder that entertainment was an important part of medieval society, while books and writing instruments were the preserve of a small privileged class. Clocks and watches, astrolabes and weights bear witness to units of measure that were different from those we use today, and a relationship to time that was not yet standardised. Lastly, carefully-crafted toiletries reveal the importance of hygiene in the Middle Ages and indicate that these objects were preciously guarded for use over a lifetime.