Louvre Abu Dhabi: Fine Art & Fine Chocolate

Fine Art, Fine Chocolate Gift Set: Complete Collection

Three chocolate bars crafted from bean to bar, wrapped in artworks from Louvre Abu Dhabi’s collection. Presented as a gift set together with a printed guide to the stories behind the selection of artefacts, they embody the spirit of exploration, trade and travel of the ancient ‘spice route’.

1.Oriental Bliss by Paul Klee

Oriental Bliss

Paul Klee (1879–1940) experienced a “revelation of colour” in Tunisia in 1914. In 1938, in the middle of a grim period of illness and exile in Switzerland, glowing memories of his trip resurfaced in Sweetness of the East, which also draws on works by Matisse, Delaunay and Kandinsky, as well as a trip to Egypt. The grid of coloured squares with no perspective recalls a carpet, a mosaic or a medina quarter and contrasts with pictographic elements, including a human figure and some palm trees as well perhaps as a nazar boncuk, the blue eye-shaped Tunisian amulet offering protection against the evil eye. Like musical notes or calligraphic letters inspired by the cursive Arabic naskh script, they open up the field of a wholly new and poetic language.

Oriental Bliss

Paul Klee

Berne, Switzerland, 1938

Oil paint and tempera on paper glued to burlap

H. 50 cm; W. 66 cm

Louvre Abu Dhabi

62% Dark Chocolate with Orange & Cinnamon

Made with organic orange extract and freshly ground cinnamon, to ensure each piece of chocolate you enjoy tastes like a sun ripened orange. This dark chocolate bar is made from bean to bar, using organic cocoa beans together with unrefined cane sugar

2. Dish Decorated With a European Ship

This image, of what is probably an English warship from the Elizabethan period,demonstrates the extent of the trade and reciprocal familiarity between the seafaring peoples of the Ottoman world and Europe. Produced in Iznik in Turkey, the specimen belongs to a long series in fashion during the 17th century, in which the decorative motifs used by the factories of Iznik were ships of all kinds and provenances that sailed the Mediterranean to the ports of Anatolia.

Dish with European Ship 

Iznik, Turkey, ca.1625-50

Silica-based ceramic with painted underglaze decoration

Diam.30cm

Louvre Abu Dhabi

52% Dark Milk Chocolate with Sea Salt

A deeply rich milk chocolate with high cocoa content and sprinkle of Maldon sea salt have given this bar an outstanding reputation for deliciousness. Just right, every time.

3.Astrolabe

A flat projection of the night sky, an astrolabe was used to help calculate the positions of the stars and to determine the exact time during the day. Mentioned by several ancient Greek authors, this measuring and navigational instrument was used up to the 18th century, when it was replaced by more sophisticated optical instruments. Combining the scientific knowledge of the East and West, this finely engraved astrolabe stands out due to its size, exceptional for this type of artefact.

Astrolabe

Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Battuti

Maghreb,1726-27

Cast and engraves brass, silver nails

Diam.22cm

Louvre Abu Dhabi

White Chocolate Infused with Saffron

White chocolate for adults. Infused with aromatic saffron known for its calming properties, this white chocolate bar is known to bring on the dream time.