Musée National de Céramique de Sèvres

This museum boasts one of the world's finest collections of faience and porcelain, some of which belonged to Mme du Barry, Mme de Pompadour's successor as Louis XV's mistress (Mme de Pompadour loved Sèvres porcelain). On view is porcelain patterned with the Pompadour rose (which the English called the rose du Barry), a style much in vogue in the 1750s and 1760s. The painter Boucher made some of the designs used by the factory, as did the sculptor Pajou (he created the bas-reliefs for the Opéra at Versailles). The factory pioneered what became known as the Louis Seize (Louis XVI) style -- it's all here, plus lots more, including works from Sèvres's archrival, Meissen. Technically, this attraction is not in Paris, but in an adjacent suburb (Sèvres) that's just across the bridge from the extreme western tip of the 15th Arrondissement. To get here, take the Métro to Pont de Sèvres; then walk westward across the bridge that spans the Seine.