Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections. Vol. 1. Tokyo National Museum

Kodansha International Ltd, Tokyo, New York and San Francisco, 1982 Book. Good. Hardcover. English text; Hardcover (cloth without dust jacket - as issued. In splicase.); 191 pages with colour and black-and-white illustrations throughout.; 27 x 38 cm; 3 kg; Used book in good condition with minor scuffs and signs of wear in the slipcase and hardcover cloth. The spine is slightly faded as usual. Interior in very good condition.; This volume was originally published by Kodansha as part of a limited deluxe 12 volume set in 1974, this critically acclaimed and now scarce masterpiece has been issued in a standard edition with no compromise in the quality of scholarship or production, handsomely cloth-bound with an attractive slipcase.; "Collecting of ceramics at the museum began around 1873 (Meiji 6th year), since which it has amassed specimens of Jomon and Yayoi potteries unearthed from prehistoric sites all over the country: Sue pottery, Haji pottery, and haniwa of the photohistoric age; various kinds of pottery and porcelain wares ranging from the Nara period to premodern times; pottery and porcelain wares of varying periods from Oriental areas like China, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, the Middle and Near East, etc.; and also examples of European and North and South American ceramics. Worth special mention among them are gifts from private collections, including the collection of Dr. Tamisuke Yokogawa, widely known as the Yokogawa Collection, featuring among others one thousand and several hundred examples of Chinese ceramics of respective periods; pieces collected by Mr. Yasuzaemon Matsunaga, the illustrious businessman and tea ceremony master; numerous works collected by Mr. Matsushige Hirota, famed as a dealer of old works of art, this collection consisting mainly of Chinese ceramics; and an enormous number of archaeological specimens and other items from the collection of Mr. Yorisada Tokugawa, the lord of the Kii Tokugawa tief during the feudal age. The Yokogawa and Hirota collections constitute the two major nuclei of the museum's ceramic collections. A selection of over four hundred and fifty pices from the collection are published in this volume." excerpt from the preface by Seizo Hayashiya, Curator, Applied Arts Department, 1982..