Art: Japanese craft, balancing beauty, function

Rarely in a museum exhibition have I found so many sublimely beautiful objects gathered in one place, each deserving of prolonged examination. Many of the exhibits are vases in ceramic or bronze, often decorated with images such as a white phoenix on a porcelain vase by Kataoka Kozan or red ivy leaves in relief on a bronze vase by Kobayashi Shoun.

The decorated pieces represent one approach to activating a form, one so familiar to Western viewers that no one thinks twice about the concept. The Japanese also are adept at another, arguably more demanding strategy - letting the form, energized by an appropriate surface treatment, such as a ceramic glaze or a patina, speak for itself.

Choshusai's silver flower container, mentioned earlier, comes to life in this way. The approach is particularly common in ceramics - for instance with celadon or natural ash glazes, which result from firing in wood-fueled kilns. Such perfect marriage of form and surface - not only texture but color - embodies a quintessential Japanese attitude toward aesthetic restraint.

Because half of this exhibition will turn over, probably in the spring, it requires two visits. It's a long walk to the end of the wing - through the Indian temple and the Chinese scholar's study, turn right at the tea house - but you'll be glad you made the effort, and not once but twice.

Art: Divinely Crafted

"The Art of Japanese Craft: 1875 to the Present" continues in Galleries 241, 242 and 243 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Parkway at 26th Street, through fall 2009. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays and to 8:45 p.m. Fridays. Admission is $14 general, $12 for visitors 65 and older, and $10 for students with ID and visitors 13 to 18. Pay what you wish Sundays. Information: 215-763-8100, 215-684-7500 or www.philamuseum.org.