At the center of this exhibition is the collection entrusted to this museum by US-based art collectors, John and Miyoko Unno Davey. This collection of valuable fine art artifacts and crafts was collected by the couple in New York over the course of nearly a quarter of a century, starting in 1984. They apparently began collecting after they started living in a famous old building in New York built in the 1880s. In the course of looking for items to go with that space, they found they had unintentionally acquired a collection of pieces of Japonisme design dating from the 1870s to the 1910s. As the two were not particularly devoted fans of Japonisme, their collection is a testimony as to just how deeply Japonisme pervaded the daily lives and lifestyles of people at the end of the 19th century.

The exhibition contains many masterpieces in ceramics, silverware and glass from all the famous names one would expect to see-Tiffany, Minton, Royal Worcester and Galle-but even amongst these the Tiffany silverware stands out as a major highlight. Edward C. Moore, who was a driving force behind Tiffany's being so quick to pick up on Japonisme, was also a truly unparalleled craftsman. He was a passionate collector of Japanese fine arts and crafts, and used this enormous collection as the basis for an assiduous study of metalworking techniques as well as Japanese design. He then produced original mixed metal silverware pieces with inlays of gold and copper. Items representative of the kind of Japonisme-influenced silverware that Tiffany produced can be seen in the exhibition.

Tiffany was not the only manufacturer to collect Japanese arts and crafts-other big names such as Minton and Royal Worcester also had major collections. These were used for the study of techniques and skills, resulting in the manufacture of magnificent items by craftsmen whose talent was nothing short of eye-opening, and which could well have been made by Japanese artisans. At the same time, even craftsmen not particularly expert in Japonisme could easily reproduce Japanese designs by using, for example, the Royal Worcester manufacturing method that made use of copperplate printing, and which opened the way to mass production. Technical innovations such as these helped to spread Japonisme.

and will be enjoyed by female visitors in particular. There is also a room displaying pieces as part of a table setting, not just as individual items, to give visitors a feel for the kind of atmosphere that these objects were used in. Housekeeping manuals that were popular at the time often contained articles about how to make light meals for afternoon tea; similarly, this exhibition also includes a few period recipes for tea party cakes and sweets.