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| - This is a good museum which with a little more gallery space and an expanded display collection (I assume they have loads not on display) could be a great one.
What they do cover is very good, but patchy. Nonetheless if you love ceramics and porcelain you'll have a ball here. The current permanent displays cover Meso-American antiquities (mostly Mayan and some amazingly sophisticated); Italian Renaissance Majolica, much of it with exquisite paintings; contemporary ceramic sculpture, varying in quality; Japanese porcelain; European porcelain with an exquisite collection of Meissen and Viennese objects; and early English porcelain. There is an entire floor devoted to special exhibits. The one being presented during my visit dealt with contextualism in Japanese Edo period ceramics by juxtaposing them with other crafts and arts - well done and presented but too few objects given the large space that was available for the exhibit.
If you are looking for classical antiquities (e. g,. Greek vases) or Chinese porcelain, go to the ROM, which has a great collection of both and which I assume is why neither is covered much here. What I would not mind seeing more of, if they had the space and possessed the objects, would be the following:
Islamic ceramics (perhaps the Aga Khan's collection in the new Islamic museum will fill the slack)
Korean ceramics (I love Korean celadon)
Early Canadian and American porcelain and ceramics
Lomonosov and other Russian porcelain
Indigenous American ceramics from the 19th century through contemporary
Nonetheless, this is a most enjoyable specialty museum and possesses some objects that are so exquisite they will make you gasp. I had to say my favourite was the adorable little "singerie", an entire porcelain orchestra of monkeys dressed in eighteenth century clothing - perhaps the height of rococco silliness but lots of fun.
Information and signage is quite well presented.
I would probably not bring little boys here (unless they exhibit the signs of growing up into gay men!) but little girls would be delighted with much of this, especially the figurines.
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