Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka

大阪市立東洋陶磁美術館Kita, Osaka

Museum

What makes this place special?

At a Glance

The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka is a municipal museum on Nakanoshima in Kita Ward, Osaka, devoted to the ceramics of East Asia. It opened in 1982 around the Ataka Collection, assembled by the trading company Ataka Sangyo and acquired for the city with donations from 21 Sumitomo Group companies. The museum holds about 4,000 pieces, centred on Korean ceramics from the Goryeo and Joseon periods and on Chinese ceramics.

The holdings include two National Treasures and thirteen Important Cultural Properties. The National Treasures are an oil-spot tenmoku tea bowl from the Southern Song period and a celadon vase with iron-brown spots from the Yuan period. A major gift of Korean ceramics from the collector Rhee Byung-Chang followed in 1999.