BOSTON, MA.-A passion for collecting that began with baseball cards when he was a boy, followed by Rembrandt etchings as a young man, has evolved into one of the finest private holdings of Japanese art outside of Japan—Dr. John C. Weber’s collection of masterworks from the 12th to 20th century. Approximately 80 objects, including ceramic and lacquer pieces, screens, scrolls, kimonos, and other textiles, will be featured in an exhibition titled Arts of Japan: The John C. Weber Collection, on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), through January 13, 2008.

Weber’s interest in Japanese art began more than a decade ago. Already a collector of Chinese artifacts (as well as European medieval art), in 1996 he purchased his first Japanese work, a fan painting by Kitagawa Utamaro (?−1806) depicting the celebrated courtesan Hanaogi playing a koto. Since then, Weber has bought many other ukiyo-e paintings, among them Hishikawa Moronobu’s seminal handscroll, A Visit to the Yoshiwara (c. 1673–84). Ukiyo-e is the term used to describe the colorful woodblock prints and delicate paintings from the “floating world” of pleasurable pursuits—the theaters and brothels of Edo (now modern-day Tokyo)—during the 17th through 19th centuries. Ukiyo-e paintings also are featured in a concurrent MFA exhibition, Drama and Desire: Japanese Paintings from the Floating World 1690–1850, which showcases masterpieces from the Museum’s own ukiyo-e collection including a pair of rare screens also by Moronobu. Drama and Desire runs August 28 through December 16, 2007, in the Museum’s Torf Gallery.

“John Weber is a collector of wide and diverse interests who has given us an unparalleled opportunity to present 800 years of Japanese art in a wide variety of media,” said Malcolm Rogers, Ann and Graham Gund Director of the Museum of Fine Arts. “The Weber collection represents the largest private loan of its kind ever shown at the MFA. We are delighted to offer Bostonians the chance to experience aspects of Japanese art, from classic to modern, that are rarely seen at the MFA.”

Arts of Japan will be on view in the first- and second-floor Japanese galleries. Lacquerware, tea ceramics, and textiles will be showcased on the first floor, while paintings in screen and scroll format, calligraphy, and additional textiles will be displayed on the second floor.

Over the years, Weber’s acquisition strategy has been influenced by his experiences as a connoisseur, as well as the advice of experts in the field. “Collecting is a collaborative pursuit. I rely on friends and advisors, principally Dr. Julia Meech, as well as my own instincts, to guide me as I look for objects that satisfy a wide range of aesthetic interests,” explained Weber. “When I started to build my collection, the most memorable advice came from Yasuhiro Nishioka of Tokyo National Museum, who said, ‘Don’t buy anything that you could walk past without stopping’.”

Among the many objects he has collected with this demanding requirement in mind are examples of two exquisite and very different types of lacquer. The first is Negoro, a simple, powerfully formed ware used in Buddhist temples from the 13th century. Often made of zelkova wood (from the elm family), Negoro is prized for its antique look, with layers of black lacquer glimpsed through worn areas on the surface which is colored red using cinnabar, a relatively rare imported pigment. Examples include a gracefully shaped Bottle for sake (late Kamakura or Muromachi period, 14th–15th century), exhibited at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and once owned by famed Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, and a rare dated flower-petal-ringed Lobed tray (Muromachi period, 1491), one of the largest pieces of Negoro ware extant today.

In strong contrast to Negoro is Kodaiji ware, a flamboyantly decorated style of lacquer that evolved at the end of the 16th century when Japanese warlords vied to outdo each other in the extravagant decoration of their large, dark castles. Designed mainly in black and gold, Kodaiji lacquers do not have the imperfections so valued in Negoro ware. Two stunning examples are a Brazier and a Box for incense or cosmetics, both lavishly decorated in black- and gold-lacquered wood, with gilt-copper and copper-alloy fittings for the brazier, and cut gold and silver leaf for the box. The latter features a zigzag line, a classic Kodaiji feature, that divides the decoration into two distinct areas, accented by sprinkled metal powders and two different gold tints.

The ceramics on view in this exhibition mostly date from the Momoyama period (1573–1615), a time when the tea ceremony was at the peak of its development. The tea ceremony owes its origins to an influx of Chinese religion and culture that started in the late 12th century, when Japanese priests traveled to the Asian mainland in search of fresh religious inspiration. They returned to found new monasteries of the Zen sect and also introduced the Chinese custom of formalized tea-drinking. For the first three centuries the ceremony was dominated by refined Chinese wares but during the 16th century tea masters began to favor native Japanese wares in a more rustic and informal aesthetic. The Weber collection of tea ceramics, all dating from the years around 1600, features a wide range of techniques, glazes, and shapes, including a set of Five tall food-serving cups used in the formal meal, known as kaiseki, that often precedes the tea-drinking ceremony. Made from stoneware, the cups sport a surprisingly modern-looking semi-abstract design of drying persimmon fruits, suggestive of late autumn; the blue-green droplets of glaze are pooled around the edges, contrasting strongly with the brown iron oxide used for the rest of the decoration. A different style of ware, from the same part of Japan, is seen in a black-glazed Seto teabowl, a classic example of the sculptural teabowls made during this period, with an intense, dark glaze and assertive presence that belies its small size (less than 4” tall).

Textiles form another important part of Arts of Japan. From Weber’s extensive collection of approximately 200 textiles, works have been selected for installation that demonstrate how clothing serves as an indicator of age, social standing, wealth, gender, and occupation. Two notable examples are the Kimono with willow tree and Chinese characters (Edo period, 18th century), and the Campaign coat with torn-fan design (Edo period, late 18th-early 19th century). The six Chinese characters on the upper half of the Kimono with willow tree allude to the beginning of a poem written in Chinese in 1013, which reads: “The weather clears, breezes comb the hair of the young willows; the ice is melting, wavelets wash the whiskers of old moss.” The weeping willow branches intertwined around the text envelope the wearer of the robe with a bold poetic imagery in rich silks and gold embroidery, heralding the owner’s intelligence as well as wealth. In dramatic contrast is the Campaign coat, which would have been worn over armor by a warlord in a military parade to signify his power and prestige. Its torn-fan design symbolizes the wearer’s ability to fight on even when facing defeat. The European-style cut of the coat, made from wool and embellished with silk, metallic threads and bone, reflects the influence of Dutch and Portuguese traders active in Japan in the late 16th to early 17th century.