Digital archive project to catalogue exported Japanese decorative arts

Japanese ceramic and lacquer objects have been collected and used as interior decorations in Europe since the early seventeenth century, and in the nineteenth century the fashion for Japonisme saw a boom of importing various Japanese decorative arts. Museums and private collections all over the world have rich holdings of Japanese decorative arts, however, the systematic research of Japanese decorative arts in Western collections is backward compared to other art forms, consequently there are only a very few online databases dedicated to decorative arts. The Art Research Centre of the Ritsumeikan University recently has developed image databases of three-dimensional art objects. The purpose of the project is to launch searchable, academic databases with high quality images to foster international cooperation and information sharing between researchers, curators, students of Japanese decorative arts and finally make the results accessible on the Web. はじめに *