The Cincinnati Art Museum's Japanese art collection comprises over 3,000 objects, including paintings, screens, prints, ceramics, lacquer and metal wares, ivory carvings, arms and armour, dolls, masks, cloisonné, textiles and costumes. Started in 1881, it is one of the oldest museum collections of Japanese art in the US. Masterpieces of Japanese Art is the first complete study of this remarkable collection covering over five centuries of artistic production, the majority dating from the Edo period (1615-1868) to the end of the Meiji Period in 1912. Except for a few pieces, none of these objects has ever been catalogued or published before.