“A substantial chunk of that collection is on view at the Metropolitan Museum in a show titled “The Written Image: Japanese Calligraphy and Painting From the Sylvan Barnet and William Burto Collection.” It’s installed in the museum’s Japanese galleries, and it’s wonderful.

Calligraphy has long been the most revered of art forms in China, and in the sixth century A.D. Chinese Buddhist monks carrying sacred books called sutras brought it to Japan. Eager to have their own copies of sutras, the Japanese learned Chinese and adopted its script as their own, engendering a love of the written word — the word as an expressive, information-rich image — that continues today.

The show is really about that love. It begins with a copy of an eighth-century sutra taken directly from Chinese prototypes. Clarity and accuracy were its primary goals, and its script is as crisp and regular as a printed typeface. But already a subtle sensuousity graces the calligraphic endeavor: the writing paper in this case is impregnated with specks of aromatic wood.” NY Times