Light, cool, sleek and refined describe the large celadon bowl that won 1 million yen and the Grand Prix Katsura-no-Miya Prize at the 17th Biennial Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition. This juried exhibition showcases some of the finest works in this "pottery oasis" of Japan and offers a tasty smorgasbord for any yakimono enthusiast. The exhibition has finished showing in Tokyo but will make a short stop in Osaka at the Daimaru Museum, Shinsaibashi, June 12-17.

It seems that porcelain works -- celadon being porcelain -- are the flavor of the moment, as a set of octagonal hakuji (white porcelain) dishes by Takehisa Ogiwara took top prize in the jitsuyo toki (practical pottery) section of the three-part exhibition. The other two divisions are dento (traditional) and jiyuzokei (free forms). Coincidentally, a spiraling white porcelain jar also won a major award in a different exhibition recently, the Tanabe Museum's Modern Tea Forms Exhibition.

No serving vessels, except maybe glass ones, impart as cool a feeling in the midst of summer as those made of porcelain. Perhaps the exhibition judges wished to offer visitors a cool contrast to the sizzling summer heat they just stepped in from, as well as a chilled-out ambience in which to enjoy this selection of Japan's ceramic best.