Book excerpt: Published in conjunction with an exhibition held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art during 1996 and scheduled to travel to Los Angeles during 1997. The works are selected from the holdings of the Shumei Family, a religious organization based in Japan which holds to the belief that beautiful objects elevate the spirit and, therefore, that they were created to be shared (the group is currently constructing a new museum in Japan to house the collection). The works included here--antiquities from the Mediterranean, the Near East, and China--are beautifully presented in color photos, with text by a broad spectrum of curators, art historians, and conservators. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR