As noted above, there are two entrances to the Koerner Ceramics Gallery: to the left of the Admissions Desk in the Lobby, and from within the galleries near the Great Hall. Featured in the Koerner Gallery are more than 600 European ceramics collected over a period of almost eighty years by Dr. Walter C. Koerner (1898-1995), and donated to the Museum in 1990.

The collection contains examples of tin-glazed and lead-glazed earthenware and stoneware from the late fifteenth to the early nineteenth centuries. Some of the pieces are considered to be the finest in North America, and the collection as a whole is unique in the world. Also on display in this gallery is a small selection of ceramics drawn from the Museum's own research collections, arranged in the form of a time line to provide context for the Koerner pieces. Specially commissioned ceramics and textiles by contemporary Vancouver artists highlight the beauty and artistry of the collection as a whole.

The collection is organized both chronologically and geographically to demonstrate developments in European ceramic technology and style. Texts and maps located throughout the exhibit discuss these developments, and show relationships and influences of tastes and techniques between craftspeople and communities as far removed as China and Europe. For further reading, a Museum Note, "The Koerner Ceramics Gallery," is available for purchase in the Museum Shop.

Representing an important addition to the Museum of Anthropology's collections, these European ceramics may be compared with the Museum's other major assemblages from the Americas, Asia, and the Mediterranean, located within Visible Storage.