We just got back from Vietnam, a country so money-hungry, so capitalistic—Hanoi and Saigon—that we came away with two strong impressions: 1) Because the people are smart, can-do, petite, cheerful and in a charmingly-crazed sort of way, the place struck of as being populated by Asian Reese Witherspoons. And 2) what a stupid waste the war was.

So after reading the Times rave, we were eager to visit the Arts of Ancient Vietnam exhibit at the Asia Society. First off, we dislike large museums—the Asia Society is tiny—and we love exhibits that don’t try to crowd everything into one room. This one has exquisite sculptures,  from the coastal kingdoms of Champa to the kingdom of Funan in the Mekong Delta. Our favorites are the delicate designs on ceramic plates recovered from a ship that went down in the South China Sea.

Through May 2.