List of museums with major collections of Asian art
Encyclopedia
This is a list of museums with major collections of Asian art
.
This list is controversial, in so far as it contains only quantitative analysis of museum holdings. These may or may not reflect actual artistic quality of collections in question.
Several famous and distinguished collections, including the Cleveland Museum of Art
, Field Museum (Chicago), Museum of Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania
, Los Angeles County Museum
, Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the Seattle Asian Art Museum
do not provide adequate numerical information for their significant collections. This list, therefore, is only provisional.
Some collecting institutions combine their ethnographic, cultural, and artistic materials together in their total holdings. Such is the case of the British Museum, for example. It would be nearly impossible to distinguish between these types of objects (e.g. "fine arts") in developing a quantitative, as opposed to qualitative, ranking of this kind.
* These three museums specialise in only Chinese items; the collections are not comprehensive for all Asia
Asian art
Asian art can refer to art amongst many cultures in Asia.-Various types of Asian art:*Afghan art*Azerbaijanian art*Balinese art*Bhutanese art*Buddhist art*Burmese contemporary art*Chinese art*Eastern art*Indian art*Iranian art*Islamic art...
.
This list is controversial, in so far as it contains only quantitative analysis of museum holdings. These may or may not reflect actual artistic quality of collections in question.
- Forbidden CityForbidden CityThe Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum...
*, Beijing, China- 1,000,000 objects
- National Palace MuseumNational Palace MuseumThe National Palace Museum is an art museum in Taipei. It is the national museum of the Republic of China, and has a permanent collection of over 677,687 pieces of ancient Chinese artifacts and artworks, making it one of the largest in the world. The collection encompasses over 8,000 years of...
*, Taipei, Taiwan- 700,000 objects http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/taipei/natlpmindex.htm
- National Museum of ChinaNational Museum of ChinaThe National Museum of China flanks the eastern side of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. The mission of the museum is to educate about the arts and history of China...
, Beijing, China- 620,000 objects http://english.people.com.cn/200612/13/eng20061213_331891.html (Includes contemporary collections, science, technology and decorative arts, however the vast majority derives from the Imperial collection, divided between Beijing and the National Palace Museum, Taipei)
- National Museum of KoreaNational Museum of KoreaThe National Museum of Korea is the flagship museum of Korean history and art in South Korea and is the cultural organization that represents Korea...
, Seoul, South Korea- 150,000 objects http://news.sawf.org/Travel/3572.aspx
- Victoria & Albert MuseumVictoria and Albert MuseumThe Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
, London, UK- 130,000 objects http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/asia/about/index.html East and South Asian holdings.
- Shanghai MuseumShanghai MuseumThe Shanghai Museum is a museum of ancient Chinese art, situated on the People's Square in the Huangpu District of Shanghai, People's Republic of China.-History:...
*, China- 120,000 objects http://www.shme.com/travel/museum/museum.htm
- National Museum, Japan
- 120,000 objects http://www.shme.com/travel/museum/museum.htm (This includes the combined holdings of the three museums that make up the National Museum, i.e. Tokyo National MuseumTokyo National MuseumEstablished 1872, the , or TNM, is the oldest and largest museum in Japan. The museum collects, houses, and preserves a comprehensive collection of art works and archaeological objects of Asia, focusing on Japan. The museum holds over 110,000 objects, which includes 87 Japanese National Treasure...
, Kyoto National MuseumKyoto National MuseumThe is one of the three formerly imperially-mandated art museums in Japan. The museum is located in Higashiyama Ward in Kyoto. The collections of the Kyoto National Museum focus on pre-modern Japanese and Asian art....
, Nara National MuseumNara National MuseumThe is one of the pre-eminent national art museums in Japan.-Introduction:The Nara National Museum is located in Nara, which was the capital of Japan from 710 to 784. Katayama Tōkuma designed the original building, which is a representative Western-style building of the Meiji period and has been...
)
- 120,000 objects http://www.shme.com/travel/museum/museum.htm (This includes the combined holdings of the three museums that make up the National Museum, i.e. Tokyo National Museum
- Museum of Fine ArtsMuseum of Fine Arts, BostonThe Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
, Boston, USA- ~100,000 objects http://www.mfa.org/collections/sub.asp?key=22&subkey=109
- The Metropolitan Museum of ArtMetropolitan Museum of ArtThe Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
, New York, USA- 60,000 objects http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/introduction.asp?dep=9 East, South, and Central Asian.
- American Museum of Natural HistoryAmerican Museum of Natural HistoryThe American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
, New York, USA- 60,000 objects http://anthro.amnh.org/
- British MuseumBritish MuseumThe British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
, London, UK- 55,000+ objects http://www.untoldlondon.org.uk/collections/SE000073.html East, South, and Central Asian.
- Musée du quai BranlyMusée du quai Branlythumb|225px|Musée du quai BranlyThe Musée du quai Branly , known in English as the Quai Branly Museum, nicknamed MQB, is a museum in Paris, France that features indigenous art, cultures and civilizations from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. The museum is located at 37, quai Branly -...
, Paris, France.- 58,000 objects http://www.quaibranly.fr/en/collections/permanent-collections/asia/index.html Includes Islamic cultural materials.
- Musee GuimetGuimet MuseumThe Guimet Museum is a museum of Asian art located at 6, place d'Iéna in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France...
, Paris, France- ~50,000 objects http://www.museeguimet.fr/-The-collections-
- Field Museum, Chicago, USA
- Honolulu Academy of ArtsHonolulu Academy of ArtsThe Honolulu Academy of Arts is an art museum in Honolulu in the state of Hawaii. Since its founding in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke and opening April 8, 1927, its collections have grown to over 40,000 works of art.-Description:...
, Honolulu, USA- ~40,000 objectshttp://www.honoluluacademy.org/cmshaa/academy/index.aspx
- Art Institute of ChicagoArt Institute of ChicagoThe School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
, USA- 35,000 objects http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/prints/index.php (The Near & Middle East objects are included)
- Freer Gallery of ArtFreer Gallery of ArtThe Freer Gallery of Art joins the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery to form the Smithsonian Institution's national museums of Asian art. The Freer contains art from East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Islamic world, the ancient Near East, and ancient Egypt, as well as a significant collection of...
/ Arthur M. Sackler GalleryArthur M. Sackler GalleryThe Arthur M. Sackler Gallery joins the Freer Gallery of Art to form the Smithsonian Institution's national museums of Asian art. The Sackler celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2012....
, Washington, D.C., USA- 26,500 objects http://www.asia.si.edu/collections/default.htm
- Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Berlin, Germany
- Brooklyn MuseumBrooklyn MuseumThe Brooklyn Museum is an encyclopedia art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At 560,000 square feet, the museum holds New York City's second largest art collection with roughly 1.5 million works....
, New York, USA - Asian Art MuseumAsian Art Museum of San FranciscoThe Asian Art Museum of San Francisco is a museum in San Francisco, California, United States. It has one of the most comprehensive collections of Asian art in the world....
, San Francisco, USA- 17,000 objects http://www.asianart.org/collection.htm
- Arthur M. Sackler MuseumArthur M. Sackler MuseumThe Arthur M. Sackler Museum joins the Fogg Museum and the Busch-Reisinger Museum as part of the Harvard Art Museums. Its postmodern building was designed by British architect James Stirling, generally regarded as the greatest British architect of the 20th century, and recipient of the Pritzker...
, Cambridge, MA, USA- 16,000 objects http://www.artmuseums.harvard.edu/sackler/asian.html
- Nelson-Atkins Museum of ArtNelson-Atkins Museum of ArtThe Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is an art museum in Kansas City, Missouri, known for its neoclassical architecture and extensive collection of Asian art....
, Kansas City, USA- 10,450 objects http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/Chinese.cfm
Several famous and distinguished collections, including the Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art is an art museum situated in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on Cleveland's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian art, the museum houses a diverse permanent collection of more than 43,000...
, Field Museum (Chicago), Museum of Archaeology at the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, commonly called The Penn Museum, is an archaeology and anthropology museum that is part of the University of Pennsylvania in the University City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.-History:An internationally renowned...
, Los Angeles County Museum
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
, Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the Seattle Asian Art Museum
Seattle Asian Art Museum
The Seattle Asian Art Museum is a museum of Asian art located inside Volunteer Park on Seattle, Washington USA's Capitol Hill. Part of the Seattle Art Museum, SAAM occupies the 1933 Art Moderne building which was originally home to the Seattle Art Museum's main collection...
do not provide adequate numerical information for their significant collections. This list, therefore, is only provisional.
Some collecting institutions combine their ethnographic, cultural, and artistic materials together in their total holdings. Such is the case of the British Museum, for example. It would be nearly impossible to distinguish between these types of objects (e.g. "fine arts") in developing a quantitative, as opposed to qualitative, ranking of this kind.