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Highlights

The Asia Society Museum Collection comprises both traditional and contemporary Asian and Asian American art. The masterpiece-quality Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection of traditional Asian art, bequeathed to Asia Society in 1979 after the death of Mr. Rockefeller, includes approximately 250 Asian artworks and artifacts from diverse nations—such as Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, China, Korea, and Japan—that date from the eleventh century BCE to the nineteenth century CE. It has particular strengths in Chinese ceramics of the Song and Ming periods, Chola-period Indian bronzes, and Southeast Asian sculptures. The traditional collection also includes a number of objects bequeathed from the estate of Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller, acquisitions, and works from other collectors. The growing contemporary collection, initiated in 2007, features over 100 significant works of video, animation, photography, and new media art by artists from Asia and the Americas.

Selected works from the Asia Society Museum Collection are loaned to and shown as part of special exhibitions throughout the world.