List of museums of Asian art

Museums with major collections of Asian Art

Forbidden City *, Beijing, China
1,000,000 objects ^[1]
National Palace Museum *, Taipei, Taiwan
700,000 objects [1]
National Museum of China *¹, Beijing, China
620,000 objects [2]
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK
160,000 objects [3]
National Museum of Korea, Seoul, South Korea
150,000 objects [4]
Shanghai Museum *, China
120,000 objects [5]
National Museum ², Japan
120,000 objects [6]

British Library ³, London, UK
90,000 objects [7] [8]
British Museum, London, UK
75,000 objects [9] [10]
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
60,000 objects [11]]
Musée du quai Branly, Paris, France
58,000 objects [12]
Musee Guimet, Paris, France
~50,000 objects [13]
Museum of Fine Arts **, Boston, USA
~40,000 objects [14]
Horniman Museum, London, UK
32,000 objects [15]

Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Berlin, Germany
20,000 objects [16]
Art Institute of Chicago ***, USA
35,000 objects [17]
Freer Gallery of Art / Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, D.C., USA
18,200 objects [18]
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, USA
17,000 objects [19]
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, USA
10,450 objects [20]

Please Note - * : These three museum's specialise in only Chinese items, the collections are not comprehensive for all Asia - *¹ National Museum of China: 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 - ² National Museum: This includes the combined holdings of the three museums that make up the National Museum, i.e. Tokyo National Museum, Kyoto National Museum, Nara National Museum - ³ British Library: No sculptures or architecural elements, the world's largest collection of ancient manuscripts from Asia, including the Stein Collection - Misleading Collection: ² Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Asian collection includes books, prints, postcards and modern paraphernalia, website indicates a massive collection, which is misleading - Misleading Collection: ³ Art Institute of Chicago: The Near & Middle East objects are included within the scope of the collection, overinflates size.

n.b. it should be noted that this list is controversial, in so far as it contains only qualitative analysis of museum holdings. These may or may not reflect actual artistic quality of collections in question.

^ Wen, Lianxi (ed.) (1925). 故宫物品点查报告 [Palace items auditing report]. Beijing: Caretaker Committee of the Qing Dynasty Imperial Family. Reprint (2004): Xianzhuang Book Company. ISBN 7-80106-238-8