The Museum’s Asian art collection started with a gift of Chinese
textiles in 1951 and today, with more than 4,000 objects, is the
largest and most comprehensive in the Southeast. The collection
hails from China, Japan, Korea, India, and Southeast Asia, and
features the finest collection of Vietnamese ceramics in the
U.S., as well as outstanding examples of Buddhist and Hindu art,
lacquer ware, ceramics, paintings, prints, and sculpture.
Highlights include a rare Ming dynasty temple wall and Tang
dynasty tomb figures from China; Jomon period pottery from
Japan; and contemporary works such as “The Grand Residence,”
considered by Chinese painter Wu Guanzhong among his most
important works. Also, on long-term loan from The Smithsonian
Institution is the Vetlesen Jade Collection of 16th- to 19th-
century pieces, one of the most important jade collections in
the U.S. The Museum has the only gallery for Korean art in the
Southeast.