The roughly 10,000 works of calligraphy and painting in the NPM collection are far outnumbered by the 70,000 pieces of bronze, porcelain, lacquer ware, and cloisonne, not to mention the 570,000 books and documents. Nevertheless, as Chin points out, calligraphy and paintings account for about 70 % of the museum's reproductions, an indication of just how irreplaceable Chinese calligraphy and painting are to the people of Taiwan.
故宮典藏書畫約 1 萬件，雖不及青銅、陶瓷、漆器、琺瑯等器物的 7 萬件，以及圖書文獻的 57 萬件，但金士先指出，故宮授權出去仿製的文物以「書畫」比例最高，與器物相較約為 7：3，可見中國書畫在國人心目中具有無可取代的地位。