The Cincinnati Art Museum houses one of the oldest Asian art collections in the United States, representing the diverse cultures of India, China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia and Tibet with holdings of over 5,000 objects. Chinese art is the most comprehensive area of the collection, consisting of nearly 1000 objects and spanning 5,000 years of history. Among the many art forms represented in this collection are Neolithic pottery, ancient ritual bronzes and jades, Buddhist sculptures, paintings, screens, prints, ceramics, ivory, lacquer, enamel and metal wares and furniture.
The Japanese collection, with nearly 3000 objects, includes ceramics, paintings, screens, prints, arms and armor, lacquer and metal wares, ivory carvings and other crafts, is uniquely importantly as it chronicles a late nineteenth-century connection between Cincinnati and Japan.
The most notable areas of the museum’s Indian art collection include a small group of Hindu and Buddhist sculptures. In addition, approximately 100 miniature paintings spanning the fifteenth century through the early twentieth century represent both Mughal and Rajput disciplines, primarily from the Rajasthani school of Northwest India.