British Museum Department of Asia

The Department of Asia in the British Museum is one of the largest collections of historical artifacts from Asia, consisting of over 75,000 objects covering the material culture of the Asian continent (including East Asia, South and Central Asia, and Southeast Asia), and dating from the Neolithic age up to the present. (The collection formerly included objects from the Islamic world, but these have recently been merged with the Department of the Ancient Near East to form the Department of the Middle East.)

The department's collection began with a donation from Sir Hans Sloane, which contained a small number of objects from the Asian continent, including a collection of Japanese material acquired from the family of the German traveller and physician Engelbert Kaempfer (who had led an expedition to Japan). Only a few objects were acquired from Asia between 1753 and the 1820s, but the collection expanded in the early 19th century to become one of the world's largest. This was mainly through a donation of a number of South Asian artifacts, such as the gilded bronze figure of Tara from Sri Lanka in 1830, the Bridge Collection of East and Central Indian sculpture in 1872, and the Amaravati Collection in 1880. The collection of Asian material continued during the tenure of Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks as Keeper of the Department of Antiquities from 1866 to 1896, and in 1921 the Sub-Department of Oriental Antiquities was established. In 1933, the Asian collections of the Prints and Drawings Sub-Department were united with the Department of Oriental Antiquities, forming one of the most significant collections of art and antiquities of Asia in the northern hemisphere. In 2003, the Department of Oriental Antiquities and the Department of Japanese Antiquities merged to become the current Department of Asia.

Highlights include:

Most of the Department of Asia is located in the northern section of the museum. It is split into several rooms and four main geographic areas:

The China collection is one of the largest collections of Chinese historical artifacts in the Western world. It focuses on porcelain, paintings, scripts and basic tools, with items ranging in date from the Neolithic era to the 20th century. One of the most important items is a collection of rare Buddhist paintings from Dunhuang. China was one of the first countries to use coins, and the museum also has a large collection of Chinese coins (housed in the Department of Coins and Medals).

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