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The Museum’s East and Central Asian collections, comprised of over 36,000 objects, are of national and international importance. The collection includes ceramics, lacquer, prints and paintings, clothing and textiles, ivory, metalwork, jade, furniture, contemporary art, and coins.
Holding more than 17,000 items, our collections from West, South and Southeast Asia give an insight into the past and the present lives of people in a geographical area that spans from Turkey to the Philippines and Kazakhstan to Yemen and Malaysia.
Find out more about our West, South and Southeast Asian collections
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Responsibility: Head of the Asia Section. Curation and development of the collections from West, South and Southeast Asia.
Research interests: Collecting histories and practices, West and South Asian arts and crafts, Iranian material culture, Scottish Orientalism.
Responsible for: Supporting the curators responsible for East Asia, with an emphasis on the Korean collections.
Research Interests: The history and practices of collecting, Asian ceramics, and the material cultures of Korea – especially that of the Goryeo Dynasty, the Joseon Dynasty and the 20th and 21st centuries.
Responsible for: The Japanese and Ainu collections.
Research interests: Edo-period art and culture, ukiyo-e, Kitagawa Utamaro, the work of female artists, the history of collecting and collections, and issues relating to gender and sexuality.
Responsible for: Working with the collections from West, South and Southeast Asia, with special responsibility for the development and interpretation of the Southeast Asian holdings.
Research interests: Southeast Asia; textiles; Buddhist material culture; photography; collecting histories.
Our collections from Asia represent its cultural diversity. More than 50,000 items from across the continent allow an insight into artistic exchange, trade relations, imperial histories and religious beliefs.
The European Decorative Arts section encompasses gold and silver, sculpture, ceramics, glass, enamels, arms and armour, dress, tapestries, textiles and furniture made between 1200 and 1850.
Our Mediterranean, Africa, Americas and Oceania collections consist of over 35,000 objects ranging from the archaeological to the contemporary.
Our Modern and Contemporary Design collections comprise over 35,000 objects dating from c.1850 to the present.
