Jagannatha temple Puri, Orissa, India c. 1950 Gift of the Girard Foundation

Asia and the Middle East cover a vast geographic region, which is comprised of hundreds of cultural, ethnic, and linguistic groups and religions. Approximately 12,000 objects in MOIFA's collection represent folk art from this part of the world.

The majority of MOIFA's Asian material comes from Japan, China, and India, although the museum has acquired a number of important pieces from Korea, Tibet, and Southeast Asia. The Asian collections are particularly strong in folk ceramics, paintings, puppets, talismans and toys. Highlights include over 500 Chinese New Year's Prints (nian hua), over 200 Indonesian shadow puppets (wayang kulit), Indian temple toys, and Japanese woodblock prints and folk ceramics. The Middle Eastern Collection is comprised primarily of amulets, textiles, jewelry, ceramics, and food service objects from Palestine, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, and an outstanding collection of Turkish ceramics.

Collecting priorities for the near future will focus on building the collection as a whole, and strengthening representation across Asia and the Middle East by seeking to acquire objects of diverse artistic traditions from regions currently underrepresented in the collection. That is, objects made for decorative purposes, documentation, daily use, entertainment, and religious and/or ritual purposes primarily from, but not limited to, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia.