The Mr and Mrs John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection of Asian Art is one of the most notable collections of Asian art in the United States. Although small in size with just under 300 objects, it is both broad in scope and of the highest quality. The formation of the collection was integral to the history of the Asia Society. John D. Rockefeller 3rd, who founded the Asia Society in 1956, saw art as being an indispensable and integral tool for promoting better understanding between the countries of Asia and the United States. Rockefeller and his wife, Blanchette, began the collection in the early 1960s with the help of the eminent art historian, Sherman Lee. They wanted the collection to both represent the finest accomplishments of the arts of Asia and to be representative of the breadth of those cultures. Always concerned with the future public use of such a collection, they saw its possibilities for public education as part of the aim to improve and increase American understanding of Asia, past and present.
From Asia Society.