Now that the museum has filled some gaps and attracted gifts from many other donors, it identifies itself as one of the largest museums outside Asia exclusively devoted to Asian art. It's also the largest museum with its focus in the United States, where it most closely resembles the Smithsonian Institution's predominantly Asian Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. They have a combined holding of 28,000 Asian objects, twice as many as the San Francisco museum, but their collections are not exclusively Asian.

Some of America's encyclopedic art museums also have built significant Asian holdings. The Boston Museum of Fine Arts has about 100,000 Asian pieces, the largest collection in the country. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has nearly 40,000 Asian artworks. The Cleveland Museum's Asian collection is highly revered but much smaller, about 4,000 objects.

THE MANY SHAPES OF BEAUTY: Korean ceramics, which celebrate imperfection, yield important cultural lessons, says curator [Emily J. Sano].; PHOTOGRAPHER: Kaz Tsuruta; WARRIOR: A haniwa, or cylindrical clay figure, hails from Japan.; PHOTOGRAPHER: Kaz Tsuruta; FROM CHINA: A Buddhist deity, from the [Avery Brundage] Collection.; PHOTOGRAPHER: Kaz Tsuruta; IN BRONZE: A Thai likeness of Buddha is a gift from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.; PHOTOGRAPHER: Kaz Tsuruta; NEW HOME: A 1917 Beaux Arts building designed as the city's old Main Library will house the museum.; PHOTOGRAPHER: Kaz Tsuruta; MODERN: Basketry sculpture by Yako Hodo.; PHOTOGRAPHER: Kaz Tsuruta; BRIDLE: Cheekpiece of a bridle from what is now Iran.; PHOTOGRAPHER: Kaz Tsuruta; 12th CENTURY: Gorgeo Dynasty ewer made in Korea.; PHOTOGRAPHER: Kaz Tsuruta