Collecting Art Between Asia and New York

亚洲与纽约之间的艺术收藏与家族传承

10.15.2026
Jie Chengying Xiu

A practical guide for Asian collectors and families investing across borders

You visit a New York gallery with your daughter. She stops in front of a photograph; you are drawn to a painting across the room. Over lunch, you are still talking about what each of you saw. A collection can begin with conversations like these.

As a collector myself, I understand the pleasure of finding a work you want to live with and, perhaps, one day pass on to your children. My perspective on the decisions that follow has also been shaped by more than 20 years of handling cross-border transactions on Wall Street. During that time, I have watched pioneering Asian business owners move from Asia to the United States with their families and navigate the challenges of building lives across borders.

In recent years, I have seen art play a growing role in how Asian families hold and pass on wealth. I have also seen the difficulties they encounter along the way. Where a work is bought, where it is kept, who owns it, and how it will eventually reach the next generation are connected decisions, often involving more than one country’s laws.

I wrote this article to help readers understand those connections. Drawing on my perspective as a collector and my experience in cross-border transactions, I hope to offer Asian investors and their families a practical overview of what they should anticipate, from buying and enjoying art to managing its rights, planning for taxes, and passing it on. Seeing how these decisions fit together can help a family make choices that serve both its present life and its longer-term wishes.

Finding a shared interest

New York offers many places to begin looking, from museum galleries to artists’ studios and Asia Week exhibitions. It is also part of a substantial market: the United States accounted for 44% of global art sales by value in 2025, according to the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report 2026. [1]

There is no need to start at the top of that market. A print, a photograph, or a work by an artist you have met may be a meaningful first purchase. Spend time looking before deciding what you want to live with.

Family members need not share identical tastes. A parent may see a childhood memory in a landscape; an adult child may notice something entirely different. Asking why a work matters can reveal stories that seldom come up in everyday conversation. Those stories are worth collecting, too.

Before you buy

Once a work catches your attention, give yourself room to ask questions. Who is selling it, and do they have the right to sell it? What supports its attribution to the named artist? What is known about its provenance, meaning its ownership history and supporting records? Are there gaps that need further investigation?

An art specialist can assess condition and the evidence about authorship. A lawyer can examine ownership issues and the purchase terms, including what remedies may be available if an important statement proves incorrect. Ask how any adviser is paid and whether they have a financial relationship with the seller.

Review auction conditions before bidding, or the purchase agreement before signing. Understand what is promised about the work, when payment and delivery are due, and who bears the risk if it is damaged along the way. If family members work in different languages, make sure everyone understands the same terms.

Set a budget for the full cost. Commissions, taxes, shipping and insurance add to the purchase price; storage or conservation may create continuing expenses. Art may gain value, but it can also lose value and take time to sell. An insurance appraisal does not tell you what a buyer will pay. Consider whether you can comfortably keep the work if your circumstances change.

Consider the proceeds of a future sale after commissions and taxes. For individuals subject to U.S. income tax, long-term gains on art held as a collectible can face a federal rate of up to 28%, before any applicable net investment income and state or local taxes. A loss on art held for personal enjoyment is generally not deductible. The treatment depends on the owner’s tax status and how the work is held. [2]

What your purchase includes

Buying a painting gives you ownership of the physical work; it does not automatically give you its copyright. Under U.S. copyright law, an owner generally may resell a lawfully made original and display it to people present where it is located. Publishing its image on a business website, printing reproductions, or using it in marketing raises separate questions. Check whether permission is needed or an exception applies. If image use matters to your plans, agree on the permitted uses with the copyright owner and keep a written license. [3,4]

The distinction also matters when you commission a portrait or sculpture. Paying the artist does not, by itself, transfer copyright, and describing a commission as a “work made for hire” is insufficient unless the legal requirements are met. Address ownership of the finished work and any image rights in the agreement. If licensing income forms part of the investment, verify the rights being acquired; a voluntary copyright assignment generally must be written and signed by the rights owner or an authorized agent. [3,5]

Before materially altering a contemporary work or removing art incorporated into a building, obtain advice about the artist’s rights. U.S. law protects qualifying visual art against certain harmful alterations and destruction even after a sale, with specific exceptions and rules for conservation and building removal. [4]

Bringing the collection home

Decide who will own the work before completing the purchase. Personal ownership, a trust, or a company can serve different purposes, but none is automatically the right answer or a tax-saving solution. Your legal and tax advisers should consider who will use the work, who will make decisions about it, and how it fits the family’s wider plans.

A purchase in Hong Kong for a home in Manhattan also needs attention before shipment. Buying outside New York does not necessarily avoid New York use tax when the work enters the state. Maintaining a permanent home or apartment in New York can matter for sales and use tax even if you are not a New York income-tax resident. The result depends on the purchaser, timing, and transaction. [6] Check customs requirements, current duties, and any cultural-property restrictions, together with the relevant country’s export and payment rules. [7] Arrange suitable packing and confirm insurance for transit and the work’s destination.

Keep a file for each work, with the invoice, purchase agreement, ownership history, condition reports, photographs, and shipping and customs records. Record its legal owner, location, acquisition date, and tax basis, with supporting records for inherited or gifted works. Add appraisals, conservation records, and any copyright assignments or image licenses. A few sentences about why you chose the work can be just as useful to your children in a different way. The paperwork explains the purchase; your words explain its place in the family.

Making plans with the next generation

Passing on a collection is a common ambition. In the 2025 Art Basel and UBS survey, 80% of the high-net-worth collectors surveyed planned to leave their collections to children or spouses. That finding describes a selected group of collectors, rather than all families, but it offers a useful reason to begin the conversation early. [8]

Ask your children which works they care about and whether they would want to keep them. One may love a painting that another would prefer to sell. Some may welcome the art but have little space or money for its care. Understanding those preferences can help you make arrangements that are fair and workable.

If works will be shared, agree on who may display or lend them, who pays the expenses, and how a sale or buyout would be decided. Identify who will manage the collection if the owner becomes unable to do so. Put these decisions into appropriate ownership agreements, wills, and trusts. A general direction to “divide my art equally” may leave heirs with difficult questions about value and possession. Where family members or works are in several countries, coordinate the documents with counsel in each jurisdiction.

The timing of a transfer also matters. For U.S. income-tax purposes, a child receiving appreciated art during a parent’s lifetime generally takes the parent’s tax basis, subject to adjustments. Inherited art generally receives a basis tied to its fair market value at death, subject to exceptions. “Basis” is the amount used to calculate taxable gain or loss when the work is sold. [9]

For example, assume a parent’s basis in a painting is $100,000 and its value has risen to $300,000. A lifetime gift generally preserves the $100,000 basis; an inheritance when its value is $300,000 generally produces a $300,000 basis, ignoring applicable adjustments and exceptions. That can change the tax on a later sale. It does not make inheritance the better choice in every case: estate and gift taxes, foreign laws, and the family’s wishes must be considered together. [9]

A valuable collection also needs a source of cash. Taxes, insurance, storage, and administration expenses may come due before an estate can arrange a satisfactory sale. Plan how those costs will be funded so that heirs have time to make decisions without pressure to sell a cherished work. If you acquired copyright or licensing rights, address their management and succession separately from the physical objects.

When the family and the art cross borders

Cross-border families need tax advice before a gift, a change of ownership, or a move of valuable art. Artwork in the United States can raise U.S. estate or gift tax issues even for an owner who is neither a U.S. citizen nor domiciled here, subject to applicable exceptions or treaties. [10,11] For these taxes, residence turns on domicile, generally where a person lives with no definite intention of leaving. This differs from income-tax residence, and a green card alone is not conclusive. [12]

The filing threshold can be surprisingly low. An estate of a person who was neither a U.S. citizen nor U.S.-domiciled may need to file a U.S. estate-tax return when U.S.-situated assets exceed $60,000; certain prior taxable gifts also enter the filing calculation. A painting kept in a New York apartment can therefore matter even when most family wealth is overseas. This is a filing threshold, not a general tax-free allowance. The tax due depends on the facts, deductions, and any applicable treaty. [10]

A spouse’s citizenship also matters. A bequest to a spouse who is not a U.S. citizen generally does not qualify for the unlimited federal estate-tax marital deduction without special arrangements or an applicable exception. Review this before assuming that leaving the collection to a spouse will defer estate tax. [13]

Sharing art beyond the family

Collecting can lead to friendships with artists and a closer connection to cultural life. Studio visits, museum programs, and supporting exhibitions offer ways to participate. A museum loan may let others enjoy a work while you retain ownership. The loan agreement should address its care, insurance, transport, return, and any agreed image permissions.

If you hope to donate a work, speak with the institution before making plans around the gift. Will it accept the work? How might it use it? Discuss expectations about display and acknowledgment. For a lifetime donation of appreciated art, a museum’s educational use and a charity’s sale to raise funds can produce different U.S. income-tax deductions. An unrelated use may reduce the deduction to the donor’s basis rather than the work’s current value. [14]

Do not assume that a gift to a museum in Asia qualifies for a U.S. income-tax deduction: contributions directly to foreign organizations generally do not qualify, subject to limited exceptions. [14] Arrange any required qualified appraisal and supporting documents, including Form 8283 where applicable. The requirements depend on the gift and amount claimed; an insurance valuation alone should not be treated as sufficient. [15]

Putting these plans into practice calls for collaboration. Working with tax, estate-planning, and intellectual-property counsel, appraisers, and art specialists helps align the legal and practical arrangements with the family’s wishes.

A useful place to begin is with a work you already love. Tell your children how you found it. Ask what they see in it. Keep that conversation with its records. Years from now, someone may be glad to discover why you brought it home.

This article provides general information and does not constitute legal, tax, or investment advice. Decisions about buying, owning, transferring, or donating art require advice based on the particular facts and applicable law.

Sources

Sources reviewed October 14, 2026. The opening scene and tax-basis example are illustrative.

  1. Art Basel and UBS, Global Art Market Report 2026
    2025 U.S. share of global art sales by value.
  2. IRS, Topic 409 Capital Gains and Losses
    Collectibles gains and personal-use losses; see also IRS Net Investment Income Tax. NIIT guidance
  3. U.S. Copyright Office, Copyright Law Chapter 2
    17 U.S.C. §§ 201, 202, 204; ownership of the object, copyright, and transfers.
  4. U.S. Copyright Office, Copyright Law Chapter 1
    17 U.S.C. §§ 106, 106A, 107, 109, 113(d); image use, resale, display, and artists’ rights.
  5. U.S. Copyright Office, Circular 30 Works Made for Hire
    Requirements for commissioned works.
  6. New York Department of Taxation and Finance, Instructions for Form ST-141
    Sales and use tax residence, out-of-state purchases, and exceptions.
  7. Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, Cultural Property
    19 C.F.R. §§ 12.104–12.104k; import restrictions and documentation. Duties and export rules require shipment-specific review.
  8. UBS, Survey of Global Collecting 2025 highlights
    See the 2025 survey section. Selected high-net-worth collectors across ten markets; not all wealthy households.
  9. IRS, Publication 551 Basis of Assets
    Gifts and inherited property; December 2025 revision.
  10. IRS, Estate Tax for Nonresidents Not Citizens of the United States
    U.S.-situated property and Form 706-NA filing threshold.
  11. IRS, Gift Tax FAQs for Nonresidents Not Citizens of the United States
    U.S. tangible property, exclusions, and treaty considerations.
  12. IRS, Frequently Asked Questions on Estate Taxes
    Citizenship, residence, and domicile.
  13. IRS, Instructions for Form 706
    Schedule M and qualified domestic trusts; noncitizen spouses and exceptions.
  14. IRS, Publication 526 Charitable Contributions
    2025 edition; related use of tangible property and contributions to foreign organizations. Applicable tax-year limits also require review.
  15. IRS, Publication 561 Determining the Value of Donated Property
    December 2025 revision; qualified appraisals and documentation.
Areas of Focus: Art Law