I had already heard about the outstanding art collections at the MFA and was willing to interrupt my Michigan Ph.D. program in order to take up the job. I started in Boston as a Research Fellow for Chinese Art in 1971 and was named Curator of Asiatic Art in 1985. Now I serve as the Head of the Department of Asia, Oceania and Africa. If the answers are thumbs up, then I'll recommend the artwork to the museum director and deputy director for approval. Auction is a major source, of course.
Donations are another important source.
Individual dealers, too, approach us with photographs or the original works for us to consider. Sometimes a private collector might be interested in selling his or her collection to us. I am truly grateful for how much I have experienced and learned and benefited from working in the United States. Your country, of course, is a much younger country than India and China, which each have several thousand years' history. On the other hand, you also do not have the heavy burden of history and tradition and conventions.