The Alameda, Calif., auctioneer will sell deaccessioned items of the Tiffany Garden Museum Collection of Matsue on the Sea of Japan. The collection came to fruition due in large part to the partnership of Takeo Horiuchi and Alastair Duncan. Horiuchi was the founder and director of the Louis C. Tiffany Garden Museum. Duncan is the world’s foremost authority on Art Nouveau artworks and Art Deco, having served as senior vice president of Christie’s Art Nouveau and Art Deco department as well as authoring dozens of books on the decorative arts of the era.
In 1992 Horiuchi attended an exhibition in Japan that Duncan had curated, “The Masterworks of Louis Comfort Tiffany.” Horiuchi was impressed with Duncan’s level of knowledge and took him on a personal tour of his Tiffany Studios collection. Duncan recalls being in awe as he was led to storage room after storage room of outstanding Tiffany Studios pieces, recalling one room with a “crush of Tiffany lamps.”
A working relationship developed with Duncan becoming Horiuchi’s trusted advisor, helping him to seek out and acquire the most coveted Tiffany selections both at auction and from private collections. If Duncan found a masterpiece, Horiuchi became relentless in his pursuit to acquire it. Together they traveled throughout the world, scouting and obtaining the most exceptional Tiffany and Art Nouveau pieces available. Duncan’s expertise and Horiuchi’s determination proved to be a winning combination in amassing what became the finest Tiffany Studios and Art Nouveau collection in existence: the Louis C. Tiffany Garden Museum Collection.
When Horiuchi decided to sell the collection, Duncan notified his longtime friend and business associate, Allen Michaan. Michaan quickly assembled a group of private investors to make the transaction possible.
“This acquisition, which is the largest single transaction to ever occur in the world of decorative arts, elevates Michaan’s Auctions from a well-known, fast-growing national player on the antiques and art scene to an entirely new international level. I am very proud and excited that Michaan’s Auctions is at the center of such a history-making event and that we will be able to offer many of these spectacular works of art at our venue,” said Michaan.
Horiuchi opened his first Tiffany museum in Nagoya, Japan, in 1994. He became concerned about the ever-present threat of earthquakes in the city and soon began a search for an alternate locale, eventually settling on the town of Matsue on the Sea of Japan, where he built a museum in which to house his collection.
What set the museum’s treasures apart from many others lay in its quality and comprehensiveness; every artistic discipline produced by Tiffany Studios was represented, with the highest artistic level displayed in each category. Horiuchi’s passion for Tiffany’s works of art translated into a level of collecting excellence never before seen.
He expressed his ideals and vision for the collection in the massive 2004 publication, Louis C. Tiffany: The Garden Museum Collection, by Alastair Duncan. He closed the museum in Matsue several years later and was preparing to construct a new home for his collections at the base of Mount Fuji as he had decided to relocate it to a location that would generate more visitors.
Following the earthquake and subsequent tsunami on March 3, 2011, the Japanese government published its seismology forecast for future earthquakes in the island nation, predicting a series of earthquakes within the immediate future, three in the region near Mount Fuji. Faced thus with the overwhelming evidence of a catastrophic earthquake that might destroy the collection, Horiuchi made the decision to sell it.
Michaan’s Auctions will present a selection of remarkable Tiffany Studios artworks from the Garden Museum Collection on Nov. 17 in Alameda. This grouping from the finest Tiffany collection ever assembled will account for approximately 140 lots including lamps, windows, vases, paintings, enamels and mosaics. The selection of non-Tiffany paintings from the museum will be offered in the fine art auction on Dec. 1 at Michaan’s Auctions.
Michaan’s Auctions will collaborate with Sotheby’s Paris to offer the French Art Nouveau collection from the Louis C. Tiffany Garden Museum in February. Highlights include some of the most important pieces of Gallé furniture ever created as well as numerous objects by Réné Lalique, Louis Majorelle and their contemporary artists exhibited at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle and other international exhibitions of that period.
For more information on the Treasures of Louis C. Tiffany from the Garden Museum, Japan auction call 510-740-0220 or visit our website at www.michaans.com.
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