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A Note from the Toledo Museum of Art
The Toledo Museum of Art is pleased to be working with Harlan J. Berk, Ltd. to present 145
antiquities exclusively to the members of the Association of Art Museum
Directors. The works of art, many of which have been in the TMA collection since the 1930s
or earlier, have distinguished pedigree. The diverse offerings--from Old Kingdom Egypt to
Imperial Rome--are particularly well-suited to public instiutions and those that endeavor
to have more comprehensive study collections. While these objects were no longer the right
fit for the Toledo Museum of Art, it is our hope many of these charming artworks will find
homes with our peer institutions.
The Toledo Museum of Art’s collections are defined by extraordinary quality rather than
encyclopedism. The Museum does not attempt to collect one of everything; it tries to have the
best examples of the best objects. Over its more than 115 years, the Museum has
developed a remarkable strength in its collection of ancient art, and the objects on offer here,
while now duplicated by other objects still in TMA’s collection, are part of that legacy.
This method of sale is an experiment, and it is one undertaken in the face of the reality that
while deaccessioned artworks are occasionally offered to some museums, as a profession we
have not devised a system to broadly offer the things that we deaccession--ancient or
otherwise--to a broader group of art museums. Harlan J. Berk, Ltd. and their team should
be commended for their willingness to be innovative and experimental, and while this pilot
project may not be perfect, we also hope that it points towards a way to offer objects to move
between museums more efficiently. - Toledo Museum of Art