Anthropology of Forgery. A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Archaeological Fakes

The forgery of archaeological artefacts and works of art is an ancient and complex phenomenon, strictly connected to the history of discoveries and the history of collecting, to the development of the antiquities market, the progress in restoration techniques, and, lastly, to the history of archaeology and art criticism. What is the relationship between counterfeit, restoration, and reproduction of an object? How does this relationship change over time, and in relation to the place and the social and cultural context? What are the tools and methods for the authentication of an allegedly archaeological artefact? Can a fake become a historical tool useful to understand the history of taste and ideas? How may the currently rampant forgery be countered? Trying to answer these and other questions, this volume looks at the falsification of archaeological and art objects through the prism of several disciplines, with contributions of academics, administrators of the cultural heritage, and market professionals. It opens with a historical overview of restoration and reproduction methods between the 16th and 19th centuries, followed by a series of recent case studies that confirm the manifold nature of fakes and describe some authentication methods. The book continues with a collection of essays that aim to revaluate the fake object as a document for the history of culture, and it closes with some remarks on the legislation on counterfeiting and on the antiquities market. This volume is an interesting instrument to understand an extremely pressing, relevant phenomenon for cultural heritage, put in a historical perspective.

La falsificazione dei reperti archeologici e delle opere d’arte è un fenomeno antico e complesso, strettamente connesso alla storia delle scoperte e del collezionismo, allo sviluppo del mercato antiquario, al progresso delle tecniche di restauro e alla storia dell’archeologia e della critica d’arte. Qual è il rapporto tra contraffazione, restauro e riproduzione di un oggetto? Come cambia questo rapporto in funzione del tempo, del luogo e del contesto sociale e culturale? Quali sono gli strumenti e i metodi dell’autenticazione di un presunto reperto archeologico? Un falso può diventare uno strumento ermeneutico per la storia del gusto e delle idee? Com’è possibile combattere l’attuale dilagante falsificazione? Per tentare di rispondere a queste e altre domande, il volume scompone il fenomeno della falsificazione degli oggetti archeologici e artistici nel prisma di varie discipline, raccogliendo contributi di accademici, amministratori del patrimonio culturale e professionisti del mercato. Si apre con un panorama storico delle pratiche di restauro e riproduzione tra XVI e XIX secolo, seguito da una serie di casi di studio recenti che confermano la multiforme natura del falso e illustrano alcuni metodi di autenticazione. Si prosegue con una raccolta di saggi che propongono di rivalutare l’oggetto falso come documento per la storia della cultura e si conclude con alcune note sulla legislazione in materia di contraffazione e sul mercato antiquario. Il libro offre dunque un interessante strumento per comprendere un fenomeno urgente e di grande rilevanza e attualità per il patrimonio culturale, in prospettiva storica.

Sommario:

Monica Salvadori, Monica Baggio, "Il falso è misterioso e assai più oscuto se mescolato insieme a un po' di vero". Anthropology of Forgery: an Introduction

Restorations, Reproductions, Revival
Anne-Marie Guimier-Sorbets, Où s'arrête l'autenticité, où commence la falsification d'une mosaïque? Quelques études de cas
Marcella De Paoli, When an Old Restoration Ends Up Being a Fake. "Cold Cases" from the Historical Collections of the Archaeological Museum, Venice
Angela Luppino, Il restauro dei vasi antichi nella prima metà del XIX secolo nel Real Museo Borbonico di Napoli: Raffaele Gargiulo e la sua collezione di vasi
Federica Giacobello, The intesa Sanpaolo Pottery Collection: from Research to Valorization
Stefania Mainieri, An Exemple of "Dangerous" 91th-century Restoration Work at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples (MANN)
Gianluca Tagliamonte, Etruscan Fakes
Karoline Zhuber-Okrog, Hier stimmt doch etwas nicht! Vier angeblich etruskische Spiegel in der Wiener Antikensammlung
Hélène Anton, Campana, Pennelli and the Art of Forgery. A Series of Fake Roman Paintings in the Louvre's Collections
Flavia Fiorillo, Martina Cataldo, From Originals to Fakes. Classification of Paintings Through Case Studies
Michael Matzke, Art or Forgery? Coin Imitation from Antiquity to the Present Day
Cristina Boschetti, Making Archaeological Glass

In Pursue of the Authentic: Archaeological and Archaeometric Investigations
Luca Zamparo, From Materiality to Autenticity: Methodological Observations
Elisa Bernard, Serial Forgery? Some Pseudo-Apulian Vases in the Marchetti Collection in Padua
Ludovico Rebaudo, The Forger's Modus Operandi. The Case of Some Pseudo-Attic Vases in a Private Collection in Gorizia (Italy)
Cara Grace Tremain, Non-invasive Techniques to Autenticate the painted Surfaces of Ancient Maya Ceramics
Andrea Stella, The Impact of Modern Fakes in the Analysis of Monetary Circulation: a Case Study from Aquileia
Alessandra Cannataro, "F for Fake"? The Strange Case of a "Pompeian" Surgical Set from a Private Collection in Padua
Davide Delfino, The Estrada Collection in the Project of Museu Ibérico de Arqueologia e Arte (Abrantes, Portugal). Evaluation Techniques in Archaeological Private Collections, identifications of Forgeries and valorization
Paul Craddock, Aspects of Surface Examination in Autenticity: Investigating the life History of an Artefact

Archaeological Forgeries and the history of Culture(s)
Andrea Saccocci, Coin Counterfeiting in Medieval Italy: the Archaeological Evidence (12th-13th Centuries)
Annamaria Pazienza, Narrating the lombards through Archaeological Fakes. Visions of the Early Middle Ages in Italian Cultural Memory
Eduardo Corrochano Labrador, Nationalism as motivation: Faking the Visigoth Past in Early 20th Century
Gabriella Prisco, Two Exhibitions and the Project of a Museum Dedicated to Forgery. A History between France and Italy (1930-1955)
Katheryna Chuyeva, The Forgeries of Antiquities in Ukrainian Museums: the History of the Problem

Legislation and the Antiquities Market: Institutions, Regulations and Procedures
Julia Weiler-Esser, Preventing the Sale of Forgeries and Illegally Excavated Goods. A Legal Point of View
Agnese Barbini, The Regulation of Counterfeiting of Works of Art in the Italian Code of the Cultural and Landscape Heritage
Elena Pettenò, Vero o falso? La tutela dei beni culturali tra pubblico e privato: domande, problemi e prospettive
Andrea Pancotti, Da Archeologo ad Antiquario: l'esperienza di lavoro in una casa d'aste.