The British Museum has been on the cusp of recent times, with 2,000 pieces of gold jewellery and gemstones stolen in August, mostly gold jewellery and gemstones, which were even sold online at low prices.
In fact, since the birth of museums, antiquities thieves have also been born. The art stolen by the thieves is enough to make a great museum. Sometimes, though, thieves steal fakes, after all, there are plenty of fakes in museums.
The "Aztec Symbol of Death" crystal skull in the British Museum is confirmed to have been made with modern tools from the 19th century
The Getty Museum's ancient Greek-style forgery of Koros has been on display for more than 30 years. The texture of this stone doesn't look like an old one
In this day and age, thieves also have to do their homework.
Fakes are as old as works of art. And the fakes in the museum are not only discovered today, but have been selectively ignored.
Perhaps worse than the theft of the collection is the presence of forgeries in museums.
This Bodhisattva statue is stored in the Guimet Museum in Paris, France, and has been identified as a forgery of the Republic of China imitation Song Dynasty
Worse than being stolen is a replica of a museum
Let's talk about Buddha imitations.
As a religious worship statue, as long as the Buddha is worshipped, it has nothing to do with the authenticity of the appearance, only the difference between the old and the new. The most odious thing is the antique forgery made for profit by replacing the old with the new.
The seated statue of Guanyin in the Utah Museum in the United States may be an imitation of the Republic of China
Thomas Hoving, former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, said:
"Forty percent of the artworks I've seen in my career are imitations, and some of them are poorly restored and misattributed, so much so that they are like imitations."
This figure is not entirely credible, but it is enough to show how often imitations are in circulation.
This statue of the Bodhisattva in the Philadelphia Museum in the United States may also be a forgery of the Republic of China imitation of the Song Dynasty
As early as the Republic of China, the counterfeiting of wooden statues has been very mature, from imitation carving, old, shipping and circulation have a mature industrial chain. Some forgeries from the Republic of China period are still on display in museums around the world.
Huo Mingzhi, a collector of the Republic of China, mentioned the distinction between new imitations and ancient wooden statues:
The red of the ancient wood statue is red and purple, purple through deep red, and the distressed red is yellow or magenta. The blue of the ancient wood statue is like blue malachite, and the distressed blue is whitish or blackish-blue. The color of the ancient wooden statue is a natural change because of the accumulation of years and the experience of cold and hot weather. But counterfeiters want to get it at one time, so the distressed color is floating but not sinking, and it is made of chemical colors, which is gaudy and vulgar.
Huo Mingzhi "Dagu Zhai Ancient Testimony"
When these fakes appear in museums, they are a disservice to the public, and it's no wonder that people are angry about the imitations in museums.
Victoria Art Museum, Australia, a new Yuan Ming wood carving Water Moon Guanyin
When we visit antique stalls, we know that there will be many fakes, antique porcelain, counterfeit paintings and calligraphy, and we also know that some shops are fake and shoddy. So know it in your heart and rely on your eyes to recognize. Museums are public institutions, and the public feels deceived by the ironic contrast between their high rank and inferior fakes.
The Museum of Ethnology in Geneva, Switzerland, a 13th-century wood carving Water Moon Guanyin, is actually new, and even marked as Hunan Gong, is this shape familiar?
The aesthetic construction of public institutions is often intangible to the public. Such aesthetic changes are imperceptible, and the wrong public aesthetics will build an inferior aesthetic environment and reconstruct the public's aesthetic power.
When you stare at a scribbled statue in a museum for too long, the statue will stare back. According to the architect Richard Neutra, just because people aren't aware of it doesn't mean they're harmless.
A modern face that is incredibly sweet and vulgar
Fakes backstab the art market, and bad money drives out good money
When counterfeit works appear on the art market, they can also confuse collectors' eyes and undermine their confidence.
Let's take a look at this statue first, is it real? Is it fake?
This is a statue of the Bodhisattva marked as a wood carving of the Yuan Dynasty, 60cm high. A closer look reveals that there are many irrationalities. In terms of craftsmanship, it is not the level of the Song and Yuan dynasties, or it is imitated by the Republic of China.
Let's take a look at the open face first, this Bodhisattva's open face is symmetrical and clear, and the face is smiling, which is in line with the characteristics of the open phase of modern imitations. Looking back at this Bodhisattva's open face, it is full of flesh, close and charming, in line with the aesthetic taste of modern people.
Such open faces are most commonly found in craft imitations and can be seen on major auction sites.
Imitations are common for overly sweet, in line with modern aesthetics
Secondly, this bodhisattva has too rough carvings on the hair bun lines, and the lines are mechanically stiff.
The body is beautiful, the knife under the clothing pattern is not clear enough, the lines at the strap are too rigid, stacked parallelly, and lack logic.
And its shape is also obviously imitating the sitting statue of the Jin Dynasty wood carving Bodhisattva in the Guimet Museum in France.
Left: Jin Dynasty wood carving Bodhisattva at the Guimet Museum in Paris
Right: Auction replica
The most questionable thing is its valuation. The statue was auctioned on October 13, 1997 with an estimate of USD28600-32,200 and a value of about 240,000 RMB. According to the market situation at that time, if this Bodhisattva is genuine, then the price is very low and very unreasonable. Looking back at the transaction records of the ancient wood carved Bodhisattva statues of that year, they were all more than 200,000 US dollars, and this Bodhisattva was only about 30,000 US dollars, which shows that the gap is large enough to make people suspicious.
Song wood carving water moon Guanyin statue
H 49.5 cm
佳士得 1997/3/20 Lot 354
USD 266,500
Yuan Yuan wood carving Guanyin statue
H 90.2 cm
Sotheby's 1997/3/19 Lot 167
USD 233,500
Song wood carving Guanyin statue
H 106.7 cm
伯得富 1996/11/21 Lot 3231
USD 442,500
In modern times, some imitations are well-made, but the imitators lack piety, imitate the old and aged in the spirit of profit, and then sell them to collectors, and disrupt the market at unreasonable prices.
When these antique Buddha statues entered the market at a low price, they began to destroy the integrity of the Buddha statue collection market. As more and more antique dealers sell these imitations at low prices, bad money drives out good money, and the real thing cannot be sold at its proper value.
High imitation of the Buddha head of Wu Zhou Baoguan
Tang limestone carved crown Buddha head Sotheby's lot
If the acceptance and circulation of imitations cannot be curbed, more Buddha statues with artistic and historical value will not be recognized.
The low price of these counterfeit products will also disturb the collector's perception of the market, and the inexperienced will mistakenly believe that the real thing is only worth so much, and when they buy the imitation at this price in the future, it will greatly discourage their investment enthusiasm and confidence.
High imitation of the Song Dynasty wood carving water moon Guanyin
Song Dynasty wood carving Water Moon Guanyin, collection of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
Remember to be too greedy for collecting, and delusionally pick up ancient artworks at ultra-low prices. Antiquators are often prone to target people with this kind of psychology, set traps, and catch turtles in urns. Nowadays, the market is transparent, and it is difficult for even professional antique dealers to pick up the potential at the market price.
The art market naturally follows the laws of the economy, and the prices of collections of different material styles and dynasties will fluctuate up and down, but in general, the value of the fine works of any category will remain consistent.
High imitation of the Song Dynasty wood carving Bodhisattva statue
Song Dynasty wood carving Bodhisattva statue in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Why do so many good works come from ancient times?
Some people ask, with such advanced modern technology, 3D printing, and mechanical engraving, can't we make better statues than ancient times?
Yes, it's not that the ancient wooden statues are good, but that the good works are mostly from ancient times. Why? It lies in the devotion of the donors and craftsmen behind it.
First of all, the donors, from the official cave statues to the temple folks, the statues are a kind of devotion expression. For example, a Buddhist cave dug by a joint venture in a village, or a statue carved for a temple in a village, it is impossible to hire unqualified craftsmen to carve at will, and professional and mature craftsmen will inevitably be selected. This is destined to be relatively highly artistic in ancient statues. The contemporary era has lost such a statue soil, the donor's statue making activities have become less, the craftsmen have broken the generation, and the decline of the craft has led to the modern statue style.
Ming Dynasty wood carving Bodhisattva statue Shanxi Museum Figure | Arterial shadows
From the point of view of craftsmen, ancient craftsmen were religious. The statues and murals in Dunhuang are themselves completed by the cooperation of monks and craftsmen, not to mention the monks' beliefs are pious, and the craftsmen are the same, how pious are they? It is recorded in the Dunhuang documents: "The horse is □ and empty, and it is difficult for the rope and ink to follow the teacher." If you get as much merit as you get, you can give as much as you can to □", which means that some craftsmen will dedicate all their wages to make merit. Their reverence for craftsmanship and statues gives the carved Buddha statues a sincere beauty.
Painted Buddha statue of Beiqi Qingzhou Museum Figure | Arterial shadows
No matter how advanced modern technology is, the pious personality of the craftsman has declined and is gradually declining. Not to mention the imitation statues that were born for profit and simplified to assembly production standards.
The mission of museums is to tell others what is the standard of beauty, and it is undoubtedly deceptive to tell others that it is beauty with an insincere object.
Replica of the 13th-century wood carving Guanyin at the Museum of Ethnology, Geneva, Switzerland
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