Somehow I missed this one (which dates all the way back to 2007). While I have to admit its a bit cynical to say it, I find this absolutely hilarious (on so many levels, I can’t even begin to touch on all of them). From rampant piracy in China, to its historical context concerning fakes to the gullible nature of foreigners doing business in china. Either way, for any of us who have burned a few bucks on a item we thought was “an authentic antique,” its good to know that from time to time even the experts get taken for a ride.
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| A fake at the Hamburg museum. | On of our own “authentic fakes  |
German museum admits terracotta warriors are fakes
More than 10,000 visitors to an exhibition of terracotta warriors in Hamburg are to be offered refunds after organizers admitted the figures on display are fake. Germany’s art world was stunned by the scandal, which came to light when officials from Xian, the home of the 2,000-year-old clay army, said they were unaware that they had lent any of their figures to Germany and that those on display at Hamburg’s Museum of Ethnology could not possibly be real as the originals were all elsewhere.
Chinese experts are on their way to the northern port city to examine the objects in the Power of Death exhibition, which consists of eight clay warrior figures, two horses and 60 smaller artefacts including bronze vessels, weapons and tools. German art detectives have launched their own investigation.
A spokesman for the Leipzig exhibition company, Centre of Chinese Arts and Culture (CCAC) which arranged the show, reluctantly admitted on German television that the figures were copies. But he was keen to stress the figures’ similarity to the originals.
“First of all one has to say that the material clay was also used in those days. Then one can say that these figures are the same size as those in Xian, but in any case they are not originals,” Yolna Grimm said. He added that the figures had been obtained from public authorities, institutes and businesses in China.
The company also organised a show of terracotta warriors in Leipzig two years ago, but there visitors were explicitly told that they were viewing copies.
Wulf Köpke, director of the Museum of Ethnology, said he had agreed to the exhibition on the firm understanding that the exhibits were genuine and the company had assured him that was the case.
A small sample of ancient pottery will emit a faint blue light when heated to a sufficiently high temperature. This faint blue light is known as thermoluminescence, or TL and is over and above the background red glow that is emitted from all materials. The TL can be measured using a sensitive detector known as a photomultiplier tube. The intensity of the TL signal is proportional to the time which has elapsed since the clay was last heated, normally since the kiln firing, and can be used to date when the object was last fired.
Only a fully qualified representative of Oxford Authentication Ltd is authorised to take a sample of powder. 100mg of powder is removed from an inconspicuous area of the object. Usually more than one sample is taken from each piece to verify that all the parts are of the same antiquity. Each piece is fully documented and photographed at the time of sampling, and the samples are sent to our laboratory in Oxfordshire for analysis.
