Overview

This is the truth behind the most incredible fake ancient Egyptian art mysteries, told in a lively, suspenseful, and well-documented page-turner. Egyptologists and forgers have been fighting an equally matched war for over a century: the connoisseurs eye vs. the ingenuity of the artists and their impressive creations, some considered authentic for decades before being withdrawn from major collections. A market has existed for copies of Egyptian artifacts from as early as the Phoenicians, but the appearance of fakes gathered strength through the nineteenth century and early twentieth century: new museums sprung up, archaeological digs revealed ever-greater treasures, and tourism flourished, bringing numerous collectors, all potential clients for forgers, in their wake. Author of an extensive scholarly volume on Egyptian fakes, but also the best-selling author of several thrillers, Jean-Jacques Fiechter brings this original subject to a general audience, introducing us to a series of colorful individuals and illicit deals set against a backdrop of golden sands and sinister backrooms. He retells the stories of masterpieces that found their way into the collections of the Louvre, Metropolitan Museum, and British Museum and discusses how forgers plied their trade, while also retracing the pioneering inquiries led by the first fake-busters. He demonstrates that despite scientific progress in the detection of fakes, the forgers speed and dexterity assure their ongoing production.

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9782080301116

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The truth behind the most incredible fake ancient Egyptian art mysteries, told in a lively, suspenseful, and well-documented page-turner. The book is a paranoiac's dream, telling of new carvings that were bathed in acid, boiled in tobacco and rolled in bitumen dust to look and even smell old. New York Times

Author Information

Jean-Jacques Fiechter, a historian and author of numerous prize-winning academic works on Egyptology, is also well known for his art forgery novels, including Death by Publication and A Masterpiece of Revenge.

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