Fakes at Brooklyn Museum

The Art Newspaper reported that one third of the Coptic sculpture collection at the Brooklyn Museum is comprised of modern reproductions of late Egyptian sculpture. An upcoming exhibition in February 2009, “Coptic Sculpture at the Brooklyn Museum,” will shed light on the forgeries.

The fakes were acquired by the museum in the 1960’s and 1970’s from prominent Swiss and New York dealers.  Compared with authentic works, the fakes tend to overuse Christian imagery since they were fabricated for export to European and North African markets with different taste. Needless to say, many museums and private collections including Coptic sculpture will doubtless be feeling the need to call in the experts and re-examine their holdings.