August, I91I 
Counterfeiting old enamel 
miniatures 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
A studio in which imitations of antique vases are made 
Treating an engraving to give 
appearance of age 
The Counterfeiting of Objects of Art 
By Jacques Boyer 
has given rise to quite a new industry 
thoroughly typical of modern technical 
perfection. This is the science of prepar- 
ing highly artistic counterfeit reproduc- 
tions, a science which, under the impetus 
of a most thriving business, has risen to the highest level 
of modern attainments. As a striking instance illustrating 
this state of affairs, it is only necessary to call to mind the 
history of the famous tiara of Saitapharnes, which was pur- 
chased by the Museum of the Louvre at a price of $40,000 
as the masterpiece of a Greek artist of the third century. 
In point of fact, this object, which the curator accepted as 
an authentic 
Rent ud 1 = 
work of a 
Greek sculp- 
tor, was the 
work of a 
Russian 
named Rou- 
chomow- 
sky, who 
had _ fash- 
he hed . tf 
only a few 
months _be- 
fore in his 
workshop at 
Odessa, as 
was_ subse- 
quently 
shown _ by 
the expert 
investi- 
gation of 
M. Cler- 
mont - Ga- 
neau. Not 
only so, but 
the author 
of the work 
himself had 
in the mean- 
er X 
alll 
Placing a patch on an ancient canvas 
time confessed to its fraudulence, and in order to prove his 
point, he carved before a number of witnesses, and without 
having the model before him, a fragment of the celebrated 
tiara. This performance bore testimony, if not to his hon- 
esty, at any rate to his remarkable skill. 
It requires no small degree of erudition and a certain 
peculiar talent to impress upon a new product such a stamp 
that more or less expert connoisseurs are deceived into the 
belief that they have before them a real antique. We will 
pass in brief review some of the methods of the astute coun- 
terfeiter. There are consummate miniature artists, who 
imitate ancient enamels; others, workers in ceramic art, copy 
with scrupulous care beautiful old vases. We find painters, 
who, with more ambitious aim, study the signatures of the 
great mas- 
ters, which 
t hey strive 
to repro- 
duce with al- 
most incred- 
ible fidelity, 
in order to 
ions Gaye 
them at the 
bottom of 
some paint- 
ing appar- 
ently dating 
from the 
Middle 
Ages, and 
destined for 
some Amer- 
ican multi- 
millionaire. 
Thier eo is 
further an 
army of art- 
ists of small- 
en caliber, 
men who im- 
part an ap- 
pearance of 
antiquity to 
a recently 
