Saitaphernes tiara
The Saitaphernes tiara is a gold headgear that supposedly belonged to the Scythian ruler Saitaphernes . In 1896 the Louvre in Paris bought it . It was later recognized as a fake that had been made in Odessa by the jeweler Israel Ruchomowskij (* 1864 in Mazyr , † 1934 in Paris ).
history
On April 1, 1896, the management of the Louvre announced that they had acquired a tiara from the Scythian ruler Saitaphernes for the amount of 200,000 gold francs. The Greek inscription on the tiara read: “The council and citizens of Olbia in awe of the great and undefeated King Saitaphernes”. The purchase was decided by the French parliament.
In fact, the tiara was made in 1895 by an Odessa jeweler , Israel Ruchomowskij, on the order of two antiquarians. The jeweler received 1,800 rubles for this.
The brothers Hochman dealt with in Odessa grocery trade . However, they hoped to make a brilliant business with the excavated Scythian gold treasures. Since the illegal excavations in Ochakiv did not bring any significant profits, they decided to order forgeries from the goldsmith Ruchomowskij. They took advantage of his gullibility to do so.
For a number of years, the management of the Louvre confirmed the authenticity of the tiara, despite the doubts raised by the archaeologist Adolf Furtwängler . He had noticed that in some fragments of the tiara motifs from other well-known Scythian works of art were repeated.
The matter finally became known in Odessa. Ruchomovsky came to Paris and brought his drawings with him as evidence. He declared his readiness to repeat any fragment of the work freely. He escaped punishment because he had not put the work up for sale himself, but only created the tiara to order. For his masterful work he was even awarded a gold medal from the Paris Salon of Applied Art.
He brought his family from Odessa and stayed in Paris until the end of his life. This tiara is considered an example of the perfect forgery in art history.
literature
- Eberhard Paul : The false goddess. History of forgery of antiquities. Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 1962 (also L. Schneider, Heidelberg 1962)
- Eberhard Paul: Fake antiquity. From the renaissance to the present. , Koehler and Amelang, Leipzig 1981 (also: Schroll, Vienna-Munich 1982 ISBN 3-7031-0536-4 )
