[Rarebooks] fs: Holy (not) Ancient Etruscan Terracotta Warriors, Batboy!!

[Joslin Hall Rare Books, ABAA]

A gigantic (so to speak) scholarly "oopsie"-

Richter, Gisela M.A. "ETRUSCAN TERRACOTTA WARRIORS IN THE METROPOLITAN 
MUSEUM OF ART. With a Report on the Structure and Technique by Charles F. 
Binns"

New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art. Papers No.6. 1937.
Edition limited to 500 copies.

Between 1915 and 1921 the Metropolitan Museum of Art purchased three 
extraordinary ancient Etruscan terra cotta warriors... in fact, they were a 
bit too extraordinary.

The warriors were, in fact, fakes, carried out on a grand, almost "mythic" 
scale, and even as the ink dried on the checks, doubts were being whispered 
in art circles in Europe. In 1959, when a visiting Italian scholar was 
offered a chance to see the statues and commented that he did not need to 
see them since he knew the man who had made them, the authorities at the 
museum decided something had to be done. In 1960 a series of tests 
concluded that the glazes on all three specimens contained chemicals which 
had not been in use before the 17th century, and in 1961 one of the fakers 
signed a confession of the whole affair. Today the statues are stored far 
away from prying eyes, but they still provide an entertaining and sobering 
lesson in fake busting. Card covers. 9.5"x12.5", 218 pages plus 24 b/w 
illustrations; light soil; a nice copy. [06801] $175.00

For the FULL account of this story,
with pictures of the "ancient" warriors,
see our Reference Desk article-
<http://www.joslinhall.com/etruscan_terracotta.htm>

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