www.ArteAfricanaAutenticita.com  (last update:21/01/2010)
 
 


Fond. Gottfried Matthaes
 

The Ascertainment of African Art Objects
 on scientific basis
five rooms of the Museo d’Arte e Scienza, Milan


The Museo d’Arte e Scienza was founded in 1990 as a teaching museum with the aim of offering art collectors the possibility of distinguishing authentic items from copies and fakes in all areas of antiques. To further serve this purpose, in 1993 the Museum set up a scientific laboratory fitted with the latest equipment.

In many fields of art the authenticity of an object is closely connected to its age. It is a well-known fact that African artists carved their masks and figures out of wood cut from freshly-felled trees. Determining the age of the wood therefore permits us to establish an item’s age.
 

A very valid method used for ascertaining the age of a wooden object is IR spectroscopy. This method has been elaborated by the Museum’s laboratory and intensely applied also to African art.
 (For information on the G. Matthaes collections visit www.Matthaes.org)
 


The numerous advantages of the collector of African art.

African art is as yet not subject to the limitations of international law. A collector is absolutely free to buy whatever he wants wherever he pleases, on trips, at markets, in art galleries or at auction sales.

His chief advantage respecting collectors of other types of art consists however in the fact that he can verify scientifically, in a safe and simple manner, the authenticity of his new purchase (something which is unthinkable, for example, for items in glass or porcelain, or graphic art, etc.) The peaks of an IR spectrum reveal the truth about the type and quality of the material from which an item is made and, increasingly, its age.

Confirmation of this possibility of accurate dating was given by Ingo Barlovic in his address in Göttingen* on 26.10.2008, in which he discussed the test of the reliability of the IR spectroscopic dating method applied by the scientific laboratory of the Museo d’Arte e Scienza of Milan, concluding that 18 results out of 21 proved to be correct, whilst in the case of one “incorrect” result there was a good probability that the wood used to make the item was already old (in which case the result would be accurate).

This points to an accuracy rate of almost 90%, a rate which could not be reached by any other dating method.

The African art collector has made a good buy with good future prospects.

*The meeting held in Göttingen was the last before that held in Zurich on 31.05.2009, where the reliability of spectroscopic dating was once again critically examined.
 
 


 

Acknowledged value
of the museum’s scientific laboratory and its methods
for determining authenticity


Attitudes towards and use of scientific methods are influenced by local laws and customs.

Basis of judgment: the situation in Italy (where the museum is located)

The prime institution for the fight against forgery and imitations is the Guardia di Finanza or Financial Police. The most recent catalogue on the determination of authenticity in art, published by the same in June 2007, contains an exclusive six-page presentation of the scientific laboratory of the Museo d’Arte e Scienza in which its methods for dating paintings, furniture, and objects in ivory and other materials are illustrated in detail and their validity, in effect, endorsed.

 Judicial proceedings. The probatory value of the spectroscopic dating method is crucial to the outcome of civil and penal judgments involving the determination of the actual age of art works.
 


The Museum laboratory’s mission is to improve existing scientific methods and elaborate new methods for the ascertainment of the authenticity of art objects.


The ascertainment of the age of wooden African art objects
at the laboratory of the Museo d'Arte e Scienza

Dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating methods present severe limitations when applied to African objects. Very few African woods develop growth rings and the C14 method does not give univocal dating results in the case of items made in the last 350 years. This circumstance has been noted and acknowledged for over 50 years.

Spectroscopy is therefore the only method available
for dating African wooden objects.

The ascertainment of type and age of wood:
spectroscopic dating and spectrographic classification of wood
www.spectroscopyforart.com

Surface test for the verification of the use of already old wood

A section of the laboratory


Instructions on how to take wood samples
for dating African objects

For dating purposes a sample of only a few milligrams of wood dust is needed, which has to be taken fairly deep in the wood and after having removed the first 2-3 mm of the surface.

To take the samples use a normal electric drill having a milling-bit with a diameter of about 2,5 mm (generally available in all hardware stores), possibly as the one shown in the picture, which produces a hole of the same dimensions as a woodworm hole.The wood powder must be gathered on a piece of white paper, which is to be folded carefully, sealed and mailed directly to the Museum laboratory.
 Notes:
 Choose the parts to be dated with care: give preference to those which are more significant and best preserved, avoiding areas excessively damaged by woodworm or contaminated.
With statues, avoid the bases on which they stand, as these are often deeply corroded or contaminated (see figs. A and B).
 Samples from the surface for verifying the use of old wood must be taken at the laboratory of the Museum or by an authorized person.


Per ulteriori informazioni: Museo d’Arte e Scienza (Silvia Mayer), Via Q. Sella 4, I - 20121 Milano.
T. +39 02 72022488 – Fax +39 02 72023156 – e-Mail: info@museoartescienza.com

Useful information for African art collectors 

The value of expertise on art
in the scientific age

The judgement of a renowned expert or a famous auction house has, at times, the magic power to push an article’s market value up by as much as a thousandfold. Thus a fine piece of furniture, a painting or an African mask may just as easily cost €1,000 or €1,000,000. This disconcerting difference in value estimates is becoming increasingly common in the international market. This would be conceivable if the appraisal were based on meaningful and verifiable data. Unfortunately this is not always the case.

€ 4.500  
 Authentic

  

€ 5.000.000
 Auction of June 18, 2006

Today gallery owners and art dealers are, in fact, in a position to complement their expert opinions with accurate scientific certificates, thus providing a more dependable guarantee of safer and fairer purchases than the large auction houses.
There already exists a valid method, the IR Spectroscopy, since decades the most widely used analytic method in the chemical industry and in scientific research laboratories. Get further and detailed information from our web site:  www.SpectroscopyforArt.com

 
African art objects as an investment


Tribal art occupies a decidedly special position respecting other fields of antiques. A fine piece of furniture, for instance, even if resulting not authentic, remains nonetheless a useful and decorative item of furniture. Instead a mask or a figure which is found to be a fake becomes just a dubious and worthless piece of carved wood.
Only authenticity lends value to a black African art object.


The evaluation of African art collections

The scientific laboratory of the Art and Science Museum of Milan receives orders from all over the world for the dating of African art objects from a wide range of collections and dealers.An analysis of the results of spectroscopic dating provides an interesting clue to the quality of private and professional collections at both the national and international level. For example: in the 4 months from May to August 2006 the laboratory analysed 506 African art objects representing 8 different large orders, 3 of which from major private collections, 2 from medium-sized private collections and 3 from art galleries (single dating results were not considered for statistical purposes)

Wood age /
Year of production
 

Average age (in years)
 

Number of items from private collections
 

Number of items from galleries etc.
 

Authenticity
 

  

Before 1900

120

7

9

a

1900 - 1925 

90

20

24

b

1925 - 1945

70

97

109

c

1945 - 1960

50

42

39

d

1960 - 1975

35

61

45

e

1975 - 2005

15

32

21

f

 

 

Total 259

Total 247

 
Authenticity: legend (excluding appraisal of artistic value)
 a) Rare and authentic items  - b) Highly credible items - c) Good probability of authenticity
 d) Further investigation advisable  - e) Only very few objects of this age authentic
 f) Almost certainly fakes

Please note: the relatively high percentage of copies and fakes present in the collections of art dealers and other experts is not to be attributed to an insufficient knowledge of the subject. Even the finest experts are often in doubt about the authenticity of items they examine. The explanation is simple and compelling: 80 % of the figures and masks available on the market today were produced in about 70 years between 1890 and 1960, and in this brief span of time these objects did not always develop visibly evident signs of age due to wear, atmospheric conditions or damage by insects etc. Only the natural process of the wood’s decay, measured by scientific tests, permits certain dating.

Provenance as guarantee of a good buy in African art  

Prov.: E.J. Pfifferfeld Collection (fake)

In most cases the provenance indicated is the collection to which an item originally belonged. The most significant collections of African art are owned by museums. The presence of copies in museums is a well-known problem, despite the valid experts at their disposal.
Collectors of African art are generally self-taught and have learnt their skills by trial and error. Over the years, non-authentic items are sorted out and sold on the market. This is why the risk attached to the purchase of single objects coming from collections is very high. Of interest, instead, are items offered for sale on the occasion of the liquidation of entire collections of note. Given the perfection reached today by fakers, the only safe way to ensure a good buy is offered by scientific spectroscopic age-dating, a precise and low cost method, easy to apply and, for important objects, by the scientific determination of authenticity analysing the patina and the material. 

 

Further analyses made by the  laboratory
 
Ivory - the distinction of materials 

Spectrographic tests for the ascertainment of the material

ivory

horn

bone

  

   

Microscopic tests for the ascertainment of the surface, patina and wear

Since the year 2007, all types of ivory can in fact be dated by spectroscopy.
 For information see www.IvoryAuthenticityandAge.com

Excavated African ceramics

microscopic tests

remains of slip

  petrified roots

ascertainment of authenticity  through the analysis of the encrustations left by the soil

a) authentic encrustations
b) artificial encrustations with lime, cement or glue



Stones

microscopic and macro photographic tests on:

micro crystallizations, remains of earth, cracks, petrified roots, wear;

spectrographic analyses on earth, encrustations and colours

(a)

(a) micro crystals and remains of earth

(b)

(b) remains of dried roots

 

African Bronzes

Microscopic and macro photographic tests on patinas, corrosion and casting core

The enlarged aspect of an authentic and antique surface.

Remains of casting core. The core proves the uniqueness of the object.

Corrosion layers of the excavated bronze horse (red cuprite and green malachite).
 

Chemical and spectrographic analyses

spectrographic curve of:
a) clay from an authentic core
b) false core with glue 

 

spectrographic curve of:
a) green patina of malachite
b) artificial green colour

For further information: www.AuthenticAfricanBronzesandCeramics.com

 

The patina

spectrographic test of the patina composition

microscopic and macro photographic tests for the ascertainment of wear and damages caused by time

a) patina based on lymph of trees with natural additives
b) synthetic varnishes

craquelure of the black patina

 

flaking of patina and abrasions

 
 

microscopic tests and spectroscopic analyses on
colours, encrustations, wear and additional material


The research of restorations and additional parts with compound reflexography

the red waves of reflexography reveal the replacement or the restoration of wood

on the right the plaster or the replacement of an arm

 

 

PRICES: the cost of analyses is 100 - 150 Euro for each test; some tests are conclusive in telling fake and authentic items apart, such as wood dating and tests on the encrustations on pottery and bronzes.
 


 

 
 

 

 

 

All the wooden objects on exhibit have been dated
using the IR spectroscopic method.

 

 

 

 

Main contents of the book
 The round or natural style is the most ancient Black African art style, whilst a style hailed as primitive ("abstract") could be directed at the Western market and lovers of modern painting. Of great interest might be the comments on what is judged as "colonial" and "decadent" and the concepts of "straight lines" and "rare".
Masks - Dan, Yoruba, Ibo, Songye, Ekoi, Bambara, Senufo, Fang...Helmet, Headdresses, Two-faced, Zoomorphic and Ritual Dance Masks.
Figures - Facial expressions on masks and figures; The development of Dogon art; Baule spirit spouses; Man, Woman and their different social status; Couples; Ibeji twin figures.
The cult - The fertility cult, The funeral and divination cult.
Musical instruments
Receptacles and other utensils of artistic value
Objects in bronze and other metals
The art of the Ife and Benin kingdoms
Stone figures
Terracotta figures and heads
The Authenticity of African Art - Artworks in Wood, Bronze, Stone, Terracotta and Ivory: Dating, Corrosion, Fake corrosion, Abrasion, Patinas, Paints, Manufacturing process, Restoration.

 

Beauty and Authenticity in African Art

Beauty can be neither explained nor experienced through words.….

For this reason the author has intentionally reduced text and comments to a minimum, illustrating the beauty of African art in over two hundred large colour photographs of valuable items belonging to the renowned Matthaes collection, now conserved and exhibited in five rooms of the Museo d'Arte e Scienza in Milan.

At the end of 2007, the Management of the Museo d'Arte e Scienza decided to assemble a catalogue also for the African section, which was to include both an assessment of the beauty and an evaluation of the authenticity of the objects. The idea was to capitalize on the long personal experience gained over the years and the results obtained by the Museum's scientific laboratory, using the finest equipment and most advanced analytical methods for the determination of authenticity.

Initially intended to be published in two volumes, the work was united in a single volume of 384 pages with over 300 objects dated using the IR spectroscopic method and illustrated in as many artistic colour photographs. Price: EUR 70 + delivery charges.
 


For information and orders please email info@museoartescienza.com
or phone us on 0039 02 72022488


 

 


Branch of the Milan scientific laboratory to serve central Europe
 

The  laboratory in Germany on the shores of Lake Constance, near Lindau.
  
 Please contact Dr. Martin Matthaes
 +49 (0) 1735853707 – mm@museoartescienza.com

 
 

Requests may be sent, as always, directly to the Milan laboratory at the following address:

Museo d’Arte e Scienza
 Via Q. Sella 4 – 20121 Milano
Tel. 0039 02 72022488
Fax 0039 02 72023156
e-mail: info@museoartescienza.com

  

 

 


 

 

some views of the exhibition

 

 Room 14

 Woman's world

 Subjects treated in the room: wedding gifts, the position of woman in the society, motherhood, fertility, kitchen utensils, feminine features masks, the Baule’s wooden brides

some views of the room

 

 

Rooms 15 -16

 Subjects treated in the room 15:  Masks' world -masks meaning, masks with many faces, masks inspiring respect, zoomorphic masks, memorial masks.
Subjects treated in the room 16: The Cult - oracles, divining plates, oracles with a mouse, the priest and the diviner – funeral cult, funerary statues, memorial heads, shrines

some views of the rooms

 

 

 

 

 Room 17

 Didactic Room

Subjects treated in the room: items for the authenticity recognition – the mutual influence of the contact between the western world and the African continent  

some views of the room

 

 

 

 

 Room 18

Man's world

Subjects treated in the room: the men’s meeting houses, the hunter – symbols of power, musical instruments, coins  

some views of the room

 MUSEO D'ARTE E SCIENZA
AT THE SERVICE OF ART  
Via Q. Sella,4 -20121 Milano-  Piazza Castello
Opening times: Mon-Fri: 10-18        Entrance: Euro 8 - reduced 4
For Information: Tel:+390272022488  Fax:+390272023156   e-mail: info@museoartescienza.com


 

 

OTHER  SITES OF THE MUSEUM OF ART AND SCIENCE: 

www.MuseoArteScienza.com - Sections of the "Museo d'Arte e Scienza": 6 rooms dedicated to the ascertainment of authenticity in art and antiques, 5 rooms for The "Treatise on Painting" of Leonardo Da Vinci and Leonardo's activities in Milan, 5 rooms dedicated to African Art and Buddhist Art, 2 Scientific Laboratories.

www.LeonardoDaVinciMilano.com - two permanent exhibitions: "Leonardo Citizen of Milan" and  "Appreciating Art through the Eyes of Leonardo" from his "Treatise on Painting".

www.AuthenticAfricanBronzesandCeramics.com -  dedicated to the authenticity of African artworks in bronze, stone and pottery. The scientific laboratory of the Museo d’Arte e Scienza has developed valid methods for telling authentic African objects from copies and fakes.

www.ArtAndScienceHandbook.com - The most complete and scientifically valid guide to ascertaining the authenticity of European and non-European antiques on an objective basis (540 pages and more than 2000 colour illustrations in 3 volumes and 3 languages)

www.Paintingsauthenticity.com - Information about the authenticity of modern paintings and antique paintings.

www.AntiqueFurnitureAuthenticity.com - A list of possible methods for determining the authenticity of furniture based on objective factors.

www.Excavatedartauthenticity.com - "A list of all the possible ways of determining, on the basis of objective factors,  the authenticity of excavated pottery, glass or bronze items from Southern Italy, the Mediterranean Basin, China and South America.".

www.SpectroscopyforArt.com - Scientific method for the dating of the wood and identification of the wood type used for art objects. Determination of their authenticity through analysis of colours, binders, pigments and other organic substances.  

www.Matthaes.org  - The history of the G. Matthaes Foundation from the opening of the painting school in Dresden in 1906 up to the Museum "Arte e Scienza" in Milan.

www.CopiesAndFakesInArt.com - Ample further descriptions for ascertaining the authenticity in art for the individual fields of antiques.

www.IvoryAuthenticityAndAge.com - Ivory, bones and horns can now be spectroscopically dated and recognized with precision.

www.LeonardoTeacherofPaintinginMilan.com - An abridged and illustrated edition of the “Treatise on Painting”.

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