Etruscan Terracotta Warriors - Discovery of Forgery

Discovery of Forgery

The three warrior statues were first exhibited together in 1933. In the following years, various art historians, especially in Italy, presented their suspicions that on stylistic and artistic grounds alone, the statues might be forgeries, but there was no forensic proof to support the allegations. A later expert found that these exceptionally large pieces showed extraordinarily even firing characteristics, but he expressed this as cause for admiration, not suspicion. In 1960, chemical tests of the statue glazes showed the presence of manganese, an ingredient that Etruscans had never used. The museum was not convinced until experts deduced how they had been made. The statues had been sculpted, painted with glaze, then toppled while in an unfired, green state to produce fragments: this was confirmed by Alfredo Fioravanti, who on January 5, 1961, entered the US consulate in Rome and signed a confession. The forgers had lacked the skills – and the very large kiln – required to make such large pieces. The fragments had been fired, "discovered" and sold, or re-assembled ("restored") then sold. As proof, Fioravanti presented the Old Warrior's missing thumb, which he had kept as a memento. On February 15, the Metropolitan Museum announced that the statues were forgeries.