Proceedings of the XXIst International Congress on Ancient Bronzes (Supplementum 4)
Articles

Roman original or deliberate fake? On an unpublished bronze head in a private collection in Cordoba

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  • David Ojeda
David Ojeda
National University for Distance Education, Madrid, Spain
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17204/dissarch.suppl4.169

Published 2024-09-30

Keywords

  • portrait,
  • bronze,
  • fake,
  • forger

How to Cite

Ojeda, D. (2024). Roman original or deliberate fake? On an unpublished bronze head in a private collection in Cordoba. Dissertationes Archaeologicae, 169–177. https://doi.org/10.17204/dissarch.suppl4.169

Abstract

A private collection in Cordoba contains a previously unpublished bronze head. It is not a Roman original. Its iconographic incongruences and its intentional fractures suggest a malicious intention in its manufacture. It is possibly a fake that someone intended to introduce in the art market. A second bronze portrait of the same personage belongs to a private collection in Murcia. It has similarly never been made known. It is also a modern sculpture, confirming the non-ancient origin of the bronze in Cordoba. The joint study of the two objects can serve as a methodological example of the procedure to detect modern fakes of bronze portraits with an antique appearance.

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