Brooklyn Museum Curator Says a Third of Coptic Art Collection Likely Fake

BROOKLYN, N.Y.—Edna Russmann, a curator at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, has said that about one third of the museum's Coptic art — early Christian Egyptian art — collection is fake, the Independent reports. Although chemical testing on the works has not yet been completed, Russmann said she is fairly certain that 10 to 30 of the pieces are fake and that about half of the remaining objects have likely been recarved or retouched.

Russmann says she began to have doubts about the collection four years ago. According to the Art Newspaper, which first reported the story, Baltimore-based Byzantine specialist Gary Vikan first noted the possibility of fakes in the collection in the early 1970s but never went public with the concern.

The Brooklyn Museum is planning an exhibition for next February that Russmann says will help offset the embarrassment surrounding the news. The show will place true works of Coptic art alongside the fake ones, partly as a way of alerting other U.S. museums to the fact that they may have fakes, too.