Message #48051

[forestman]

Dear Joey,

I think it was a fair assumption from Brian in that there are 3 bottles that are likely painted by the same artist, in the same style bottle and of the same period, all of which have red stained spoons.

As each bottle is owned by a different person then the chances of each one choosing the same relatively unusual spoon to replace an original one seems improbable although, as you say, without someone having been there to witness it then who can say for sure.

The same "did anyone witness it" can apply to pretty much every snuff bottle out there of age except for a very few that are described in official Imperial workshop records that have provenance.

Even provenance can be faked. I have a fake Monet painted by a man who went to prison for forgery and now produces known fakes. The man who commissioned the fakes from him managed to pass off what were not especially good fakes by creating provenance for them, even altering records in museums etc to do so. To this day no-one knows how many records he altered and it was one of the biggest art scandals of the "20th Century. He was paid by a museum to travel to America and authenticate one of the forgeries he had commissoned so did pretty well that day.

Regards, Adrian.