The Value of Art | Episode 1: Authenticity

there are 10 criteria that Sotheby's specialists consider when assigning prices to art jewelry wine watches and more this is how we determine the value of our [Music] authenticity authenticity authenticity in our field that's quite an interesting area whatever you're looking at has to conform to all the elements required of that particular category we're also looking at originality of the piece if anything has been altered is that been noted or is that been done on the slide to make something look better than it is authenticity is ready to soul of the object the true and intended manifestation of an artist idea when you have verification that it's genuine in the most basic way authenticity is really part of our branding Sotheby's basically is established over many years very close relationships that is where our expertise resides relationships with artists artists studios their foundations galleries agents dealers all the people who put together catalog resonates a catalogue raisonné is our best friend Picasso is a great example extremely extensive catalog resonating with thousands and thousands of works the international standard is that if a work by Picasso is reported in this book it's considered authentic if it's not in there then we have a little bit of a problem the collection of mrs. paul mellon is a huge moment for some of these and she had a beautiful right blue Mucha Fontana work it had been given to her as a gift it had been kept in her house in Virginia forever and ever Mucha Fontana has a foundation in Italy they didn't have any record of it so we actually ended up sending it to Italy at the 11th hour we got the word back that we could keep it in and it was gonna be include in future catalogue raisonné if there is no documentary evidence then the one would build a scholarly consensus that's connoisseurship Chinese comma stars are the same that says came intention you opened the door and you see the mountain right in front of you that visceral feeling obvious feeling of the fantasy tea most old masters aren't signed and so quite often will say all units it's signed in every brush stroke and we usually sit tongue-in-cheek but we mean it the poet of describers trying to recognize someone's handwriting I recognise this artist but I don't quite know who it is where I seen this hand before perhaps the way an artist always paints an ear or is is specific highlights on a cheekbone each time now technology has come so far there are a lot of tests on the makeup of the object you can take a sapphire and send it to the Gemological laboratory and they will tell you where it came from whether or not it's been heat treated it's an expensive process but we go through it for every diamond every colored stone you're always looking at the materials is the paper appropriate for the period is the weave of the canvas typical sometimes things need to pass the smell test is where works that were used in temples so they would usually have the scent of yak butter and incense if it doesn't sometimes you wonder where has it been anything that is worth something is going to be worth in fact we cannot know our gong matter what I'll take the confronted with the copies of everything there is a ibex artists who I've now seen a number of fake works on paper that come with the same documentation printed using the same typewriter just like wonky little typewriter where the letters jump up and down different gallery names on these fake invoices but I know to look out for the those works an S Maori people think he's very very easy to fake because sometimes people look at them and think well I could do that but actually conversely it's that spontaneity that is the hardest to fake I've always said that you can't Forge a book but in a celebrated case recently where 17th century work by Galileo fooled great experts it's just a reminder that you have to always be vigilant scholars were studying in say 1900 and you with no photographs just their memory and their extensive notes they would have missed cataloging always remember that in 1908 sought their 800 Rembrandt's in the world in 2048 250 words every year maybe every two years we are tasked with clearing out what we call aged inventory so I was looking at a road and brought to us in the 1980 oh it was not authentic the owner left it there but essentially there was no real expert body for Rodin prior to about 10 or 15 years ago a gentleman named Jerome Lee blades with the musee rodin parents initiated a project to actually go back to all the foundry records and museum records so I thought it would be worthwhile to show this to Jerome ablai and you able to find markings on the inside of this bronze which led him to know exactly the month and the year in which it was cast we then went on this mission of tracking down the owner he ended up having to hire a private investigator they were deceased but we tracked down their children and you can imagine their joy getting a call from Celebes saying they were the owners of this authentic Rodin which was extremely valuable and we actually then sold it for them you [Music] you

Channel: Sotheby's

Views: 70,365

Rating: 4.9239702 out of 5

Keywords: value of art, Sotheby's, art auction, art market, art

Id: _dxr9r0stiU

Length: 5min 49sec (349 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 20 2016