The art market has always attracted people who want to make something appear to be better, or to be something other, than what it actually is. This has not changed, and despite the proliferation of and access to price data, research and comparanda, there continue to be numerous examples of both fakes and forgeries circulating in the Islamic art market. This lecture focuses on the differences between the two categories, using two mina’i bowls as case studies that represent a fake on the one hand and a forgery on the other. One came onto the market over a century ago, was first published in 1921, and in private hands prior to entering a museum. The other appeared at auction for the first time in 2009 and its current whereabouts is unknown.
