sculpture, illustration (freepik photo)
Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah al-Thani, the billionaire cousin of Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, is known for his magnificent wealth that even made the Queen of England jealous. After visiting his lavish London estate, the Queen reported that his home “makes Buckingham Palace look dull”.
Besides, Sheikh Hamad usually spends his time investing in art. His high-end hobby recently found its way into the tabloid headlines thanks to a lawsuit filed against a respected London art dealer named John Ashkenazi. Sheikh Hamad claims that Ashkenazi sold him for more than $5 million what were supposed to be authentic ancient sculptures, but in fact they were allegedly fakes.
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In the lawsuit, Hamad says he paid huge sums for seven pieces of what he believed to be priceless ancient art, such as a carved head of the god Dionysus and another statue depicting the goddess Hari Hara. In total, and at current exchange rates, he paid more than $5 million for the statues, believing them all to be 1,400 to 2,000 years old.
At some point after making the purchase, Hamed became suspicious of their authenticity, claiming to have found pieces of plastic in the supposedly ancient ceramics. He also says in the lawsuit that the pieces are too well preserved for their dating to be accurate.
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Hamad wants his money back, and claims in court that Ashkenazi knew that at least one of the parts was fake when he sold them. Ashkenazi says otherwise and files a counterclaim to prove that the parts are indeed authentic.
According to reports from the court, Hamad’s legal team drew attention to various chemical substances and plastics found in the sculptures, claiming that these were proof that the pieces were the work of a modern forger. But Ashkenazi’s lawyer says that the evidence is inconclusive: “Conservation and restoration treatments, especially the more invasive and severe methods that were used until recently, obviously disturb the surface of an object; and it is likely that they will introduce foreign materials into the object, either in the form of residues of the tools used, materials modern ones used to smooth out aesthetic sediments.”
These treatments, according to Ashkenazi’s lawyer, can make true authentication of such parts impossible. And he denied the possibility that a reputable art dealer like Ashkenazi would risk his business by selling fakes to such a prominent client as the Sheikh. Instead, he characterized the lawsuit as a simple case of buyer’s remorse, rebuffed by claims of inauthenticity from a competing dealer.
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