THE MET’S MONTELEONE CHARIOT: FIGHTING MACHINE OR FORGERY?
By Dr. Jerome Eisenberg

Hailed as one of the centerpieces of the new Greek and Roman Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, extensive academic research has branded the world-famous Etruscan Monteleone Chariot a clever forgery – a pastiche of ancient and modern elements. In a groundbreaking new article published in England in the July/August issue of the academically acclaimed Minerva, the International Review of Ancient Art and Archaeology, Dr Jerome Eisenberg, Editor-in-Chief and founder of the magazine in 1990, presents his sensational findings based on scrupulous and painstaking research initiated nearly four decades ago.

The life-sized chariot, apparently discovered in an Etruscan tomb near Monteleone di Spoleto, Italy, in 1902 and purchased by the museum in 1903, is thought to date to the second quarter of the sixth century BC. It is decorated with elaborate scenes thought by some to depict the life of Achilles. These are rendered in bronze on three of the chariot’s principal central, left, and right panels. Dr Eisenberg claims these to be forgeries. Although he concedes that most of the peripheral components of the chariot – the two smaller lower panels, wheels, axle, and shaft – are genuine, his aesthetic and technical analyses convincingly demonstrate that the vehicle was boldly embellished by a master forger between about 1890 and 1902.

Dr Eisenberg’s observations are borne out by the suspicious similarity of the chariot decoration with the ornamentation on a number of ancient objects which entered museums long before the discovery of the vehicle, such as the ‘Euphorbus Plate’ in the British Museum, and the ‘Loeb Tripod’ and other objects in the Staatliche Antikensammlung und Glyptothek, Munich. Dr Eisenberg has also identified an extensive range of anomalies in the artistic style and pictorial composition on each of the three panels, which point to the work of a clever modern forger rather than an Etruscan master craftsman. According to Dr Eisenberg, ‘The forgers have misunderstood the harmony of an overall ancient design and of its individual elements. Their personal style and mistakes in the execution of the three panels…have been demonstrated in over 70 examples. In all, 28 of the 32 of my devised “Stylistic Criteria in Ancient Art Forgery” apply to the work of these forgers.’

Dr Eisenberg is widely respected as an authority on forgeries in ancient art and has lectured and presented papers internationally on the subject since 1969 when he first lectured on the subject at New York University and 1970 at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America. His articles on ancient forgeries have appeared in Minerva since 1992. In 1996 he was appointed Visiting Professor at the Institut für Klassische Archäologie at the Universität Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany, where he gave a series of five two-hour lectures on forgery and fraud in ancient art.

For further information or for pdf copies of the complete article with illustrations, contact:
Dr Jerome M. Eisenberg, Editor-in-Chief, Minerva Magazine
153 East 57th Street, New York, NY 10022
Tel.: (1) 212 355-2034. Fax.: (1) 212 688-0412. E-mail: ancientart@aol.com

This is the first publication of a Hebrew inscription of 87 lines, written in ink on a large stone. Its precise provenance is unknown. The text is arranged in two columns, similar to the columns in a Torah scroll, and is written in a ‘Jewish’ script of the late first century BCE resembling the script evidenced in Qumran scrolls; however, its contents and style are different. The text contains a verse from the biblical book of Haggai, with minor changes, and expressions from Zechariah and Daniel. It also contains expressions from later Jewish literary sources, such as Hechalot literature, Piyyut, Talmud, and Midrash, as well as some that have no parallels elsewhere. Due to its bad condition, the inscription is difficult to interpret, but the expression which may be translated as ‘thus said YHWH, the God of armies, the God of Israel’ appears many times, with slight variations, similarly to expressions in biblical prophecies, and the name Jerusalem is mentioned several times. The text is written in the first person, the speaker identifying himself as ‘I, Gabriel’, probably referring to the angel by this name. It seems that the composer of the text belonged to the supporters of the Davidic dynasty and may have been addressing his opponents. However, since no similar text has been discovered to date, it is difficult to determine its precise nature.

Despite the announcement that all the bullae are un-epigraphic (without inscriptions), one can clearly see that on bulla #2 there is a cartouche (an oval frame) with an Egyptian hieroglyphic inscription with the name of the Egyptian king Thuthmosis III. In addition, one can see a protective winged falcon (head missing) and the sign NEB (lord) at the bottom.

This kind of seal is a common Iron Age imitation of the 15th century BC Canaanite scarab seals, and is often found in excavations in Israel.

There are pearls emitted by Mr Moussaieff on his testimony in court regarding his relationship with the IAA director; the meals he paid for the director; Mr. Dorfman’s frequent visits to Moussaieff’s home; and the lies produced by the IAA to deny Moussaieff’s expose.