2025-10-17
Collecting figurines is not a modern phenomenon. Neither is the market for counterfeits.
In the 1870s, during excavations in Tanagra, Greece, a French team came across terracotta figurines in the shape of elegant young Greek women. They stood out because of their pastel colours, wide-brimmed hats, round fans and long, flowing robes.
Hundreds of figurines soon began to arrive in France, where they became a sought-after commodity among collectors. Artists also fell in love with them, especially Jean-Léon Gérôme, who even painted what a Tanagra workshop might have looked like: full of women producing figurines in their own image. This is not surprising, given that Orientalism was in vogue in the salons of the 1870s, and the style of the figurines reminded some French people of Chinese and Arabic fashion.
In many cases, Greek tombs were looted and the figurines smuggled into France. During careless transport, the characteristic colours of many Tanagra figurines rubbed off. Some dealers simply repainted the missing parts, while others went a step further and began to counterfeit the figurines.
This was easy to do because of the material they were made of – terracotta. If a clever craftsman wanted to produce a few copies, all he had to do was make a plaster mould from an authentic figurine and then use it to make as many fakes as he wanted. Some of them were so good that they ended up in the Louvre without being recognised.