Results for “goldsmith”
The Tiara of Saitaphernes
In 1896 the Louvre triumphantly bought a golden tiara as a priceless Scythian-Greek antiquity. It was in fact made a few years earlier by the Odessa goldsmith Israel Rouchomovsky — and the 1903 exposure became one of the great museum humiliations in history.
Israel Rouchomovsky
Odessa goldsmith who created the 'Tiara of Saitaphernes', bought by the Louvre in 1896 as a Scythian-Greek antiquity. two years before the Louvre acquisition, two dealers Schapschelle Hochmann and his brother Leiba, had commissioned Israel Rouchomovsky, a skilled goldsmith from Odesa, to make the tiara. They let him believe that it was intended as a gift for an archaeologist friend and provided Rouchomovsky with details from recent excavations to aid his design. It wasn't until news of the Louvre scandal reached him that Rouchomovsky learned of the fate of his creation. He traveled to Paris in 1903[2] and presented himself as the maker of the tiara. Experts at the museum refused to believe him until he demonstrated the ability to reproduce a portion of the crown. Embarrassed, the museum hid the object away in storage. The Louvre had been fooled in one of the greatest archeological scandals of the century. Isreal was an amazing goldsmith/artist who was duped by a couple dirty dealers.