The artworks of the ancient Egyptian civilisation have fascinated travellers since the mid-sixteenth century. The beautiful objects brought from Egypt by Bonaparte Napoleon’s campaign (1798–1801) to Europe set the fashion for collecting ancient Egyptian artefacts among the members of high society. Forgers soon realised that fake objects made of ancient raw materials with ancient techniques could easily mislead the increasing numbers of travellers and antiquarians visiting the Nile Valley. Both genuine ancient Egyptian artworks and skilled forgeries originally belonging to private Hungarian collections eventually entered to the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest.
In our new pop-up showcase half of the objects are not genuine. Read the short descriptions under the objects and try to find out which ones are real and which ones are forgeries. How good are you at spotting real ancient Egyptian artefacts? Would you become a good art collector? The object cards in the free-standing rack next to the showcase will give you more clues.
On view: 17 June 2024 – 20 January 2025
Venue: Ancient Egypt permanent exhibition
