A Study on forgeries of Persian manuscripts with an emphasis on illustrated codices

In the first decades of the 20th century, which were the heyday of exporting Persian antiques to the Western museums and collectors, forgeries of artworks became a prevalent phenomenon. The items most frequently forged were illustrated manuscripts because they procured higher prices. Forging manuscripts also occurred in classical periods, but it was different in nature from that in modern era. The most significant difference of forgeries in modern era from the classical periods is that in the latter case, the forger deceives his customers(and then the researchers) and tries not to leave any trace of himself, and do his work skillfully enough so that it appears as a genuine antique object. By classifying forgeries of illustrated manuscripts into two groups of “producing whole manuscripts” and “manipulating old manuscripts”, this paper addresses the question of how and why manuscripts were forged. Then, with a focus on the manipulation of old manuscripts, it explains various ways of adding miniatures to illustrated and unillustrated books.