9 JUNE 2016 • 5:22PM
Scandal has struck Versailles after police arrested two respected antiques dealers on suspicion of selling fake Louis XV chairs to the famed royal chateau, sending France’s high-end antiques world into “panic”.
Art fraud officers detained the two dealers for questioning were both Paris-based experts in 18th century furniture. They are suspected of selling two fake chairs out of a batch of four to the Chateau at Versailles, home of Louis XIV, for €1.7m (£1.3m).
If their suspicions prove founded, commentators warned the ramifications could prove the “ruin” of France’s antique furniture market and leave a string of museum curators and even government ministers red-faced.
No less than 13 of these chairs were made for Madame du Barry's apartment in 1769. They were the result of the combined effort of Louis Delanois and Joseph-Nicholas Guichard . CREDIT: LOUISE BOISEN SCHMIDT
The French art fraud office, OCBC, began investigating the two antiques dealers, Bill Pallot, a chair specialist, and Laurent Kraemer, owner of the Kraemer gallery – one of Paris’ oldest – in 2012.
They started the probe after receiving letters of denunciation from another French antiques dealer, Charles Hooreman, a renowned specialist of 18th century chairs – considered among the most refined in French history.
Over the past 20 years, Versailles has bought 10 antique out of a total of 13 chairs built by Louis Delanois - the master chair maker who built a batch in 1769 for Madame du Barry, Louis XV’s mistress - along with one 19th century copy recognised as such.
However, according to Mr Hooreman, the so-called “originals” are in fact recent copies. Among these are at least two out of four bought in 2009 from Kraemer’s, founded in 1875 for 1.7 million.
France’s culture ministry then hailed the chairs as “national treasures”.
Mr Hooreman said he first started having doubts about their authenticity when he realised that too many were in circulation, given that another six of were sold in Christie’s in New York in 2001. In all, 12 were built plus a slightly larger version for Louis XV himself, which has been lost.
“I have seen them all, handled them, examined them. Versailles has 10, (a) Swiss collector two, and I know another that is impeccable belonging to a Parisian collector,” he told Le Monde. “That”s a lot.”
Mr Kraemier, however, dismissed the claims, telling the paper: For us this furniture is perfect. What’s more they’ve been classified as national treasures, which means they were studied and analysed over several weeks, then appeared before a commission. For me, as for (the commission), they are genuine.”
Jean-Jacques Aillagon, the former culture minister and president of Versailles when the chairs were bought concurred, saying: “Everyone would have had to be blind or in on it, which I cannot believe.”
Gardens of the Chateau de Versailles, southern Paris, shows 'Waterfall' installation by Danish artist Olafur Eliasson CREDIT: GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT /AFP
While experts at Versailles insist they have found nothing at fault, one antique furniture restorer told Le Monde: “For us others, the 18th century stops in 1914. In fact you can even push as far as the Second World War. Until then, most workshops used the same techniques, the same materials and tools as those of the time. If a piece of furniture was made properly, there is very little chance of being detected as fake.”
Expert forgers have easy access to old wood and are even known to sprinkle dust from churches dating back to the right period to cover their tracks.
Mr Hooreman insists the tops of the chair legs are wrong and that the etiquettes are « modern » and the wood on their underside is “not discoloured as it should be”.
The art fraud investigators are now reportedly thought to believe they have found ten fake chairs, some in Versailles.
Statue in Versailles Palace garden CREDIT: FOTOLIA
Mr Hooreman has accused Mr Pallot of acting as an intermediary between a Parisian forger and prestigious dealers supposedly beyond reproach.
Mr Pallot denied the claims, accusing Mr Hooreman of seeking to ruin his reputation and 'take my place' in the market and has filed a legal complaint for “false allegations”.
The scandal has reportedly sent the Parisian antiques world into a spin; last month, one dealer rumoured to be embroiled in the alleged chair scam launched legal action against a rival and a collector he claimed tried to force him to “own up” to involvement.
