Art Forgeries and Their Detection - the Scientia Review

Samson Ceramics
Edme Samson, born in Paris
in 1810, was the founder of
the ceremics firm Samson
Cereamics and one of the
most famous art copyists.
His career began in the late
1830s, when he began mak-
ing replicas of ceramic
pieces of art. He intended
these copies to be used
museums and private col-
lections, but not to be
passed of as originals.
In the late 19th century, fine china became very popular and Sampson’s com-
pany began to create these kinds of replicas. Although Sampson intended
his products to be sold as replicas and each piece was marked as such, many
others tried to pass of the copies as original pieces of art. The marks that re-
vealed Sampson’s pieces as fakes could be removed and replaced with other
marks; however, Sampson’s products could never truly pass off as originals.
His ceramics were produced from hard-paste porcelain, while the genuine
pieces were created using soft-paste porcelain.