Qatari sheikh wins case against Phoenix Ancient Art over allegedly forged antiquity – The Art Newspaper

Sheikh Hamad Bin Abdullah al-Thani of Qatar has won a court case against the New York- and Geneva-based Phoenix Ancient Art gallery over an allegedly forged statuette of the goddess Nike purportedly dating from the fourth century AD. The gallery tells The Art Newspaper that it is appealing the ruling.

According to The Times, the sheikh brought a civil claim at the High Court in London alleging that the Nike statue was a forgery and that the provenance supplied by Phoenix for another antiquity—the Head of Alexander the Great as Herakles (dated between 3rd and 1st century BC)—and a Phalera, a small decoration worn by Roman soldiers, was false.

Phoenix, which is run by the brothers Hicham and Ali Aboutaam, has supplied antiquities to museums such as the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The gallery insists the disputed items are genuine, stressing that it has supplied 23 antiquities to the Al Thani collection over the years. Al Thani is the chief executive of Qatar Investment and Project Development Holding Company (QIPCO).

In a lengthy statement, Phoenix Ancient Art claims that “the court’s decision was based on a technical hurdle relating to disclosure which resulted in the exclusion of all of Phoenix’s evidence, testimony, and documents… the court accepted QIPCO’s argument for Phoenix to undergo a prohibitively costly document-by-document legal review.” Phoenix says this document review would cost around £1.5m.

Phoenix adds that the court had struck out its “comprehensive defence” including museum exhibition records from “one of the biggest museums in the world” and “scientific authentication reports from the most respectable lab in the world including 14 samples on one of [the antiquities] alone”.

An article in the Solicitors Journal says the court stressed that “those who risk legal action surrounding high-value transactions must meticulously adhere to all disclosure expectations, a reminder to all in the art and antiquities market about the growing scrutiny they face.” The case, says the journal, “may influence future cases regarding the acquisition and sale of antiquities, emphasising the need for transparency in provenance documentation.”

The court judgment is the latest twist in a long-running legal saga. In April 2022, Al Thani lost his appeal whilst attempting to bring a lawsuit against Phoenix Ancient Art for selling him the allegedly fake statues.

Al Thani bought the Head of Alexander the Great as Herakles for $3m in 2014. He subsequently approached Phoenix with concerns that the work, and the statuette of the goddess Nike bought later for $2.2m, were fake. Al Thani also raised concerns in early 2018 about the authenticity of the Nike statue after reportedly receiving a report claiming that microscopic inspection detected modern machine tool markings and machine polishing.

The subsequent lawsuit, filed in London, hinged on the timing of the claim, which was first filed in 2020 and included a request for a time extension. After a judge decided not to grant a time extension, High Court judge William Davies J went on to confirm this decision in 2021; in 2022, Al Thani lost his appeal.

In the latest court ruling in London on 11 April, the judge gave summary judgment against Phoenix, the brothers and a retired Swiss antiques dealer, Roland Ansermet, in relation to the Nike statue for the claim based on fraud, dishonesty and fraudulent misrepresentation, The Times says.

He also gave judgment for the other two items on the basis that the gallery had no real prospect of successfully defending against the claim. “Phoenix Ancient Art will continue to explore all legal avenues to challenge this decision and defend its reputation in the art world,” concludes the gallery statement.

In 2023, Ali Aboutaam received an 18-month suspended jail sentence from a court in Geneva for violating the law on the transfer of cultural properties and use of forged provenance documents.