Showing 4 results for the tag: Copies.

February 6, 2015

3D printing – now everyone can copy ancient artefacts

Posted at 2:06 pm in British Museum, Similar cases

Producing replicas of artefacts is often touted as a solution to ownership disputes – both parties can have a version. Of course it then raises a question of who gets to have the originals. Or, if both are equal then why either party would mind not having the originals.

There are many copies of the Parthenon Sculptures, made from a smaller number of first generation casts, but if they are indistinguishable, then one has to wonder why the British Museum has from time to time proposed that Greece should be completely happy with casts, when they themselves are unwilling to give up the originals.

A copy has its own history from when it was made & how it was made, but this is a completely different history to that of the originals. As evidenced in many cultural property disputes around the world, provenance is critical in many different ways. A piece of rock from the moon, even if of identical composition to one on earth has an inherent importance because of where it originated and what we can learn from that.

That said, copies have their own value, in allowing people to study items from a physical artistic point of view more easily & the prevalence of 3D printing is going to make this sort of research more commonplace in future.

The British Museum allows some artefacts to be downloaded and 3D printed

The British Museum allows some artefacts to be downloaded and 3D printed

From:
Charlotte Observer

3-D printer copying of sculptures: Is it legal?
By Ariel Bogle
Posted: Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2015

Almost every physical object, from a spoon to Edgar Degas’ famous dancer sculptures, can be scanned and uploaded onto the Internet as a file, ready for download by anyone with a desktop 3-D printer. But like the digitization of music and books before it, the migration of objects of art and design online brings with it the baggage of America’s frustrating intellectual-property regime.

A cast of Michelangelo’s famous 16th-century sculpture of Moses sits on the campus of Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D. Jerry Fisher, who lives in the area, decided to create a 3-D printable version of the artwork using photogrammetry – analyzing 2-D photos of an object and turning them into a digital 3-D model.
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November 3, 2014

Even better than the real thing? – British Museum & 3D prints

Posted at 10:42 pm in British Museum

The British Museum has just announced that it is going to make available 3D models of some of its artefacts, that anyone can use to create 3D prints, or view from different angles on screen.

3D prints are in some ways better than the actual artefacts in the museum, as they can be studied from any angle & handled without worrying about damaging a priceless treasure. On the other hand though, no matter how realistic they might be, they are not the actual object – they do not carry its history & they do not typically contain the depth of information, that might allow later studies using newer technologies, to understand more about the piece (e.g. to more accurately date it, to analyse the chemical makeup of the surface etc).

In the past, the British Museum has provided copies to the original owners of disputed works In this case though, one wonders why it can’t be the other way round – that the British Museum keeps the copy & the actual treasure is returned to its rightful owners.

You can view the artefacts currently available for 3D printing at the Sketchfab website.

The statue of Amenhotep III is among those available to be 3D printed

The statue of Amenhotep III is among those available to be 3D printed

From:
Slash Gear

British Museum now lets you 3D print artifact replicas
Oct 31, 2014

3D printing is slowly but surely becoming more available to the average consumer, and the possibilities for it are vast. While the technology is being used to tackle projects as expansive as home construction and food in space, it is also being utilized at the simpler level for creating things like replacement knobs and personalized action figures. Among those simpler uses is the ability to print your own replica of historical items.

Do you fancy have a replica of Amenemhat III’s granite bust? Now you can, thanks to a new collection of downloadable 3D models the British Museum has made available through Sketchfab, which is the first service to host the collection.
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April 4, 2012

Caveat emptor when buying looted artefacts

Posted at 1:11 pm in Acropolis, Greece Archaeology, New Acropolis Museum, Similar cases

Quite aside from all the other ethical issues about purchasing ancient artefacts on the black market at bargain prices, there is also a high chance, that you might not get exactly what you thought you were paying for. Quite why people think that someone who would loot ancient sites is likely to be true to their word, in what they claim something is is another matter.

One also has to ask, how someone expected to pass off as legitimate, exact copies of works from a major museum.

From:
BBC News

3 April 2012 Last updated at 16:23
‘Ancient’ Greek statue found in sheep pen is fake

An “ancient” Greek statue found in a sheep pen north-west of Athens last week has now been deemed a fake.

At first, archaeologists at Greece’s Culture ministry thought the figure of a woman dated from the 6th century BC.
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November 22, 2010

When replicas are as convincing as the real thing, do museums still need to keep the originals?

Posted at 2:01 pm in British Museum, Elgin Marbles

In the past, the British Museum has suggested to Greece that as a solution to the dispute over the Elgin Marbles, they will send the Greeks high quality copies. In the mind of the British Museum, this seems to solve the situation & anyone who rejects this offer is ungrateful. At the same time though it raises a new question of why the British Museum isn’t happy to keep the copies & return the originals.

From:
The National

Tutankhamun’s replica treasures in Manchester
Ben East
Last Updated: Nov 3, 2010

It’s quite a sight. The golden treasures of King Tutankhamun’s tomb look as arresting as they may have been on the day archaeologists happened across his virtually intact resting place in 1922. There are statues, chests and the pièce de résistance , the glittering death mask that caused the man who first discovered the tomb, Howard Carter, to remark breathlessly: “We were astonished by the beauty and refinement of the art… the impression was overwhelming.”

Except they’re not the originals. The Tutankhamun – His Tomb And His Treasures touring exhibition, just opened in an unlovely corner of a Manchester shopping complex, is instead stocked with costly reproductions of some of the most famous archaeological artefacts of all time.
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