More on the Art Gallery of New South Wales Documentation

There has been some discussion recently about Sydney’s Art Gallery of New South Wales, which has acknowledged acquiring six objects from Subhash Kapoor between 1994 and 2004. Museum director Michael Brand has released the ownership history provided by Kapoor for one of those objects. In a recent article in the Australian, we find this bit of information about the dodgy documents supplied  by the dealer as a "collecting history" for the Ardhanarishsvara he was selling:

In addition to the pictorial evidence, The Australian has spoken to a reporter at India's The Hindu newspaper who checked the veracity of a receipt supplied to the gallery as proof the statue was in private ownership before 1972. That note on letterhead from the Uttam Singh and Sons Copper and Brass Palace in Delhi appears to be forged. The business is legitimate but The Hindu spoke with its owner who said his now-deceased father, who used to run the company, didn't sell stone carvings and always signed his receipts in Urdu. The gallery's receipt is typed in English, not signed at all and dated April 1970, four years before Barrett's book was published.

Michaela Boland, 'Galleries need new standards for collecting precious artefacts', The Australian July 06, 2013.