Podcast Summary:

New Books Network — Margaret S. Graves, “Invisible Hands: Fabrication, Forgery, and the Art of Islamic Ceramics” (Princeton UP, 2026)
Host: Dr. Miranda Melcher
Guest: Dr. Margaret S. Graves
Release Date: February 27, 2026

Overview

This episode centers on Dr. Margaret S. Graves’ book, Invisible Hands: Fabrication, Forgery, and the Art of Islamic Ceramics. The conversation explores the intertwined histories of traditional ceramic craftsmanship, the art market, the concept of authenticity, and the circulation (and fabrication) of Islamic ceramic art objects. Dr. Graves draws on ten years of research and personal experience with both studio art and museum collections to shed light on how craft skills, market forces, and profit motives shape the way Islamic ceramics are valued, interpreted, and even physically constructed. The episode brings forward awkward but important questions about authenticity, value, and the largely overlooked skills of fabricators and restorers, using rich case studies and newly published research.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Dr. Graves’ Background and Motivation

• [01:24] Dr. Graves is the Adrian Minassian Associate Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture at Brown University, with deep experience in both scholarship and studio craft.
• Her interest arose as a PhD student noticing that "nobody was really talking about the actual condition of the subjects of study," particularly objects with clear signs of modern modification or fabrication.
• The book emerges as a response to art history’s reluctance to discuss issues of profit motives, market forces, and authenticity in Islamic ceramics.
• “This is very much a post-tenure book... I have a kind of freedom to ask questions that are potentially quite awkward.” (Dr. Graves, [03:42])
• Some inspiration drawn from the hidden, little-known American museum collections, especially in the Midwest.

2. Major Questions Explored in the Book

• [05:04] Each of the five chapters asks a different but related question:
  1. How and why did a market so receptive to fabrication develop?
  2. What happens if we frame the history of Islamic ceramics as a story of extraction and movement, rather than technical development?
  3. In technical depth, how were fabrications made?
  4. Who were the people in the supply line—makers, movers, and traders?
  5. How widespread is fabrication in collected ceramics? What are the implications for major collections worldwide?

3. The Development of the Market for ‘Islamic’ Ceramics

• [07:42] The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw the rise of a huge market for Middle Eastern antiquities, due to colonial activities, European/US museum booms, and the search for tangible “evidence” to fit biblical or exotic Western narratives.
• European and Russian empires’ colonial expansion in the Middle East, and infrastructure development, led to large-scale “scramble for the past.”
• Quote:
  “There was… a growing desire to see physical evidence of biblical narratives, things that would prove the veracity of the Bible.” (Graves, [08:13])
• [10:47] Islamic ceramics came into vogue after supply and prices of other categories (e.g., Chinese ceramics) reached new heights or were depleted.

4. Regional Variations and ‘Peak Periods’ of Collecting

• [12:00 & 15:30] Different imperial centers (UK, France, Russia, US) had their own interests and collecting pathways.
• The run-up to World War I emerges as the “Wild West” of antiquities collecting, with weak laws (especially before 1906 in the Ottoman Empire), huge family collection liquidations, and “staggering” prices driven by ultra-wealthy buyers (e.g., J.P. Morgan, C. Gulbenkian, Freer).
• Quote:
  “It really feels like the Wild West when you read about what was happening during that period and the scale and speed of the excavations…” (Graves, [15:30])

5. How Were Fabricated Ceramics Actually Made?

• [20:40] The core of the book is a technical analysis of how ceramics were fabricated/faked. Dr. Graves urges a reframing away from moralizing and toward appreciation for the immense, often invisible, skill involved:
  • Bricolage: Assembling objects from multiple fragments, sometimes with hundreds of pieces from dozens of objects; gaps filled with antique or new materials, meticulously overpainted and reassembled.
  • Skin Swaps: Modern repainting or refiring of surfaces—applying new gilding, overglaze, or incising new designs into plainer historic pieces, then refiring.
  • True Forgery: Rarest category—objects made entirely from scratch, employing elaborate artificial aging techniques. Documentation hints at extremely complex, time-consuming methods for mimicking ancient firing and wear.
• Quote:
  “Some of the most puzzling examples really demonstrate… this is where a lot of craft skills went at a moment when the traditional craft industries in the Middle East had been really hard hit…” (Graves, [29:55])

6. Locations and Communities of Fabrication

• [30:53] Main centers: Aleppo, Tehran (especially), and possibly Istanbul and Paris.
• Artisans often belonged to minority groups—Armenians, Melkite and Maronite Christians, Jews—who leveraged polyglotism, kinship trade networks, and historic ties (e.g., through silk trade) to operate complex cross-continental operations.

7. The Supply Chain from Source to Museum

• [34:03] Ceramics moved through a vast, multi-stage international network:
  • Local diggers → skilled fabricators/restorers → local traders → international dealers (often via Paris) → public or private Western collectors.
• Fragility led to intricate packing methods, but breakages occurred, sometimes revealing modern joins or repairs.
• Key dealers (e.g., Fahim Kujakchi, Tikran Khalikin) bridged the journey, creating channels from Aleppo, Istanbul, Paris to New York and American Midwest museums.
• American civic museums (Detroit, Toledo, Cincinnati, Indiana) acquired large amounts during the 1920s–60s using new industrial wealth, sometimes with little expertise in Islamic art.

8. Case Studies & Revelatory Research

• [43:35] Dr. Graves foregrounds unpublished, little-studied ceramics from Midwest museums:
  • Cincinnati: Houses pieces once displayed at the Victoria & Albert Museum (London) from Tikran Kalikian’s renowned collection—some with modern additions and early provenance.
  • Indiana University: Contains about 50 pre-modern Islamic ceramics, including ~20 Raqqa wares.
    • With museum support, Dr. Graves conducted thermoluminescence (TL) testing. Results showed all “perfect” Raqqa wares were last fired in the last 250–100 years—outside their claimed medieval origins.
    • Implication:
      “The Indiana results suggest that actually we need to look at the entire corpus of Raqqa wares…” (Graves, [49:43])

9. Implications for Museums, Scholarship, and Future Research

• [51:20] The findings challenge established attributions and push for more transparent, collaborative research between scholars and museums.
• Graves is working on further publications (including a detailed scientific article on the TL data), and hopes for broader discussions about authenticity, extraction, and value.
• Ongoing and future projects: studying finance and banking in the antiquities trade; medieval metal casting and magic.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the market’s origins:
  “What we really see is… the scramble for the past. The era of this kind of rush to extract antiquities from the Ottoman Empire…” ([09:23])
• On skill and stigma:
  “I wanted to reposition the conversation and turn this into one about this is a huge skill set that we haven’t previously recognized.” ([21:00])
• On fabrication methods:
  “There are… sandwiches… all of the fragments in it have had one side filed off, and then they’ve been pasted together like a sandwich.” ([22:53])
• On modern “fantasy” designs:
  “They’re inventing their own idea of what a kind of medieval fantasy would look like… snakes… evil kings with snakes… men with three faces…” ([24:50])
• On the implications of testing:
  “All of the pieces that are intact and perfect came back… last fired within the last 250 to 100 years, which puts their last firing completely outside the range…” ([45:45])
• On collaborative scholarship:
  “The director said, this is exactly what a university museum should be doing. We should lead the way in… questions like this.” ([46:54])

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:24] Dr. Graves introduces herself and the book’s motivation
• [05:04] Book structure and key questions overviewed
• [07:42] Historical origins of the market for Islamic ceramics
• [10:47] Why Islamic ceramics? Factors driving specific demand
• [15:30] “Wild West” period ahead of World War I
• [20:40] Methods and skill of fabrication (“bricolage,” “skin swaps,” “true forgery”)
• [30:53] Where and by whom were fabrications made?
• [34:03] The complex, international movement of objects
• [43:35] Detailed case studies: Cincinnati and Indiana collections, key discoveries
• [51:20] Implications for museums and future research directions

Conclusion

Dr. Graves’ Invisible Hands exposes the creative labor of modern fabricators and restorers, reframes the story of “forged” ceramics as one of adaptation and skill (rather than fraud), and calls for honest, nuanced dialogue about “authenticity” in museums and scholarship. The podcast episode provides essential entry points into the complex, often hidden stories behind Islamic art in Western collections, and opens important avenues for future research and curatorial practice.