Odalisque by Boris Kustodiev

Three years ago in London a painting was sold at Christie’s for £1.69m. However, Russian officials have now decalered this painting a fake.

The painting, Odalisque is an oil on canvas which depcits a nude woman reclining on a bed and was presented as a work by Boris Kustodiev, a 19th-century Russian artist. But Rosokhrankultura, the Russian cultural watchdog, has listed Odalisque as a forgery.

So far,two Russian museums have also come forward and backed this claim, reporting that the painting is by an unkown artist. The owner who paid the sum of £1.69m has reportedly returned requesting a full refund for the painting.

This is not a first. The Russian museum has come forward on many occasions since 2000 with reports of forgeries.

“We believe this to be the tip of the iceberg,” Vladimir Roschin stated, who jointly compiled the list of more than 900 fake paintings. “Over the past few years the Russian art market has been flooded with forgeries. It’s a scam worth millions.”

Christie’s described Odalisque as a work dating from 1919. It was said to have come from the collection of Leo Maskovskii, a Russian refugee, and sold for nearly eight times its estimate.

A painting sold by Christie’s for £8,460 in 2000 as a work by Andrei Schilder was also listed as a forgery. The auction house said concerns had been raised shortly after the sale, which had been canceled.

In 2004 Sotheby’s withdrew a painting authenticated by the Tretyakov gallery in Moscow as the work of Ivan Shishkin, a 19th-century artist. It had been expected to fetch £700,000.

The Russian art market has attracted criminal gangs who collude with forgers, art dealers and corrupt experts. Typically, minor European artists doctor works to pass them off as paintings by Russian masters.