Art was valued at all times and the value of rare exhibits increases with each year. The experts of Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise carry out relevant art expertise to determine the value of works of art, establishing their identity and value. Possessing the necessary knowledge of the issues under research, the experts of KFI study antique and pieces of art, namely: monumental and easel painting, graphics, decorative and applied arts, monuments of architecture, sculptures, small plastic arts, musical instruments, musical literature; printed products, audio and video recordings, photos, heraldry and vexillology (emblems, flags), advertising with a view to a pornography, etc.
Art expertise is conducted with the aim of establishing whether there is evidence of possibility of assign works to the heritage of one or another author, determining the degree of the object’s preservation, the presence or absence of restoration work, the determination of belonging to a certain period of time.
Appropriate types researches are carried out in cases where information about the subject is questionable and for certain reasons should be duly confirmed by experts.
An approximate list of questions that an expert can answer:
- Is the subject submitted for research to be an original (author’s work), a copy, made on behalf of another author, or a copy, made on behalf of the author?
- Who is the author of the work of art submitted for research?
- Was the present work of art under restoration (which fragments, etc)?
- What is the value the work of art which is being under research?
- Does the information-carrying medium contain the works promoting the cult of violence and cruelty?
- Is the work of art submitted for research to be authentic?
- Does the subject submitted for research belong to cultural value that have artistic, historic, ethnographic, and scientific or other value?
- Has the information a pornographic character contained on the information-carrying medium submitted for research?
- Do the subjects submitted for research have the features of a pornographic character?
- Are there scenes of a pornographic character in the submitted subject for research (literary, cinematographic, theatrical, and spectacular)?
- Does the information contain child pornography in the submitted information-carrying medium?
The experts of Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise receive systematically unique objects for research. The most interesting recently was an ancient book “Apostle” published in the first half of the XVII century during the reign of the first Russian tsar Romanov Michel I, a 35-thousand collection of stamps and 269 ancient coins.
In general, art researches at the present stage contribute to the creation of an objective historical reality and allow us to analyze not only the subjects under research but also to trace their cultural context.
