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How can a false claim about an artwork’s age or place of origin become art fraud?

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kouros — Art fraud Kouros of uncertain provenance, formerly on display with the label “about 530 bc or modern forgery,” dolomitic marble; in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Villa Collection, Malibu, California.

A false claim about an artwork’s age or place of origin constitutes art fraud when it is made deliberately to deceive for financial gain. Because the art market often assigns higher monetary value to specific historical periods or geographic regions, misrepresenting an object's history can significantly inflate its price.12

For example, if a dealer falsely asserts that a statue originates from 5th-century-BCE Greece or that a vase belongs to the Chinese Ming dynasty, they are committing fraud by manipulating the perceived provenance and historical significance of the piece to secure a greater profit.1

This practice is considered fraudulent because it involves the "intent to deceive". While honest errors in scholarship—such as misattributing a work to a master when it was actually created by a pupil—are not inherently fraudulent, a claim becomes art fraud when the seller knowingly misrepresents the work's origins or age to exploit a collector's or museum's willingness to pay a premium for authenticity. Such deception undermines the integrity of the art market and the historical record.21