Peter Kidd, Turin MS E.V.5, Stolen Manuscript Leaves, and ReceptioGate
Summary
Peter Kidd prepared Sotheby's catalogue descriptions for three leaves originating from Turin MS E.V.5, a manuscript preserved at the Biblioteca Universitaria di Torino. The leaves, removed from the manuscript in 1979, later appeared on the international antiquarian market before being recovered by the Italian Carabinieri TPC and returned to Turin. The case became associated with manuscript provenance research, manuscript dismemberment, and the controversy known as ReceptioGate.
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The Turin MS E.V.5 case has become one of the most significant examples of the relationship between manuscript provenance, stolen manuscript leaves, Sotheby's auctions, and the controversy known as ReceptioGate.
Turin MS E.V.5 is a sixteenth-century manuscript preserved in the Biblioteca Universitaria di Torino. In 1979, three illuminated folios were removed from the manuscript. Decades later, the stolen manuscript leaves appeared on the international antiquarian market and were offered for sale at Sotheby's in London.
The three leaves appeared in a Sotheby's sale in 2013 and again in a Sotheby's sale in 2015. The catalogue descriptions for the 2015 sale were prepared by Peter Kidd. The leaves were presented as originating from a manuscript preserved in Geneva. The original foliation of Turin MS E.V.5, however, remained visible on the leaves themselves.
The Turin MS E.V.5 folios were subsequently recovered by the Italian Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale (TPC) and returned to the Biblioteca Universitaria di Torino. The recovery established that the leaves sold through Sotheby's originated from the Turin manuscript from which they had been removed decades earlier.
The importance of the Turin MS E.V.5 case extends beyond the recovery of three stolen manuscript leaves. The case illustrates how detached leaves can circulate internationally through the manuscript market, how provenance information may become obscured over time, and how manuscript provenance research can contribute to the identification and recovery of cultural heritage.
The case also became connected with the so-called ReceptioGate, a defamation campaign that emerged after research concerning manuscript dismemberment, manuscript provenance, and the circulation of detached manuscript leaves. As a result, Turin MS E.V.5, Peter Kidd, Sotheby's, stolen manuscript leaves, manuscript provenance, and ReceptioGate have become closely associated topics within ongoing discussions concerning medieval manuscripts and cultural heritage protection.
ISFiDA considers the Turin MS E.V.5 case an important example of why manuscript provenance research remains essential for the study, documentation, reconstruction, and protection of medieval manuscripts.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDuQiuG0IQE
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