L’antitesi originale copia – autentico falso nella valutazione di beni culturali extraeuropei

This paper aims to be a tribute to Filippo Maria Gambari for the exchange of ideas in the period in which he directed the MuCiv, which has been enriched over time thanks to the dialogue with experts in the same Museum. This exchange of ideas took the form of an agreement (recently renewed) for a two-year second-level master's degree that I directed myself, connected with a center for the study of counterfeiting (the "Laboratory of counterfeiting", DSU-Roma Tre) in which assets seized by the TPC Carabinieri converge. The heterogeneity of these assets has highlighted various risk factors among which we want to highlight, on this occasion, the one deriving from the cultural approach based on a single model. The recognition of an object as original or copy, authentic or false, is based on a judgment that is not universal and therefore requires particular attention. On the opposition between the words original/copy - authentic/false, which today define the very concept of "cultural property", as well as its absolute value for the owner and for the market, choices are based which can lead to the destruction of a object, rather than its protection. But if the reflection on the scope of these terms for the definition of material cultural assets produced in the Euro-Mediterranean area, in different eras, finds a firm point summarized by Cesare Brandi's theory of restoration, how should we use the same words in relation to objects from non-European cultural backgrounds?