Cranfield University and global arts & antiques auctioneer Bonhams are pioneering new forensic technology to authenticate antique porcelain and ensure fakes don’t find their way to market.

The collaboration combines major advances in the identification of ever-smaller proportions of trace elements with essentially non-invasive sampling.

The technique will be particularly useful in the field of Chinese art which has become one of the hottest sectors of the global art market in recent years, and nowhere more so than in the demand for fine antique porcelain.

While prices for the finest Imperial porcelain have soared, so have the ambitions of highly accomplished fakers, seeking to infiltrate spectacular new fakes into a market feverish for top quality material.

Technology exists to distinguish scientifically the genuine treasures from the fakes, but the technology normally used is over 40 years old, invasive, and no longer entirely trustworthy.

Forensic science often manages to identify small differences in very rare elements in an object. These ‘trace elements’ can often identify an object's place, and sometimes date, of origin if a good database already exists for similar objects.

‘Trace element analysis’ is regularly used in many kinds of detective work, from establishing the original source of premium organic foods to researching ‘scene of crime’ evidence.

It has never been practical in the past to use it systematically in the art market because obtaining samples has often been unacceptably destructive and databases are neither detailed nor specific enough. The Cranfield/Bonhams project aims to change that.

“This is the most exciting art-authentication project I have ever seen,” said Colin Sheaf, chairman of Bonham’s Asia, and the global auctioneer’s senior Chinese art specialist.