BEIJING - China on Thursday vowed to place tougher checks on Christie’s as it accused the auction house of repeatedly selling smuggled Chinese relics.
‘In recent years, Christie’s has frequently sold cultural heritage items looted or smuggled from China, and all items involved were illegally taken out of the country,’ the State Administration of Cultural Heritage said.
In a statement, the administration announced increased checks of Christie’s operations in China to halt what it said was the illegal trade.
The statement was part of an angry reaction from China to the sale on Wednesday at a Christie’s auction in Paris of two bronze artefacts looted from a Chinese palace 150 years ago.
The precious Qing dynasty fountainheads, looted from the imperial Summer Palace by British and French troops in 1860, were snapped up for 15.7 million euros (S$30.6 million) each on Wednesday.
The sale came at the end of a three-day auction of gems that graced the homes of Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge that fetched a total of 373.5 million euros, making it the biggest private art sale in history.
But Beijing immediately lashed out at Christie’s for selling the bronze rat and rabbit heads, saying their sale was illegal and saying the auction house’s development in China could now be at risk.
The State Administration of Cultural Heritage said the auction had ‘harmed the cultural rights and hurt the feelings of China’s people and will seriously impact (Christie’s) development in China’.
China had demanded the relics returned, but the French government said it received no official request, and a Paris court threw out a last-ditch bid to remove the bronzes from the sale.
‘The State Administration of Cultural Heritage resolutely opposes and condemns all auctions of artefacts illegally taken abroad. Christie’s must take responsibility for the consequences created by this auction,’ the agency said.
The agency said it did not recognised the objects’ ‘illegal owners’ and warned it would use all ‘necessary channels to recover all relics stolen and illegally exported throughout history’.
The 18th-century bronzes went on the block along with more than 700 other treasures including Roman marbles and Egyptian antiquities 2,000 years old collected over five decades by the late fashion designer and his partner.
They were among the last items to go under the hammer at a sale that defied the credit crunch, smashing 25 records as buyers sent prices for contemporary art, old masters, antique silver and Art Deco gems through the roof.
1 comment:
Get tough on Christie’s
AFP
26 February 2009
BEIJING - China on Thursday vowed to place tougher checks on Christie’s as it accused the auction house of repeatedly selling smuggled Chinese relics.
‘In recent years, Christie’s has frequently sold cultural heritage items looted or smuggled from China, and all items involved were illegally taken out of the country,’ the State Administration of Cultural Heritage said.
In a statement, the administration announced increased checks of Christie’s operations in China to halt what it said was the illegal trade.
The statement was part of an angry reaction from China to the sale on Wednesday at a Christie’s auction in Paris of two bronze artefacts looted from a Chinese palace 150 years ago.
The precious Qing dynasty fountainheads, looted from the imperial Summer Palace by British and French troops in 1860, were snapped up for 15.7 million euros (S$30.6 million) each on Wednesday.
The sale came at the end of a three-day auction of gems that graced the homes of Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge that fetched a total of 373.5 million euros, making it the biggest private art sale in history.
But Beijing immediately lashed out at Christie’s for selling the bronze rat and rabbit heads, saying their sale was illegal and saying the auction house’s development in China could now be at risk.
The State Administration of Cultural Heritage said the auction had ‘harmed the cultural rights and hurt the feelings of China’s people and will seriously impact (Christie’s) development in China’.
China had demanded the relics returned, but the French government said it received no official request, and a Paris court threw out a last-ditch bid to remove the bronzes from the sale.
‘The State Administration of Cultural Heritage resolutely opposes and condemns all auctions of artefacts illegally taken abroad. Christie’s must take responsibility for the consequences created by this auction,’ the agency said.
The agency said it did not recognised the objects’ ‘illegal owners’ and warned it would use all ‘necessary channels to recover all relics stolen and illegally exported throughout history’.
The 18th-century bronzes went on the block along with more than 700 other treasures including Roman marbles and Egyptian antiquities 2,000 years old collected over five decades by the late fashion designer and his partner.
They were among the last items to go under the hammer at a sale that defied the credit crunch, smashing 25 records as buyers sent prices for contemporary art, old masters, antique silver and Art Deco gems through the roof.
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