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Monday, 2 March 2009
Chinese bidder says he will not pay for looted bronzes
The mysterious bidder for two prized Chinese sculptures surfaced Monday, saying it was his patriotic duty to refuse to pay the $40 million winning bid.
Chinese bidder says he will not pay for looted bronzes
By Mark McDonald 2 March 2009
HONG KONG: The mysterious bidder for two prized Chinese sculptures surfaced Monday, saying it was his patriotic duty to refuse to pay the $40 million winning bid.
A Chinese collector and auctioneer, Cai Mingchao, said at a news conference in Beijing he had made the anonymous winning bids for the 18th-century bronze heads of a rat and a rabbit. He described himself as a consultant with the Lost Cultural Relics Recovery Program, a nongovernmental group that seeks to bring looted artifacts back to China.
The two heads were part of the sale last week in Paris of the private collection of Yves Saint Laurent and his personal and business partner, Pierre Bergé. The three-day auction, held in Paris, was the most expensive ever for a private collection, bringing some $484 million, according to Christie’s, the auction house.
“I think any Chinese person would have stood up at that moment,” Cai said of his bid, made by telephone through Christie’s. “It was just that the opportunity came to me. I was merely fulfilling my responsibilities.”
On moral grounds, and as a way to protest the auction, Cai added, “I want to emphasize that the money won’t be paid.”
Christie’s declined Monday to confirm that Cai, 44, was the winning bidder. The general manager of Xiamen Harmony Art International Auction Company in Fujian Province, in southeastern China, Cai paid a record $15 million in 2006 for a Ming Dynasty bronze Buddha statue.
The two bronze heads, which date to 1750, were part of a 12-animal water-clock fountain configured around the Chinese zodiac. It was located in the imperial gardens of the Summer Palace outside Beijing. In 1860, the palace was sacked by British and French forces. Around that time, the heads disappeared.
Cai said Monday he did not have the money to pay for the two heads he “bought.” And it was unclear how he had been able to register as a qualified bidder.
Kate Malin, a spokesperson for Christie’s in Hong Kong, said all potential bidders at major auctions are required to submit bank and credit information as part of a registration process.
“You can’t just call up and say, ‘I want to buy a $20 million Picasso.’ “ she said. “You have to provide satisfactory credit and bank information.”
Even established clients of an auction house have to provide further financial data if they want to participate in auctions of items that are likely to be substantially more expensive than their previous purchases.
In the event of a winning bidder being unable or unwilling to pay, Malin said, the item in question does not automatically pass to the second-highest bidder. She said the auction house usually tries to reach a compromise solution between bidder and seller.
She declined to say what might happen with the Chinese bronzes if Cai refused to pay.
Malin said unsold pieces are rarely returned to the auction block right away because the notoriety and unwanted publicity usually diminish their value. “Sometimes the vendor takes the piece back home very happily,” she said.
Indeed, that happened at last week’s sale when a painting by Picasso failed to reach its minimum price and was withdrawn from sale. Bergé said he would gladly be taking the painting home.
He has pledged that the proceeds from the auction would go to several charities and foundations.
In the days leading up to the Christie’s sale, the Foreign Ministry in Beijing said the bronzes were part of China’s cultural patrimony and demanded their return. A group of Chinese lawyers tried to block the auction but a French court allowed the sale to proceed.
“The Western powers have plundered a great number of Chinese cultural relics,” said Ma Zhaoxu, a ministry spokesman, quoted in the state-run newspaper China Daily. He said many relics had been looted from the Summer Palace in particular.
“All these,” he said, “should be returned to China.” Bergé defiantly told the government it could have the heads if it would “observe human rights and give liberty to the Tibetan people and welcome the Dalai Lama.”
China has been at odds with France since December, when Beijing strongly protested a meeting between the Dalai Lama and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president. Beijing has accused the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader of fomenting unrest in Tibet.
Seven of the 12 fountain pieces have been found; the whereabouts of the other five bronze heads are unknown.
The China Poly Group, an arms dealer with ties to the People’s Liberation Army, bought the tiger, ox and monkey heads in 2000.
In 2003, the National Treasures Fund of China, a quasi-governmental group, brokered a deal that brought one of the bronze fountain pieces - a pig’s head - back to China. With about $1 million donated by Stanley Ho, the real estate and casino billionaire from Macao, the head was purchased from an American collector, according to an account by Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency.
Ho bought another - a horse’s head - for $8.84 million at an auction run by Sotheby’s in 2007. He subsequently gave the piece to China Poly, which owns a museum where it displays the Qing Dynasty bronzes.
“We are not always so lucky,” the fund’s deputy director, Niu Xianfeng, told Xinhua. “The foundation depends on public donations. Many cases fail because we did not have enough money.”
Niu, who attended Monday’s news conference with Cai, said his group had tried to buy the rat and rabbit heads in 2003 but dropped the effort when the sellers, apparently representatives of Saint Laurent, who died last June, and Bergé, asked for $10 million for each head.
In a statement before the sale, Christie’s said, “For each and every item in this collection there is a clear legal title. We strictly adhere to any and all local and international laws with respect to cultural property.”
2 comments:
Chinese bidder says he will not pay for looted bronzes
By Mark McDonald
2 March 2009
HONG KONG: The mysterious bidder for two prized Chinese sculptures surfaced Monday, saying it was his patriotic duty to refuse to pay the $40 million winning bid.
A Chinese collector and auctioneer, Cai Mingchao, said at a news conference in Beijing he had made the anonymous winning bids for the 18th-century bronze heads of a rat and a rabbit. He described himself as a consultant with the Lost Cultural Relics Recovery Program, a nongovernmental group that seeks to bring looted artifacts back to China.
The two heads were part of the sale last week in Paris of the private collection of Yves Saint Laurent and his personal and business partner, Pierre Bergé. The three-day auction, held in Paris, was the most expensive ever for a private collection, bringing some $484 million, according to Christie’s, the auction house.
“I think any Chinese person would have stood up at that moment,” Cai said of his bid, made by telephone through Christie’s. “It was just that the opportunity came to me. I was merely fulfilling my responsibilities.”
On moral grounds, and as a way to protest the auction, Cai added, “I want to emphasize that the money won’t be paid.”
Christie’s declined Monday to confirm that Cai, 44, was the winning bidder. The general manager of Xiamen Harmony Art International Auction Company in Fujian Province, in southeastern China, Cai paid a record $15 million in 2006 for a Ming Dynasty bronze Buddha statue.
The two bronze heads, which date to 1750, were part of a 12-animal water-clock fountain configured around the Chinese zodiac. It was located in the imperial gardens of the Summer Palace outside Beijing. In 1860, the palace was sacked by British and French forces. Around that time, the heads disappeared.
Cai said Monday he did not have the money to pay for the two heads he “bought.” And it was unclear how he had been able to register as a qualified bidder.
Kate Malin, a spokesperson for Christie’s in Hong Kong, said all potential bidders at major auctions are required to submit bank and credit information as part of a registration process.
“You can’t just call up and say, ‘I want to buy a $20 million Picasso.’ “ she said. “You have to provide satisfactory credit and bank information.”
Even established clients of an auction house have to provide further financial data if they want to participate in auctions of items that are likely to be substantially more expensive than their previous purchases.
In the event of a winning bidder being unable or unwilling to pay, Malin said, the item in question does not automatically pass to the second-highest bidder. She said the auction house usually tries to reach a compromise solution between bidder and seller.
She declined to say what might happen with the Chinese bronzes if Cai refused to pay.
Malin said unsold pieces are rarely returned to the auction block right away because the notoriety and unwanted publicity usually diminish their value. “Sometimes the vendor takes the piece back home very happily,” she said.
Indeed, that happened at last week’s sale when a painting by Picasso failed to reach its minimum price and was withdrawn from sale. Bergé said he would gladly be taking the painting home.
He has pledged that the proceeds from the auction would go to several charities and foundations.
In the days leading up to the Christie’s sale, the Foreign Ministry in Beijing said the bronzes were part of China’s cultural patrimony and demanded their return. A group of Chinese lawyers tried to block the auction but a French court allowed the sale to proceed.
“The Western powers have plundered a great number of Chinese cultural relics,” said Ma Zhaoxu, a ministry spokesman, quoted in the state-run newspaper China Daily. He said many relics had been looted from the Summer Palace in particular.
“All these,” he said, “should be returned to China.” Bergé defiantly told the government it could have the heads if it would “observe human rights and give liberty to the Tibetan people and welcome the Dalai Lama.”
China has been at odds with France since December, when Beijing strongly protested a meeting between the Dalai Lama and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president. Beijing has accused the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader of fomenting unrest in Tibet.
Seven of the 12 fountain pieces have been found; the whereabouts of the other five bronze heads are unknown.
The China Poly Group, an arms dealer with ties to the People’s Liberation Army, bought the tiger, ox and monkey heads in 2000.
In 2003, the National Treasures Fund of China, a quasi-governmental group, brokered a deal that brought one of the bronze fountain pieces - a pig’s head - back to China. With about $1 million donated by Stanley Ho, the real estate and casino billionaire from Macao, the head was purchased from an American collector, according to an account by Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency.
Ho bought another - a horse’s head - for $8.84 million at an auction run by Sotheby’s in 2007. He subsequently gave the piece to China Poly, which owns a museum where it displays the Qing Dynasty bronzes.
“We are not always so lucky,” the fund’s deputy director, Niu Xianfeng, told Xinhua. “The foundation depends on public donations. Many cases fail because we did not have enough money.”
Niu, who attended Monday’s news conference with Cai, said his group had tried to buy the rat and rabbit heads in 2003 but dropped the effort when the sellers, apparently representatives of Saint Laurent, who died last June, and Bergé, asked for $10 million for each head.
In a statement before the sale, Christie’s said, “For each and every item in this collection there is a clear legal title. We strictly adhere to any and all local and international laws with respect to cultural property.”
thanks you for the post
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