September 6, 2007
Summer Palace bronze to auction
Sotheby's said it plans to sell a Qing Dynasty horse head looted from China's imperial retreat for as much as HK$80 million ($7.7 million), sparking calls from Chinese officials for the sculpture to be returned to the nation.From Bloomberg. The fact is, however, that the statute of limitations here runs only 50 years -- and if there were really any doubt over this situation, the sale wouldn't be taking place right in Hong Kong. Despite all the protests, China has been steadily buying back its own treasures, including Summer Palace items, often paying very substantial sums.The bronze is one of 12 zodiac animals from a water-clock fountain in Yuanmingyuan, or the imperial summer palace, according to Sotheby's, the world's biggest publicly traded auction house. The palace was set ablaze and its treasures plundered and scattered by British and French troops in October 1860. The horse head is the highlight of Sotheby's four-day Hong Kong auction starting on Oct. 6.
"This is stolen property," said Xu Yongxiang, who buys exhibits for the state-run Shanghai Museum. "It should be returned to the Chinese people through the government, not sold" . . .
The bronzes were cast by foreign Jesuits, according to Sotheby's. Qianlong Emperor (reign: 1736-1795) had commissioned Italian Jesuit artist Giuseppe Castiglione and Father Michel Benoist to design the European-style palaces and fountains.
Posted by David on September 6, 2007 10:09 AM
What standing should one accord to the bunch of thieves who run China?
Posted by: dearieme on September 6, 2007 7:16 PM
I would be reluctant to return anything to China. it is very likely if returned, it would be just a matter of time before the artifact was again on the market sold the next time by a quasi-official Chinese source or corrupt official(s). I recall a tour I led to a number of museums in China where fossils were on sale in the museum shops at a time that, publically, the Chinese were proclaiming that the export of Chinese fossils was illegal. Many valuable fossils have indeed been sold on the open market and I believe thse make their way to the market with governmental collusion informal or formal. Later, during a series of major exhibits I was organizing, that included Chinese public museum origin materials, i was offerred materials for purchase. I can't recall if I was more angered or horrified and let those views be known. Chinese authorities really need to get these matters in hand.
Posted by: Donald Wolberg on September 9, 2007 12:18 PM
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