Though met by furious objections and even a court challenge, two bronze animal sculptures, looted from a Chinese royal garden 149 years ago, will still be auctioned in Paris on February 25th. The controversial sale has raised concerns among Chinese societies around the world, which symbolizes a dilemma China is facing in retrieving many of its cultural treasures from abroad.
The bronze rabbit and rat heads were among 12 animal head sculptures that formed the zodiacal clepsydra decorating the Calm Sea Pavilion in the Old Summer Palace of Emperor Qianlong (1736-1795). China views the relics as a significant part of its cultural heritage and a symbol of how Western powers encroached on the country during the Opium Wars. The relics were displayed as fountainheads at the Old Summer Palace, also known as Yuanmingyuan, until it was destroyed and sacked by Anglo-French allied forces during the Second Opium War in 1860.
The National Treasure Funds of China (NTFC), a non-governmental organization working since 2002 to return the country's historical relics, successfully mediated the return of one of the heads in 2003. With about 7 million yuan (1.01 million U.S. dollars), donated by Macao billionaire Stanley Ho, the foundation bought the pig head sculpture from a U.S. collector.
However, many cases disappointingly fail because the foundation, which largely depends on public donations, did not have enough money. In 2003, the NTFC contacted representatives of the owner to buy the rabbit and rat head sculptures but the two sides failed to reach an agreement on the price. At the upcoming auction, the relics were expected to fetch 8 million to 10 million euros (about 10.4 million to 13 million U.S. dollars) each.
Unlike the NTFC who does not purchase from auctions, some Chinese collectors have been able to buy cultural artifacts and bring them back to the country. Three animal head sculptures were purchased by a Chinese company at two auctions held by Christie's and Sotheby's in Hong Kong in 2000. Stanley Ho privately bought the horse head and then donated it to the government. The whereabouts of the other five statues is unknown.
Despite those efforts, China's State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) openly voiced its objection to both auctions and purchases of cultural objects which were exported illegally, including those looted in wars.
Song Xinchao, director of the SACH museum department, said authorities favored retrieving looted cultural relics through legal or diplomatic proceedings but also welcomed donations from foreign collectors. "To buy them back means we acknowledge they were taken out of our country legally," Song said"It will be a compromise to the wrong thing and even an indulgence in crimes."
Legal and diplomatic retrieval is based on several international conventions China signed, including the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property and the 1995 Unidroit Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects.
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