Looted Summer Palace statue for sale

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This should make the next month interesting: a bronze horse head looted from Beijing’s Summer Palace (Yuanmingyuan) by British and French troops in 1860 will be sold at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong next month. The piece, which was once part of a grand water-clock fountain made up of the 12 zodiac animals, is expected to sell for as much as $10 million USD. (If you look closely here, you can see where the 12 animal heads once stood.) The Chinese Fund for Rescuing Cultural Relics Lost from China, a semi-official organization in China, has already condemned the auction.

In 2000, when the ox, monkey and tiger heads from the same clock surfaced in two auctions in Hong Kong, China’s State Administration of Cultural Relics denounced the sale. Police in Hong Kong clashed with local protestors and extra fortification was installed to protect the hotel housing one of the auctions. Despite the criticism, Christie’s and Sotheby’s sold the three statues (along with a ceramic vase) to the state-run China Poly Group for $4 million USD.

Art repatriation is an issue in many countries, and advocates trying to reclaim stolen relics face an uphill and costly battle. In 2002, some of the top museums in the U.S. and Europe refused requests from several countries to return antiquities. Their argument was that the objects are important to the institutes and countries that have hosted them for so long, and that they have been better protected in those countries. Somehow, I don’t think that reasoning is going to placate those who feel robbed of their heritage.

Here’s what I’ve been able to find about the 12 water-clock statues:

1. Rat: in a private collection in Europe
2. Ox: bought by the China Poly Group in 2000, now at the Poly Art Museum in Beijing.
3. Tiger: bought by the China Poly Group in 2000, now at the Poly Art Museum in Beijing.
4. Rabbit: in a private collection in Europe
5. Dragon: unknown
6. Snake: unknown
7. Horse: will be auctioned off in Hong Kong next month
8. Sheep: unknown
9. Monkey: bought by the China Poly Group in 2000, now at the Poly Art Museum in Beijing.
10. Rooster: unknown
11. Dog: in 2003, a Hong Kong auction house claimed to be selling the dog from the Summer Palace water clock, but consultants from the Poly Art Museum said the craftsmanship didn’t match the other four the Poly Group has recovered.
12. Pig: purchased by Stanley Ho in 2003 (from a NY collector) and donated to China. Currently at the Poly Art Museum in Beijing.