French court: French auction $200 million two stolen China statues
are legitimate
-- A Paris court on Monday ruled against stopping the sale of two
looted Chinese bronze sculptures which come up for auction at
Christie's on Wednesday.
Under the ruling of the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris, the
plaintiff, the Association for the Protection of Chinese Art in Europe
(APACE), was ordered to pay compensation to the defendant.
The lawyer for APACE said that it was "of great significance" to file
the lawsuit.
"We hope to arouse public attention in Europe on the fate of
numerous Chinese works stolen in the past, to help keep those relics
well protected and collected," he said.
The Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) relics, the heads of a bronze rabbit
and a rat, were among an original set of 12 bronze animal heads that
once adorned the imperial summer resort Yuanmingyuan. They were looted
when the palace was burnt down by Anglo-French allied forces during
the Second Opium War in 1860.
The pair became part of a collection of the late fashion designer
Yves Saint Laurent. They have been put up for auction by his partner,
Pierre Berge.
The two items are expected to fetch between 16 million and 20
million euros (20.8 million to 26 million U.S. dollars).
So far, five of the 12 bronze animal heads have been returned to
China, while the whereabouts of five others are unknown.