Artforum reports that Agence France-Presse and Le Monde deliverd an update on the fate of the two Chinese bronzes, which were not quite sold at Christie’s Yves Saint Laurent/Pierre Bergé auction at the Grand Palais in Paris. The successful Chinese bidder, collector and auction-house owner Cai Mingchao, initially refused to pay for the works. His press conference, shared with a rep from the National Heritage Fund of China, suggested that Cai and the semigovernmental agency had worked together to sabotage the auction. According to Le Monde’s Harry Bellet, Christie’s has extended its normal payment deadline from one week to one month. Now, Cai has until March 25 to come up with over forty million dollars for the two pieces, which adorned the Summer Palace at Beijing until they were looted in 1860 by French and English troops. As Bellet writes, such a deadline extension is apparently not unusual at Christie’s when large sums of cash are due.
Cai might want to reconsider his refusal to pay, which he first likened to a patriotic act. As Agence France-Presse reports, the Chinese government has twice denied any link with Cai. “This auction was a strictly personal affair,” Shan Jixiang, the director of the state administration for vestiges and monuments, told the news agency New China. “The administration has nothing to do with that,” he noted, adding that China is still pursuing its efforts to obtain the bronzes “through all means in agreement with international conventions and Chinese laws.” While some fellow Chinese have celebrated Cai, others have criticized his methods, which might endanger the credibility of Chinese bidders at future auctions. In an editorial published last week, China Daily criticized the conventions and laws that prevent pillaged heritage objects from being returned to their countries of origin. Pierre Bergé has stated that he would keep the bronzes in a case of nonpayment.
