Art collector's fake bid does little to resolve bronze saga

Art collector Cai Mingchao's claim that he was the winning bidder for two Old Summer Palace relics did little to solve the protracted saga of the bronzes, believed to have been looted from the Chinese imperial garden 150 years ago.

But a hastily arranged press conference yesterday by China's Lost Cultural Relics Recovery Programme, a non-profit-making fund dedicated to retrieving historical artefacts from abroad, shed rare light on a much fiercer campaign on the mainland against the international sales of lost relics.

The conference in Beijing offered little to substantiate Mr Cai's claim or explain his motive, but as an adviser to the fund, he has its full backing.

The fund, launched in 2002 to support government efforts to repatriate Chinese cultural items, also acts as a body to remove the barriers in the recovery process, fund deputy executive Niu Xianfeng told China News Service.

The two bronzes fetched up to HK$153.8 million each at the Christie's auction last week, sales that dismayed art conservationists concerned about the soaring prices of Chinese relics on the international market, and the rampant smuggling and theft of artefacts.

Li Jianmin, an archaeologist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said it was the Chinese who had pushed up the prices. 'The bronzes are only some fountainheads made with minimal technology. Who would buy them if it weren't for their historical value and the sentiment they embody?'

Professor Li, who opposed the Christie's sale, said he was happy to see the auction end the way it did, even if it was sabotage. Xinhua carried an English-language report suggesting the fund and Mr Cai worked together to sabotage the auction.