Yves Saint Laurent's Bronze Rat and Rabbit Relics

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Vanessa

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BEIJING (AFP) - A Chinese antique collector said Monday he was the mystery buyer who placed the winning bid for two bronze relics at a Paris auction last week, but that he would not pay for them.

The announcement was the latest twist to a 150-year-old drama over the rabbit and rat bronze heads, which British and French forces looted from the imperial Summer Palace in Beijing towards the end of the Second Opium War.

The bronzes, part of the art collection of late French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge, sold for 15.7 million euros (20.3 million dollars) each at the Christie's auction in Paris.

Authorities in Beijing had repeatedly demanded the sale not go ahead, and that the relics be returned to China.

Cai Mingchao, a well-known antique collector, identified himself as the mystery bidder in a statement released in Beijing by the National Treasures Fund, which is dedicated to retrieving Chinese relics from abroad.

"I believe that any Chinese person would stand up at this time... I am making an effort to fulfill my own responsibilities," Cai said.

"But I must stress that this money I cannot pay."

The statement did not specify whether Cai could not pay for the relics because he did not have the money, or whether his inability to pay was for other reasons, such as his conscience not allowing him to buy looted items.

Officials with the fund did not take questions when they gathered reporters and released the statement, which said Cai is an advisor to the body.

Cai, who is also the head of a Chinese auction house, hit the headlines in 2006 when he paid 116 million Hong Kong dollars (14.95 million dollars) for a Ming dynasty Buddha image at a Sotheby's auction in Hong Kong.

The treasures fund praised Cai's actions.

"Since the auction has taken place, there has been a lot of guessing about who was behind the winning bid," fund vice-director Niu Xianfeng said in the same statement.

"I formally announce that this bidder is a Chinese person who should be admired. He is an advisor to the fund... Mr Cai Mingchao.

"We want to again stress what Cai Mingchao stressed -- this money can not be paid."

It said Cai had registered with Christie's to participate in the auction.

After the sale, China reacted furiously with government authorities warning Christie's it would face reprisals such as tougher checks on its Chinese operations.

The State Administration of Cultural Heritage said last week the auction had "harmed the cultural rights and hurt the feelings of China's people and will seriously impact (Christie's) development in China".

"(The agency) resolutely opposes and condemns all auctions of artefacts illegally taken abroad. Christie's must take responsibility for the consequences created by this auction," it said.

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A Chinese bronze rat head which is part of the Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Berge art collection, is presented Saturday Feb. 21, 2009 at the Grand Palais in Paris. A pure-lined Mondrian; a Picasso from his cubist period; a Roman sculpture dating from the 1st century; two bronze animal heads that disappeared from a Chinese palace in 1860. Those are among the more than 700 pieces that made up the eclectic collection of late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, which is slated to be auctioned off next week and observers are already calling the "auction of the century."

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A bronze rabbit head and rat head made for the Zodiac fountain of the Emperor Qianlong's Summer Palace in China are displayed during the exhibition of the private art collection of French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Berge at the Grand Palais in Paris February 21, 2009. The collection will be auctioned and sold in Paris February 23, 2009, in partnership with Christie's and auction house Pierre Berge and Associates.
 
hehe this has just been on the news. There's big contraversy now because he won't pay for them. It didn't mention what would happen to the statue's though
 
They want them to be returned to China. I am not sure what will happen to them. I don't think they will turn them over, or they would have before the auction.
As much as I believe that they should be returned, under the circumstances that led them to be removed in the first place, China doesn't take care of it's priceless relics as well as other countries do, so I am not sure that I would want them to get them back. I agree that they should be in a museum somewhere.
 
Is it really that big a deal if they don't go back?

Maybe the person who was the second bidder would be offered the statues, assuming they want them now with the negative media attention that this has received.
 
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