A French auction house has sold a historic Chinese seal for 1.1 million euros, despite threats of legal action from the Association for the Protection of Chinese Art in Europe. The group headed by French archaeologist Bernard Gomez, alleged it may have been stolen from Beijing's Forbidden City in 1860.
A brow-raising sale.
The green jade seal, 2cm high by 4.5cm wide, dates from the Qianlong period some 200 years ago. It sold to an unidentified telephone bidder.
The Association for the Protection of Chinese Art in Europe had urged auction house Artcurial to withdraw the seal from the sale, saying it was stolen in 1860 when the imperial Summer Palace was pillaged by Anglo-French troops. But Artcurial says in its catalogue that the item comes from the personal collection of a French family, which has owned it since late 19th century.
According to Yuan Kaishan, the former curator of the Palace Museum, this seal may have belonged to emperors of the Qing dynasty. It was likely to have been stolen during the ransack of the Summer Palace. The art protection association said it had already mandated a lawyer to "take all legal action", including filing a criminal complaint for theft and receiving stolen goods.
Relics pillaged from the old Summer Palace were sold long after the raid in 1860. Two such items are bronze fountainheads which were auctioned in 2009, but the successful bidder then refused to pay up.
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