eBook
Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
Related collections and offers
Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781409455455 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Ashgate Publishing Ltd |
| Publication date: | 07/01/2012 |
| Series: | Handbooks in International Art Business |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 4 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Chinese Antiquities
An Introduction to the Art Market
By Audrey Wang, Alison Hill
Lund Humphries
Copyright © 2012 Audrey WangAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-84822-107-9
CHAPTER 1
GEOPOLITICAL ISSUES FOR THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA
To set the stage for the analysis of the Chinese art market, this chapter will explore the various geopolitical issues which bear significance on the workings of China's consumer economy, and how they affect the Chinese art and antiquities market. Government regulations controlling the trade and export of antiques are numerous and constantly changing, variously working for and against the many parties involved – museums, dealers, collectors, auction houses, archaeologists, conservators, politicians and government officials. Some of the issues at hand, especially those surrounding cultural patrimony and restitution, are emotionally charged. While this chapter does not attempt to find a solution to all the debates, it will provide some historical background and aims to present a balanced view on the various arguments.
China's State-Controlled Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century
The twenty-first century represents for the People's Republic of China, under the single-party rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), its first opportunity since 1949 to assert a leading position on the global stage, both politically and economically. The conditions of the last two hundred years of China's history were not especially conducive for economic growth. The Qing dynasty was in decline through the 1800s under a succession of corrupt and incompetent rulers, eventually bringing an end to China's feudal dynastic system of rule in 1911. The power struggle continued into the mid-twentieth century, as Nationalists and Communists fought for control over China, with the Communist Party gaining victory in 1949.
From 1949, China was once again held together by a powerful central government. With social equality and economic order high on the agenda, Mao Zedong and the other leaders of the CCP set about empowering peasants and workers, while limiting the influence of landlords, intellectuals, capitalists and foreigners. This marked a period of inward reflection, when China was, by and large, ostracised by the rest of the world.
According to Forbes Magazine's rich list, the number of billionaires in China rose from 64 in 2009 to 115 in 2010, a substantial 80 per cent increase within a year, compared with the US's 2.5 per cent increase. This ranks China second in the world's standings, behind the US in first place, and ahead of Russia in third. This recent billionaire boom in the PRC did not take place overnight, but is the result of thirty years of gradual market and economic liberalisation in China, sanctioned by the ruling CCP, after Mao's death in 1976. This gradual opening up process from a planned economy towards freer markets originated from Deng Xiaoping's plans for China, which he called 'crossing the river by feeling for stones'. The reforms that the CCP undertook in the late 1970s and early 1980s were attempted to recover from the low point of Mao's last years, by revitalising party personnel, agricultural production, industrial development, foreign trade and investment, military and defence, science and technology. One of Deng's most extreme measures in the reversal of China's economic policies in the late 1970s was his accepting of foreign trade, technology and investment, which had been considered inconsequential by the late Qing dynasty rulers, and which had been shunned in preference for self-sufficiency in the early days of Communism (except for trade with the Soviet bloc). Other preparatory steps the CCP took included price reforms – where pricing was based on supply and demand rather than production costs – and amendments to ownership rights and obligations to encourage entrepreneurship, thereby giving scope to private enterprise and market forces.
Single-party rule allows the CCP government to control and own key industries, manipulate the stock market, staff key bank and industry posts with Party members, and generally direct the course of economic growth in China. The Chinese government is constantly criticised by economists for interfering, but this form of state-controlled capitalism has been the CCP's formula for growing the economy for over thirty years, although the intensity of control has reduced over time. As the financial crisis of 2008–09 has demonstrated, China's brand of command capitalism has navigated the country away from the turmoil experienced in America and Europe. While 2010 was spent in recovery mode in the West, China's economy continued on an upward momentum. For example, during the period from 2008 to 2010, the market for luxury goods fell in the US by 16 per cent, in Japan by 10 per cent and in Europe by 8 per cent from levels in 2008; yet, during this same period, sales in China rose by 12 per cent.
With an increase in wealth and the number of high net-worth individuals (HNWI) in China, we have also seen greater spending on 'investments of passion', acquisitions made for their aesthetic or emotional appeal as well as for their tangible long-term returns. Art and antiques are among the major consumption items that the newly rich Chinese HNWIs invest in, together with luxury cars, jewellery and watches. On the art market, China bucked the general trend by maintaining its art boom throughout 2010, and narrowing its market-share margin with the US. According to data by Arts Economic for TEFAF, China was second to the US in the global art market in 2010; while according to Artprice's statistics, China has overtaken the US for the top spot in art market rankings. Whatever the case, the PRC has shown resilience in the face of an economic downturn, somewhat dulling the effects of the general downward trend in the world economy.
The rules set out by the PRC government's state-controlled style of capitalism have affected the art market in various ways. Heritage conservation in China is overseen by the State Bureau of Cultural Relics, Guojia Wenwu Ju, which was established in 1949. Its jurisdiction mostly covers the establishment and administration of museums, and to some extent, control over archaeological finds. Its early history in Maoist China was rife with conflicting agendas. As a state bureau, it was expected to pay attention to conservation and cultural heritage protection. Yet this was at odds with the dogma of Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution. The Communist Party's campaign to destroy the 'Four Olds' – old ideas, old culture, old customs and old habits – was launched in 1966, and caused the obliteration of countless monuments, temples and other ancient structures, as well as their contents. Family heirlooms and private art collections were confiscated by the Red Guards and stored in government warehouses, where some of the objects were pilfered by corrupt officials. Later, the unclaimed treasure was auctioned off on behalf of the state. In the past decade, much of the Bureau's efforts have been directed at the restitution of cultural patrimony from overseas, particularly those objects which were taken out of China as war booty and those that were exported illegally. Many, however, would argue that it was fortunate that the relics were in overseas collections and therefore protected from possible destruction during the Cultural Revolution.
Tough import and export regulations, straddled with complex and opaque bureaucracy, limit foreign participation in the art market for Chinese antiquities in China, although that has not completely deterred foreigners from buying and selling at Chinese auctions. The movement of art in and out of China is dominated by fine art, due to the popularity of Chinese contemporary art. There are no restrictions for artworks made after 1911, making it easier to trade in these works on an international level. On the other hand, there are a myriad of laws restricting the export of antiques. Under the 'Cultural Relic Protection Law', the Cultural Relics Bureau bans the export of cultural relics pre-dating 1911, on the basis that it encourages theft from historical and archaeological sites to meet international demand. This rule applies to all artworks, including those that are sold at auction or private sale in the PRC, but does not apply to auction lots that have come from outside the PRC with the proper import documentation. For the latter category, therefore, there is the potential for buyers outside of China to acquire them without any problems with regard to export. However, in general, the export of most Chinese antiquities is highly restrictive, as the trade regulations are aimed at preserving important artefacts within the country. This means that exports of antiquities from China are likely to diminish with time. The Relics Bureau also specified three other categories of antiquities in the relic protection law in its revisions of the law in 2007, to include:
1. All artworks that pre-date 1911.
2. Any antique which is considered 'an important relic', in which case the cut-off date is set at 1949.
3. Any object which is deemed important to the heritage of an ethnic minority group, in which case it must not pre-date 1966.
The laws on auctioning of relics are also very restrictive, preventing foreign companies to auction heritage items in Mainland China. This exclusion of foreign investment and competition in the art market stems, in part, from the nationalistic fervour that has gripped China since the mid-nineteenth century, instigated by the infamous destruction of the Summer Palace, Yuanmingyuan.
Yuanmingyuan, Restitution and Cultural Repatriation
Located on the north-western outskirts of Beijing, the Yuanmingyuan was a summer retreat for six generations of emperors, from Kangxi (r. 1662–1722) to Xianfeng (r. 1851–1861). The Chinese-style gardens, buildings and artificial islands built on and around the natural lake, Fuhai, were arranged in accordance with Chinese cosmology, and the main palace gate bore the three characters 'Yuan Ming Yuan' copied from Kangxi's own calligraphy. The building programme and architectural style of the Yuanmingyuan reached its apogee under the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1836–1895), when the court spent six months of the year in residence. With the help of the Jesuits working in the imperial court, Qianlong had designed a fantastical pleasure park out of the Yuanmingyuan, which became known for its European-style palaces built between 1747 and 1768 (pl. 3). One Jesuit in particular was responsible for much of the ornate pseudo-Occidental designs. Giuseppe Castiglione, or Lang Shining as he was known in Chinese, was a court painter who found great favour with Qianlong, and it was he who can be credited with the Yuanmingyuan style, which could be described as 'sinicised Baroque'. To complement the elaborate architecture of the Yuanmingyuan palaces, the interior decor was also fantastically wrought, and is more aligned with the flamboyant taste of the Manchu rulers than that of the more conservative Han Chinese. The western-style palaces were filled with large vessels of cloisonné enamel and porcelain decorated with busy floral designs and mountings in gold or gilt-bronze.
The gardens and palaces of the Yuanmingyuan were destroyed in 1860, after several failed attempts at negotiations between the Anglo-French emissaries and the Xianfeng Emperor. In revenge for the torturing and execution of a group of British and French officials, the allied European forces sacked the Yuanmingyuan, looting its contents and setting fire to the whole complex, so that all that remains today are ruins.
A considerable portion of the objects taken out of the Yuanmingyuan was given to Empress Eugénie in 1861 by General Montaubon, and installed in the purpose-built Musée Chinois at the Fontainebleau Chateau. The ornate Chinese pieces from Yuanmingyuan adapted remarkably well into the similarly sumptuous interior decor at Fontainebleau. After all, the Chinese objects had been made specifically for a European-inspired palace, which had drawn much of its influence from the famous French chateaux in and around Paris. The rooms of the Musée Chinois served as a dramatic backdrop for court rituals and the entertaining and receiving of foreign dignitaries. The Oriental objects became symbols of France's economic, military and political power over the Asian nations, as well as Eugénie's involvement in imperialist politics, via the collection.
In England, Alfred Morrison (1821–97) formed a significant collection of Yuanmingyuan cloisonné wares and porcelains, which he had obtained from several sources, including Lord Loch of Drylaw (1827–1900). The collection became known as the Fonthill Heirlooms after it was inherited by Lord Margadale of Islay and installed at Fonthill House in Wiltshire. In 1965 and again in 1971, the contents of Fonthill House were sold by auction at Christie's, and included a separate auction of 'The Morrison Collection of Chinese Porcelain' which featured many of the objects taken from the Yuanmingyuan. From the collection of objects from the Fonthill Heirlooms and Empress Eugénie's Musée Chinois, one can imagine the opulence of the Yuanmingyuan.
The Controversy of the Haiyantang Fountainheads
The largest of the Yuanmingyuan palaces was the Haiyantang, 'Palace of the Calm Seas' (pl. 3) which featured, as its centerpiece, a magnificent clepsydra, or water clock. The horological fountain was made up of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac seated on either side of a large shell carving. Each animal sculpture had a human body modelled from stone, and a bronze head from which water spouted at its assigned hour. At noon, all 12 fountainheads spouted water in unison. It is widely accepted, based on comparisons of Castiglione's paintings in the imperial collection, that the bronze animal heads were cast from designs made by the artist.
Seven of the 12 heads are thought to exist today. Since 2000, when the Mainland Chinese became active art buyers, the subject of Yuanmingyuan and its fountainheads has been a contentious issue. In April 2000, Christie's Hong Kong's Imperial Sale, code-named 'Yuanmingyuan', featured two of the zodiac fountainheads – the monkey and the ox (pl. 2) – together with various other artworks associated with the imperial Yuanmingyuan style. By coincidence, Sotheby's Hong Kong that same season offered the tiger fountainhead, as well as a reticulated vase, which had also originated from the Yuanmingyuan. The Chinese government interpreted these actions as flagrant displays of defiance by the foreignowned auction houses, which were seen to be taking advantage of Hong Kong's 'one country, two systems' autonomy and insulting the sensitivities of the Chinese people. This controversy sparked a series of protests from the Chinese government and various pro-Beijing groups, demanding that the auction houses stopped the sale of these looted objects and have them returned to China. On the part of the auction houses, they subsequently played down the Yuanmingyuan connection and, citing their terms and conditions of business, refused to withdraw the four lots from the sale because the consignors had obtained the objects legally. In conclusion to this debacle, the PLA-backed Poly Culture Group stepped in announcing, perhaps unwisely, that they would buy the items to safeguard China's national treasures. They were successful in buying the four lots, albeit at considerably high prices.
It would appear that despite the negative publicity, the controversy of selling cultural relics from the Yuanmingyuan actually drew more exposure to the auctions than would otherwise have been possible, so much so that Sotheby's Hong Kong ventured into the same territory again in October 2007 with the theme sale 'Lost Treasures from the Qing Palaces'. Headlining the sale was another bronze fountainhead, this time that of the horse, which was expected to fetch in excess of HK$60 million (US$7.7 million). However, a month before the sale, in a move which narrowly averted a repeat of the 2000 fiasco, the horse head was brokered in a private sale between the consignor and Macau-based casino mogul, Stanley Ho, who then donated it to China with much fanfare. Five years previously, Ho began participating in the recovery programme of China's lost cultural relics by obtaining and donating the boar fountainhead to China. In praise of Stanley Ho's actions, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of the People's Republic of China released a statement commending 'Dr. Ho's patriotic act'.
Even without its star lot, Sotheby's 'Lost Treasures' auction was a guaranteed success due to the nature of its theme. The result of the auction was a rare 'white-glove sale' with all of its 33 lots sold. The top ten lots were all sold to ethnic Chinese clients from China and Hong Kong, perhaps unsurprising, given the strong nationalist sentiment set by Stanley Ho's philanthropic actions just a month earlier.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Chinese Antiquities by Audrey Wang, Alison Hill. Copyright © 2012 Audrey Wang. Excerpted by permission of Lund Humphries.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Acknowledgements,Foreword,
Introduction,
Chronology of China,
Part One A Global Trade,
Chapter 1 Geopolitical Issues for the People's Republic of China,
Chapter 2 Historical Trade in Chinese Material Culture,
Chapter 3 The Global Market Today,
Part Two Today's Chinese Art Market Sectors,
Chapter 4 Traditional Painting and Calligraphy,
Chapter 5 Chinese Ceramics,
Chapter 6 Decorative Works of Art,
Part Three The Structure of the Art Market,
Chapter 7 Museums and Public Collections,
Chapter 8 Collectors and the Art of Collecting Chinese Antiquities,
Chapter 9 Chinese Art and Antique Dealers,
Chapter 10 Chinese Art Auctions,
Conclusion,
Notes,
Bibliography,
Appendix A,
Appendix B,
Index,