American Chinese collectors urge boycott of Christie´s

Source: Xinhua | 02-25-2009 15:28

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- American Chinese collectors on Tuesday urged the Chinese government to take action against Christine's, and called for a boycott of the auctioneer if it insists on auctioning two historic bronze sculptures looted from a Chinese imperial garden.

The American Chinese Collector's Association and the Eastern Cultural Foundation jointly issued an open letter at a press conference here, in an appeal to all Chinese collectors and antique dealers around the world to stop doing business with Christine's.

Christine's is expected to auction the two sculptures, the heads of a rat and a rabbit, in Paris on Wednesday, after a French court earlier rejected an appeal by a group of Chinese lawyers to stop the sale of the looted relics.

"Christine's is planning to put the sculptures on auction in Paris on Feb. 25. However, the heads were taken from Beijing's Old Summer Palace when it was looted by invading French and British forces in 1860 during the Second Opium War," the two groups stated in the open letter.

"Christine's has no rights to auction the two heads, and only the Chinese government has the unarguable rights to own and inherit these looted relics," the letter said.