IHT, JULY 23, 2005
History drives Chinese sales
By Souren Melikian, International Herald Tribune

LONDON The massive entry of citizens from the People's Republic of China into the Chinese art market has become a common topic in the media. The focus is nearly always on the financial consequences or the nationalism that supposedly drives the new players.

Whether the Chinese are any more nationalist in buying their own art than the British when buying Wedgwood porcelain or Georgian furniture is a moot question. What truly underlies Chinese acquisitions is a renewed awareness of history that the Maoist Cultural Revolution tried to wipe out and a new eagerness to reconnect with the cultural tokens of the past.

This eagerness, common to all Chinese communities, has radically changed the makeup of Chinese art auctions in the West, now largely determined by Chinese preferences. Three decades ago the big lots were so-called "archaic" bronzes from Chinese Antiquity, Tang pottery, Song porcelain, early Ming blue and white porcelain and, occasionally, some important Buddhist sculpture.

Not any more. Taking Christie's July 12 sale as the most spectacular example, there were few archaic bronzes and hardly any Tang pots. Tradition-minded Chinese buyers will not touch them. Recovered from tombs, they imply that ancestral remains were disturbed. Nor will traditionalists acquire Buddhist sculpture hacked away from cave temples or recovered from underground digs. None of these were to be seen at Christie's.

By contrast, hosts of objects that would not have been given much consideration were lavishly reproduced in the catalogue. All were dear to the hearts of those cast in the Mandarin mold or eager to see themselves as heirs to the tradition. They included rhinoceros horn wine cups, jade objets d'art, all intricately carved, and plenty of Qing dynasty porcelain.

The one object in the July 12 sale that would have excited great admiration in the 1970s was a blue and white jar of the mid-14th century painted with scenes dealing with the history of China under the Warring States.

The vigorous shape, and the energy with which the figures are painted, would have sent into ecstasy the Japanese in the 1970s, when they were driving the Chinese art market, but not the overseas Chinese when they in turn became a significant force in the 1980s.

They showed little interest in Yuan or early Ming porcelain. Most of them saw their shapes and large sizes as alien to Chinese tradition, and rightly so. These were introduced into China by the Mongols after they conquered China and Iran. Vessels suited to the Iranian royal banquet suddenly made an appearance - large trays for mounds of rice, large wine ewers and wine jars.

The first sign of a change in Chinese attitudes to blue and white came in September 2003 in a New York sale held at Doyle's. Four of the finest Ming blue and white vessels went to Xu Ximing, a businessman from Ningbo, in Zhejian Province, who had made his money in the eel trade. (Eels are a delicacy on the Chinese menu.)

The vessels that the collector from central China acquired shared two characteristics. They came from an old American collection and they had imperial marks on the underside. The old American provenance was part of their attraction. Chinese buyers taking home works of art from old Western collections can enjoy the feeling of recovering heirlooms taken out of the country in the days when China was weak, politically and economically.

The imperial mark topped this with a more cogent appeal. Western dealers often speak disparagingly of the Chinese love for inscribed imperial objects as if it were evidence of nouveau-riche vanity. In fact, the palace has always been at the heart of Chinese history. Seeking imperial objects is a more exalted way of reconnecting with old China and dreaming about past splendor.

On July 12, the search for cultural roots through history was more in evidence than ever. The blue and white jar shot up to an extraordinary £15.68 million, or $27.7 million, setting a record for any work of art from Asia. What happened?

The jar, of which only seven related examples are known, none in continental China, had links with Chinese history, recent and old.

It had been acquired by a Captain Baron Haro van Hemert tot Dingshof stationed in Beijing from 1913 to 1923. A commander of the Netherlands Legation Guards Detachment, he was in charge of security in the Dutch, German and Austro-Hungarian legations. To any Chinese ear, this came as a reminder of the days when a Western military presence amounted to thinly disguised colonial intrusion. Getting back the jar would have felt like settling old scores.

More important, however, was the link with the distant history of China. Not only were the scenes illustrated taken from a popular semi-historical work composed in the early 14th century, but in two cases, as Christie's expert, Rosemary Scott, observed in a finely researched essay, they followed almost to the letter those illustrated in the sole surviving copy of that book in its edition of the years 1321 to 1323. This made it a unique document of Chinese cultural history. It establishes beyond the shred of a doubt the role played by Chinese woodblock editions in 14th-century porcelain workshops at the highest level - which Christie's did not say.

The Chinese responded. Up to £10 million, already an unheard of figure, some of them were still in the running. In the end they were defeated. Giuseppe Eskenazi of London, the world's leading dealer in early Chinese art, carried the prize on behalf of a client who was, he told me, "a Westerner who has been collecting Chinese porcelain for 10 years." If there is a next time, meaning if another splendid object of major significance to Chinese cultural history turns up, my bet is they might hang on.

At lower financial levels, Chinese buyers already showed remarkable stamina. Their passion for history took a political turn with an imperial carved lacquer dated 1788.

The imperial panel, which technically speaking is a tour de force, shows junks sailing toward a hilly land where an army stands in battle order. The composition is borrowed from one of the engravings commissioned by the Qianlong emperor to commemorate his repression of a Taiwan uprising. Five lines of gilt Chinese characters reproduce a poem describing the battle. At the end, a seal calls the panel the "Treasure of the Son of Heaven." No Chinese collector could resist that. One, bidding anonymously, raised the stakes to a prodigious £433,600, a world record in its category.

This was outdone by another work of art with an imperial aura. The blue and white vase painted with a peach tree improbably hanging over rolling waves has a shape that is as beautiful as it is rare. Only one comparable example, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is known. Christie's vase, sure enough, is inscribed with the Qianlong six-character seal on the underside. But there is more to it than its imperial provenance.

Christie's expert considered the numbers of five flying bats (which symbolize the "Five Blessings": longevity, wealth, health, virtue and the allotted life span) and nine peaches to be a rebus for "nine-five," a number combination reserved for the emperor's use.

"Attaining the position of the nine-five" is an expression used during the Tang dynasty to mean "becoming the emperor." From this, the expert deduced that "the vase was made to celebrate the Qianlong emperor's birthday." It seems to me that the "nine-five" points to a more important conclusion. The vase was made to celebrate the accession to the throne of the Qianlong emperor. This dates it to 1736, explaining why it is so close to the style of the previous Yongzheng reign, which the catalogue refrains from noting.

A Chinese dealer, probably acting as an agent, paid £624,000 for one of the most important gems of Chinese cultural history seen in a long time. To treat such acquisitions as syndromes of nouveau-riche fever is a curious Western misperception. Never underestimate the Chinese - nor any of the old cultures of the East, for that matter.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/07/22/features/melik23.php

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chinadaily.com.cn, 2005-07-18 06:43
ARTISTIC value
WANG SHANSHAN

SHANGHAI: Large mainland corporations are discovering that supporting the arts may pay off financially and their clout may give Chinese contemporary art, which is already on the upswing, one more push.

In the last decade, Chinese contemporary art has seen a steady climb in price and popularity in international and domestic markets. This climb has led to record prices at international auctions held by Christie's and Sotheby's where single paintings have fetched millions of yuan.

"China's art market is still far from its peak because most of the country's business giants are not involved in it yet," says Guo Qingxiang, chairman of Yuebaozhai Art Investment Co Ltd, an arm of the Dalian Wanda Group. Wanda is a multi-layered corporation with interests ranging from properties and shopping malls to factories.

Although famous for its sponsorship of one of China's best football teams in Dalian, Liaoning Province, Wanda may have been the first of China's top enterprises to invest in art. It set up the art investment arm in 1993, long before Chinese art became the flavour of the day.

At the time, the doors to the West were beginning to swing wider but the art craze had not yet taken hold.

Now, more than a decade later, there are rumours of other giants getting into the game.

"Word is going around that some other top enterprises, namely the electronic appliance producer Haier Group and the tobacco giant Hongta Group, are making their first forays into the art market," says Guo.

Both groups declined to comment.

Still, more and more corporations are beginning to get into the game and discovering that supporting art may have a dual benefit. It can lead to a publicity or a public relations coup while helping with the bottom line by cutting down on income taxes.

Tax breaks are now emerging as a factor that may make further investment in art more attractive. Although common in Western countries, where governments encourage investment in culture with tax deductions and income-tax breaks, the practice is just now making its way to China.

Some Chinese businesses are discovering that buying art may be its own payoff when the time comes to pay the taxman.

Companies have a growing enthusiasm for art investment because they have found it a good way to cut down on the amount of corporate income tax they pay, says industry-veteran Shi Jianbang, editor-in-chief of Shanghai-based Art Dealer.

"They buy art and deduct the purchase as an expense in their balance sheets," he says.

Although tax breaks for art purchases are still far from common across the country, one province may be blazing a trail for others to follow.

"It has been a common practice for both large and small- and-medium sized private companies in East China's Zhejiang Province.

"The local tax authorities are encouraging the practice. The province's tax authorities recently published a policy to give businesses official approval to deduct their purchases of art as an expense in their balance sheets," says Shi.

Even if the promise of more widespread tax breaks is far off, the trend towards more art investment is evident. Property developers were among the first to link art and profits by putting their money where other's brushes or chisels had been.

New developments have become a common renue for art shows and galleries - some high profile. The shows not only give publicity to the artists but also put the development in the public eye.

At the same time, art can elevate new buildings from a mere place to live into a home for those with delicate sensibilities - and the wallets to go with that.

"If I want to sell an apartment, I won't make people feel I am selling an apartment - I focus their attention on something more interesting, more lofty, like art. That's how I made my money," says Pan Shiyi, whose company developed the famous SOHO development in downtown Beijing.

In the last few years, China's real estate developers have become enthusiastic art buyers.

Unlike corporations who buy art quietly looking for tax breaks, developers often launch media campaigns to go along with significant purchases.

Tiandi Real Estate Investment Co Ltd in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province, earned national renown last June when it paid 69.3 million yuan (US$8.35 million) for an album by ink painter Lu Yanshao (1909-1993) at an auction in Beijing.

The price, which looked exaggerated to many industry insiders, broke Chinese art records for a single lot at auctions around the world.

"The precious work of art will be exhibited regularly at the Tiandi Art Museum under construction in Tiandi Garden, a real estate project by our company in Nanjing," says Yang Xiu, the company's chairman.

Yang is not the first Chinese real estate developer to make a gallery or a museum the selling point of expensive apartment buildings.

Zhang Baoquan, general manager of Kingdom Real Estate Development Co Ltd, became a celebrity in Beijing's art scene after he appointed himself curator of a gallery in 2002.

The gallery, however, was proof that investment in art can be a financially risky proposition.

His gallery, Today Gallery, was built inside Kingdom Garden, a cluster of luxurious apartment buildings his company developed five years ago in Beijing's central North Third Ring.

Ads for the development left little to the imagination: "Choose Kingdom Garden, Join Vanguard Art."

Although most of the capital's vanguard artists live in inexpensive suburban homes, Zhang's gallery managed to accumulate a large collection of vanguard art while securing for itself a more high profile spot within Beijing's cultural scene.

The gallery held exhibitions for ambitious young vanguard artists, who consigned their works to the company, says Zhang's deputy at the gallery Shang Fang.

In itself, however, the gallery has not been a money-making venture. Rather, the artworks help raise the profile of the development.

"The gallery has been losing more than 500,000 yuan (US$60,200) annually since it was founded in 2002," said Shang.

"A major piece of vanguard art can rapidly bring a gallery fame but not necessarily money. The market still has a preference for 20th century art," Zhang says.

Eventually the real-estate-developer-turned-curator finally let the art gallery go at the end of last year and, in a quiet move, rented the space out to a publishing house.

The experiment did not dissuade other developers from linking their projects with art.

Since the closure of Today Gallery, Ocean Art Center in northeastern Beijing has emerged as a major venue for vanguard art.

Ocean Art is located at the gate of "Ocean Paradise," an apartment building cluster in northeastern Beijing.

Both the venue and the buildings are investments of the real estate development arm of China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO).

(China Daily 07/18/2005 page8)

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-07/18/content_460965.htm

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Tentative strokes
LUO MAN
2005-07-18 06:43

A Western corporate tradition of sponsorship of the arts is getting a toehold in China, but it may be a while before it makes a clear footprint.

For centuries, families with money aplenty and corporations with ample resources have made life easier for talented artists by buying or commissioning works.

Back in 15th-century Florence, the Medici family ruled business, controlled the government and lavishly supported the arts. The family's support made Florence a focal point of culture in Europe and lit a spark of life on the last remaining embers of the Renaissance.

In the centuries that followed, corporations throughout the Western world took up that tradition. As those corporations moved to China, however, that tradition not always moved with them.

In China, a country where support for the arts is anything but institutionalised, it has yet to significantly materialize among foreign corporations.

"It is starting a little bit," says Lorenz Helbling, owner of Shanghart, Shanghai's oldest privately-owned art gallery.

It is difficult to find a company that will put any money towards a pursuit that will not yield some financial or public relations return, he says.

In the West, "companies sponsor art without aiming to get anything back, but here it is at the beginning. Here, it is very difficult to find a kind-hearted donor. Some of the big companies do (support art). Depends on how interested the top people are."

One of Shanghart's regular customers is international advertising and public relations firm Ogilvy & Mather.

"We lease art pieces We are a creative business and require constant stimulation to generate 'out of the box' thinking," says Joseph Wang, Ogilvy's vice-chairman in China.

"Art reminds, inspires and stimulates all of us. We swap art at least once a year, and sometimes sooner, if we find there are new and interesting pieces available.

"We choose them because they reflect contemporary China. They are the work of young Chinese artists using a 'Western medium' but interpreting their own social circumstances and from a Chinese perspective."

Still, support for art among Western multinationals in Shanghai is hardly widespread.

Even foreign banks, traditionally staunch supporters of the arts, have been lukewarm in their support.

HSBC, for example, has chosen to focus on more pressing social or promotional needs, despite a long-standing tradition of artistic patronage.

The priorities are different. Even in Shanghai, the acknowledged financial leader in the mainland, there are other needs that may outweigh art.

HSBC is one of the world's largest banks and a renowned collector in its own right but it has not brought that tradition to its business here, although in Hong Kong it does a lot of work connected to the arts and regularly co-operates with the Hong Kong arts council.

In Shanghai, the bank's foundation has put its focus on more pressing social works for charity and sports - like a world-class golf tournament later this year - to elevate Shanghai's stature on the international stage.

"We focus on sponsoring disadvantaged communities," says Dan Dan Chang, a spokesperson for the bank. "Our business in the mainland is rather limited, so we have to have priorities."

Ultimately, it may be mainland-based corporations that spread the support for art, but it may take some time before patronage becomes a common practice.

"It is not a mature market here," says Ingrid Tang, director of tourism for Shanghai's Xuhui District. Private companies or individuals that want to work with artists often approach her office but most are after some kind of profitable venture.

Still, the practice may be slowly making its way into boardrooms across the country. A handful of companies have already made a concerted effort to invest.

Dalian Wanda Group, for example, is known for its collection of more than 200 works of 20th century Chinese art, including 84 works by Wu Guanzhong (born in 1919).

The purchase, however, was more in the nature of an investment than cultural support and the investment paid off.

"The price of Wu's art more than doubled in three months after a sudden rise last spring," says Liu Shangyong, vice general manager of Rongbao Auction Co Ltd, an affiliate of the three-century-old art dealer Rongbaozhai.

Although the company said the price hike had nothing to do with the company's purchase, it came just as a series of Wu's solo exhibitions, sponsored by Wanda Group, were held around the world last spring. One of the exhibitions was held at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing and another at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in Paris.

(China Daily 07/18/2005 page8)

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-07/18/content_460963.htm

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Chinese jar sets record for Asian art
By Souren Melikian International Herald Tribune
WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2005

LONDON A Chinese porcelain jar of the 14th century, painted in blue on a white background with scenes relating to events that took place in the sixth century B.C., was sold Tuesday for £15.68 million, or $27.7 million. It thus set a world auction record for any work of art from any Asian culture.

The successful bidder was the world's leading dealer in early Chinese art, Giuseppe Eskenazi, acting on behalf of a private buyer.

The previous highest auction price ever for Chinese porcelain was paid on Sept. 16, 2003, at Doyle's, New York, when another blue and white vessel of the 14th century, a so-called pilgrim flask, was sold for $5.83 million.

The figure reached Tuesday, after a prolonged duel pitching Eskenazi against a telephone bidder, multiplied by 10 Christie's very timid estimate, quoted verbally before the sale. It doubled what informed art professionals expected it to sell for.

The extraordinary price in part reflects the extraordinary character of the object. The heavily potted jar belongs to a very small group of jars, vases and bowls produced under the Mongol dynasty of the Yuan (1279-1368) between the 1330s and 1370s.

Only seven other jars of this shape, which reproduces a model borrowed from the Iranian world, have been recorded.

The jar sold at Christie's on Tuesday illustrates episodes relating to events that took place during the "Warring States" period. They are recounted in "The History of the Warring States," a historical chronicle composed in the early 14th century and printed in the years 1321 to 1323. The only copy dating from the 1320s that is known to survive is now in Japan, in the Naikaku Bunko, a government library in Tokyo.

Rosemary Scott, the British scholar and consultant to Christie's Asian department who identified the scene, reproduces in her introductory essay the double page in which the scene is illustrated. Readers of the catalogue are thus able to verify for themselves how closely the porcelain jar follows the printed model. This is particularly striking in the scene depicting General Wang Yi, known as Guiguzi, who is seated in a two-wheel chariot drawn by a tiger and a leopard.

No other example of this scene is illustrated on porcelain vessels. The chronicle in which it is recounted belongs to the genre of popular history mixing reality and tales that thrived in Yuan China when there was a mood of revenge against foreign occupation - the Yuan dynasty was thrust upon the country by the Mongol conquerors.

A similar factor may have had its part in goading Chinese bidding, with out which the phenomenal price paid would not have been achieved.

The very provenance of the jar further stung Chinese pride. Christie's wrote that the jar was acquired in China during the first quarter of the 20th century by Captain Baron Haro van Hemert tot Dingshof (1879-1972), who was in the Dutch marine corps and was stationed in Beijing from 1913 to 1923. A sea commander of the Netherlands Legation Guards Detachment, van Hemert was responsible for the security of the Dutch, German and Austro-Hungarian legations in their military enclaves. There could be no clearer reminder of the semicolonial regime that was then imposed by Western powers on a weakened China.

The jar was unrecorded until its publication in the Christie's catalogue. The revelation of its existence caused a sensation in international circles. Chinese passions were aroused. None of the seven other 14th-century blue and white jars of that model are present in the People's Republic of China. International professionals believe that a consortium was set up by a group of powerful Chinese buyers with the intention of bringing the Christie's jar back to China. They are thought to have been in the running to around £10 million.

From £10 million up, all the other bidders battling against Eskenazi were Chinese, the London dealer said. But Eskenazi stuck to his guns. All he would say after the sale was that the buyer was "a Western collector of Chinese porcelain." This promises further auction battles and will contribute to deepening Chinese involvement in art purchasing.

http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file=/articles/2005/07/13/news/melik.php

__________________

with kind regards,

Matthias Arnold
(Art-Eastasia list)

http://www.chinaresource.org
http://www.fluktor.de

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