CPAC – Building A Wall Against Art Part I: How the Executive Branch Controls US Access to Art and Artifacts

"The art world is dominated today by stories about spectacular multi-million dollar sales of contemporary artworks at shows and auction houses. Yet the market for ancient and ethnographic artworks has no such lofty expectations. There are far fewer important ancient artworks offered at auction in the US than just a decade ago, and there are fewer foreign exhibitors (or even American galleries) willing to show at major antique fairs in New York.

Already, US authorities’ aggressive seizures of artworks from long-held collections and the unprecedented number of prosecutions based upon foreign laws that nationalize virtually all antique artworks have made art dealers, collectors, and museums hyper-cautious. These enforcement actions threaten to end the once-dominant New York market in global antique and tribal art....Objects that can be proven to have been collected before 1970 are categorized as “good” for marketing, collecting and museum acquisition purposes. Objects without proof of collection date or collected post-1970 are “bad.”"
Quoted from this article, please read: Click here.

Trump Administration Proposed Tariffs on Chinese Art & Proposed Extension of Existing MOU.

The importing of Chinese art from China has been regulated since 2009 by a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that is set to be renewed soon, through 2024. It is my opinion, and that of many other experts and commercial & non-profit institutions in the U.S., that this ban is not appropriate. The ban covers virtually all items through the Tang Dynasty and wall decoration and monumental sculpture more than 250 years old.
See the discussion on why this MOU should not be renewed posted by Cultural Property News here.

In addition, "ordinarily, there are no customs duties on art or antiques. It is considered in the public interest to bring art and literature to the U.S., so in the past, no duties were imposed on foreign art or books. The Trump administration is changing that, at least for art and antiques from China. This is one of the more bizarre stories in the tariff saga, since a tariff on antiques will please the Chinese government and reinforce its global dominance and monopoly on Chinese art. Artworks, antiques, and historical and archaeological collections are included in the Trump administration’s proposed 10% retaliatory tariff on an additional $200 billion of China imports....it is clear that the proposed tariff on Chinese art only punishes U.S. collectors, dealers, and art museums – not the Chinese, who requested import restrictions on art and antiques up to 1912 in the first place!" (quoted from Cultural Property News July 19, 2018).
The article includes a link on how individuals can comment on these proposed tariffs, which must be received by August 17, 2018.

Provenance and Plunder at Museums

Aljazeera recently reported on an interesting story of interest to Asian art collectors of antiquities.
Provenance and plunder: What museums won't tell us. On how Western museums encourage and abet the smuggling of antiquities.
For the article, click here.
The next time you visit museums, consider what the labels do not say about where the art came from. As the article notes, "Museums fight against having to reveal the provenance of objects precisely because they know that many of the objects in their vast collections have illicit histories behind them."
That being said, it is important to remember that decades ago when museums began acquiring Asian pieces, the world was a different place and removal to a museum often saved pieces from ruin.

TOP CHINESE AUCTION HOUSES 2016

The Chinese art market is dominated by sales at auction houses within Mainland China, in Hong Kong, or in Taiwan. There are so many auction houses these days that it is hard for the public to know which ones are the larger and more important ones. I have complied the list below, based on data culled from several sources include Artnet, Artprice, Artron, and Blouin. Note that this list OMITS the big three Western auction houses that have sales in China: Christie's (HK & Shanghai), Sotheby's (HK & Beijing), and Bonhams (HK).

Beijing ChengXuan Auctions Co., Ltd.
北京诚轩拍卖有限公司
Beijing

Beijing Council International Auction Co.,
Ltd. 北京匡时国际拍卖有限公司
Beijing

Beijing Huachen Auctions Co., Ltd.
北京华辰拍卖有限公司
Beijing

China Guardian Auctions Co., Ltd.
中国嘉德国际拍卖有限公司
Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, Tokyo,
New York, Vancouver

Duo Yun Xuan Auctions Co., Ltd.
朵雲軒拍賣會
Shanghai

Beijing Hanhai Auction Co., Ltd.
北京翰海拍賣
Beijing

Hosane Auction Co. Ltd.
Shanghai

Poly Auction (Hong Kong)
香港保利
Hong Kong

Poly International Auction Co., Ltd.
北京保利
Beijing

Ravenel International Art Group
羅芙奧藝術集團
Taipei, Taiwan; Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai, China

Rong Bao Zhai
榮寶齋
Jinan

Rong Bao Zhai (Shanghai) Auction Co., Ltd.
榮寶齋
Shanghai

Sungari International Auction
中貿聖佳國際拍賣
Beijing

United Asian Auctioneers
Hong Kong

XiLing YinShe Auction Co. Ltd.
西冷印社拍賣
Hangzhou, Beijing

Zhong Cheng Auction Co., Ltd.
中誠國際拍賣
Taipei

Why Provenance Matters

I am often asked to appraise art people have bought in the past 10-20 years. These items include objects acquired impulsively during casual trips to Asia, from estate sales, or even from thrift stores, all for low prices, or occasionally purchased from non-specialist dealers or those catering to decorators. Many people think they are getting good buys. Most will be disappointed with my conclusions. It is always imperative when building a serious collection to study the type of art you are interested in yourself, consider provenance (history of past ownership) when purchasing objects, and buy from reputable dealers or auction houses.

A recent high-priced sale of a British collection of Chinese antiquities assembled in the 1950s and '60s shows why this matters.

Moon Flask, 15th century

NEW YORK TIMES Article About the Market for Pre-modern Japanese Art

The New York Times today published an interesting article about the current state of the Japanese art market. While making some good points, it was nevertheless very over simplified and somewhat erroneous in its to description of the art of the Edo period (1615-1868) as classical Japanese art (way too late in date!) and of course the comments on the Japanese print market are misleading because that is not the pre-modern Japanese art market's only sector that should not be judged by auction prices, since higher prices are realized through sales by private dealers.

Classical Chinese Furniture Prices Skyrocketing

All 26 lots in Sotheby's London sale of Classical Chinese Furniture on November 12, 2015 sold, for a total of US$16,780,515, which was over 10 times above the pre-sale low estimate. This success followed the successful sale of Chinese furniture Sotheby's held in Hong Kong in October, which realized US$33.5 million, which was more than double the pre-sale estimate. 

Another Great Sale for Shibata Zeshin at Bonham's

Another great sale at Bonhams London for the art of Japanese artist Shibata Zeshin, November 10, 2015, as reported in the Art Daily Newspaper. 

New Auction Record for Japanese Lacquer Artist Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891)

Although some sectors of the Japanese art market are in the doldrums, that is not the case across the board for all types of Japanese art. Bonham's sale of lacquer arts and paintings by Shibata Zeshin on November 5, 2015 in London demonstrates that fine quality works, by important artists, in fine condition, and with impeccable provenance can command record-setting prices. The start of this auction was LOT 14 a panel with a design of a farmhouse in snow at Sano, dated 1883.
It sold for USD $1,275,401.

RECORD-BREAKING ASIA WEEK IN NY MARCH 2015

ArtNews reports that Asia Week sales in NYC shattered records. For example, the Ellsworth sales at Christie's did so much better than expected. Everyone recognized sale of his collection marked the end of an era.