Chinese non-state fund The National Treasure Funds of China (NTFC), dealing with the repatriation of cultural property, was unable to buy two items from the collection of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge, reported Xinhua.
The bronze head of rats and rabbits exhibited at the Paris auction with Christie's estimate of 8-10 million euros each.
Nude Xianfeng (Niu Xianfeng), deputy head of the fund, the agency explained that in the same bronze head NTFC in 2003 paid about a million dollars, so the amount of Christie's turned out to be unfeasible for the fund. Nude Xianfeng appealed to the Chinese public to raise money for the ransom.
The bronze head of rat and rabbit were part of clepsydra, decorated with images of Chinese zodiac signs. Clepsydra was in the Beijing summer palace of Emperor Qianlong (1736-1795), and during the Second Opium War (1860), when the palace was burnt down, figurines of animals have disappeared. Now five of them are stored in Beijing and two still are part of the collections by Saint Laurent and Berge. Location of the remaining five is unknown.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/ar...1&ref=arts