Christie’s v the people’s army
Foreign auctioneers have begun to enter China’s huge but unruly art market. They will not find it easy
IN 1779 the estate of Sir Robert Walpole, Britain’s first prime minister, sold an art collection to Catherine the Great. The private sale, which included pieces by Rubens and Rembrandt, was brokered by James Christie, a pioneering auctioneer. Though she placed most of these in St Petersburg’s Hermitage museum, the Russian empress traded a few items with the Qianlong emperor for some Chinese masterpieces.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Christie’s v the people’s army”
From the September 28th 2013 edition
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