(ECNS) -- The State Administration of Cultural Heritage has released a regulation on relic auction, which stipulated that stolen, excavated and smuggled cultural relics or looted Chinese cultural relics that had been specified in history cannot be auctioned.
The "Cultural Relics Auction Management Regulation" also says that the state has a priority to purchase rare cultural relics.
In China, auctions targeting the following fit the regulation:
All kinds of artwork, handicraft articles from before 1949;
Documentation, manuscripts and books with historical, artistic and scientific value from before 1949;
Representative relics related to all ethnic social systems, production and life from before 1949;
Representative entities related to events and notability after 1949;
Representative relics reflecting all ethnic production activities, customs and culture, cultural art and religions after 1949;
Artwork listed as forbidden to leave the country of deceased calligraphers, painters and artists after 1949;
Other relics regulated by law and regulations.
The regulation emphasizes that the State Administration of Cultural Heritage could assign preemption rights to state-owned relic collection units. Purchase priority can be carried out in the way of negotiating pricing or by directional auction.
A porcelain pot looted from China's Old Summer Palace was auctioned for the sky-high price of $12,142,380 at the Sotheby's autumn sale in Hong Kong in 2014.
