Old Summer Palace gets back stolen relic
Print Edition
A BRONZE horse head sculpture, a treasure of China’s Old Summer Palace that went missing after Anglo-French allied forces’ looting 160 years ago, returned to its original palace home yesterday.
It is the first time that a lost important cultural relic from the Old Summer Palace, or Yuanmingyuan, has been returned to and housed at its original location after being repatriated from overseas.
Twelve animal head sculptures once formed a zodiac water clock in Beijing’s Yuanmingyuan, built by Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The originals were looted from the royal garden by Anglo-French allied forces in 1860 during the Second Opium War (1856-1860).
The horse head, designed by Italian artist Giuseppe Castiglione and crafted by royal craftsmen, is an artistic blend of East and West.
Macau billionaire Stanley Ho bought the artefact for HK$69.1 million (US$8.9 million) ahead of a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong in 2007 and publicly displayed it in Hong Kong and Macau for many years.
Ho decided to donate it to the National Cultural Heritage Administration and return it to its original palace home in November 2019. The administration and competent departments of the Beijing municipal government have spent one year refurbishing the old Zhengjue Temple, the main place of worship for Qing Dynasty emperors in the garden, to an exhibition venue, said Liu Yuzhu, head of the administration.
An exhibition commemorating the return of the horse head has kicked off at the temple, displaying about 100 items including relics and photographs.
The horse head sculpture was returned to the palace amid the challenges brought by COVID-19, said He Yan with the Beijing Urban Planning Society.
“It also led to an all-round upgrade of security at the Old Summer Palace, which allows for long-term exhibitions.”
“There is international consensus on returning lost cultural relics to their original homes, and China’s efforts to bring relics home in recent years have enhanced that consensus,” He added.
Over the past two decades, wealthy collectors have been buying the looted antiques at art auctions and returned them. To date, including the bronze horse figure, seven of the 12 animal head sculptures had been returned to China, while the rest remain missing.
Ho also paid HK$6 million for the collection’s pig head in 2003, donating it to the Poly Art Museum in Beijing.
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