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Museum lauded for rejecting sculptures

A combination photo taken on Feb. 21 shows two imperial bronzes — a rat head, right, and a rabbit head — that were on display at a three-day exhibition in Paris. PHOTO: AFP

The National Palace Museum’s caution in pursuing two bronze busts stolen from China some 150 years ago, harshly condemned by local politicians, has been praised by the International Council of Museums (ICOM).

The museum declined to purchase or accept as a gift the Qing dynasty bronze rat and rabbit heads — stolen from the Summer Palace in Beijing by European troops during the Opium Wars — from a French collector earlier this year.

At the time, museum director Chou Kung-hsin (周功鑫) denied that French businessman Pierre Berge had offered the works to the museum, and she told legislators the museum would never accept artifacts that are controversial, stolen or of unknown origin, a stance lauded by ICOM.

‘CARE’

“The Ethics Committee considers that [Chou] showed her care for museum ethics issues internationally, and demonstrated a positive relation to the position of the National Palace Museum, when it recently refrained from any move to purchase the sculptures,” Bernice Murphy, chairperson of the ICOM’s Ethics Committee, told CNA in an e-mail on Monday.

She said the committee had discussed the two bronzes at a recent meeting in Paris and was well aware of the controversy surrounding Christie’s canceled auction of the pair in Paris in February.

Chou has twice told the legislature that the museum should follow professional ethics and uphold its international image by not pursuing the pieces.

GIFT

Berge, partner of the late French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, said in a radio interview earlier this month that he would never offer the works to China and had hoped to give them to others.

Chou told lawmakers earlier this month that when she met Berge in Paris in June, he told her that he “would neither sell nor donate the two pieces,” but that professional ethics would prevent the museum from accepting them even if he had offered to donate them.

ANGER

Chou’s stance angered several legislators, who accused the government of kowtowing to China and surrendering Taiwan’s sovereignty.

Murphy also praised Chou’s visit to the Beijing Palace Museum in February and her partnership venture to seek loans and organize exhibitions in Taiwan that would include objects from both museums.

“This is aligned with other progressive projects of much interest and relevance to principles supported by ICOM’s Code of Ethics for Museums, and related ICOM policies encouraging greater cooperation throughout the museums sector internationally,” Murphy said.
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