A man was remanded by Kaohsiung police on Wednesday for allegedly stealing a painting by renowned Taiwanese painter Chen Cheng-po (陳澄波) with an estimated value of NT$30 million (US$960,614).
Liu Ching-mao (劉警懋), 45, was turned over to the Kaohsiung Prosecutors’ Office on charges of larceny.
According to police reports, Liu was the owner of a camping ground in Alishan (阿里山), but had a falling out with a long-time friend, an antiques dealer surnamed Chao (趙), after Chao refused to loan Liu NT$20,000.
Liu allegedly drugged Chao’s German shepherd at his residence at 5am on May 25 before breaking into the home and leaving with Chen’s Second Painting of Gulangyu, reportedly worth NT$30 million.
Police said they used CCTV footage of a vehicle to help identify a suspect and offered a NT$200,000 reward for information on the case.
After receiving a tip off, a plainclothes officer visited Liu’s camping ground in the guise of a teacher wanting to rent a site and found the vehicle from the video footage, making Liu the prime suspect in the theft, the police said.
Police said they obtained a search warrant for Liu’s residence and business in Chiayi County’s Jhuci Township (竹崎) and on Wednesday found not only the Chen painting, but four other paintings, including one by Qing Dynasty official Zeng Guofan (曾國藩).
Liu was quoted by police as admitting that he had stolen the painting to “get back” at Chao for refusing to lend him money, adding that he intended to lie low until the theft blew over before contacting Chao through an intermediary and selling him back the painting.
Later on Wednesday, Chao collected his painting, saying that it is authentic and he had bought in Hong Kong five years ago.
Ministry of Culture official Hsiao Chong-ray (蕭瓊瑞), who convenes the antiques review committee’s modern arts division, has said he “does not recall” if Chen painted the Second Gulangyu.
Chen’s grandson, Chen Li-pai (陳立?), said he has not seen the painting in person and declined to make any further comment.
Chen Cheng-po, born in 1895, was a renowned painter and his work On the Streets of Chiayi was selected for the seventh Imperial Japanese Arts University Exhibition.
The artist was shot dead in 1947 during the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government’s crackdown on antigovernment uprisings that began on Feb. 27, 1947 — known as the 228 Incident.
Chen Cheng-po’s works are highly sought after and sell for between NT$500,000 to NT$2 million.
Two of his works, Chiayi Park and Sunset in Tamsui, sold for HK$5.79 million and HK$50.7 million (US$747,000 and US$6.5 million) 2002 and 2007 respectively, are designated important heritages by the ministry and are now in the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts’ collection.
Additional reporting by Yang Yuan-ting
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS