Chinese Art Buyers Renege on $Millions for Buddhist Art, Forces Clampdown

BLOOMBERG NEWS
By Katya Kazakina and Scott Reyburn

A Chinese Imperial jade seal and album of calligraphy
are being re-offered for sale this week after their Asian bidders failed to pay.

HONG KONG - Amid a growing appetite by wealthy Chinese for art, wine and other collectibles, sellers are demanding deposits by bidders on top lots and, in some cases, suing the non-payers.  Olivier Doutrebente in Paris has put a valuation of as much as $1.6 million on a 35-sheet album of 18th- century Buddhist texts associated with the Emperor Qianlong, up for sale on March 30. The album, owned by relatives of the Sinologist Georges Soulie de Morant, was bid to 3.6 million euros by a Chinese buyer a year ago. It will be re-offered by the Paris-based auctioneer Olivier Doutrebente on March 30, a year after it first appeared for sale in the French capital. The successful bidder in March 2011 failed to pay. [link]