Museum probes cover-up claims
By Wang Qingchu |
August 6, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Palace Museum is investigating claims that it covered up the loss of or damage to four national treasures.
The museum was accused of concealing the incidents by the man who first disclosed the breaking of a rare porcelain plate during scientific testing.
It is investigating the claims on Long Can's blog and would publish the results soon, Feng Nai'en, a spokesman for the museum in Beijing's Forbidden City, told the China News Service yesterday.
Long Can disclosed the breaking of the Ge kiln plate from Song Dynasty (960-1279) on July 31.
The museum admitted the damage but said a delay in reporting the accident was to allow for the completion of an internal investigation into the incident.
Long Can listed four similar accidents he had heard about from insiders. Dozens of Buddha statues were thrown out when the museum cleared away some wooden boxes; a ritual tool from Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) was damaged in 2006; another Buddha statue was broken in 2008 and another precious object was smashed by an official.
The claim made by the museum's deputy curator, Chen Lihua, that no top-class antique pieces had been broken due to human error before the plate accident was not true, Long Can claimed.
Chen didn't respond to the allegations directly but said the museum had standards and rules for handling its collections. "The verbal row over the Internet has no meaning at all. Everything should be based on facts," Chen told the Beijing Times.
Meanwhile, the museum was accused of putting a collection of five calligraphy scrolls up for auction, China Youth Daily reported.
Antiques expert Bei Guang-hui had written in his blog that the scrolls were bought by the museum at 6.82 million yuan (US$1.06 million) at auction in 1997. However, the scrolls were auctioned for more than triple the original price in 2005.
"If the museum did put its collection up for auction to make profit, it's a serious crime," Bei had written in 2005. The blog was unearthed by reporters investigating the broken plate story.
However, Feng said the scrolls were not part of the museum's collection.
The museum was accused of concealing the incidents by the man who first disclosed the breaking of a rare porcelain plate during scientific testing.
It is investigating the claims on Long Can's blog and would publish the results soon, Feng Nai'en, a spokesman for the museum in Beijing's Forbidden City, told the China News Service yesterday.
Long Can disclosed the breaking of the Ge kiln plate from Song Dynasty (960-1279) on July 31.
The museum admitted the damage but said a delay in reporting the accident was to allow for the completion of an internal investigation into the incident.
Long Can listed four similar accidents he had heard about from insiders. Dozens of Buddha statues were thrown out when the museum cleared away some wooden boxes; a ritual tool from Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) was damaged in 2006; another Buddha statue was broken in 2008 and another precious object was smashed by an official.
The claim made by the museum's deputy curator, Chen Lihua, that no top-class antique pieces had been broken due to human error before the plate accident was not true, Long Can claimed.
Chen didn't respond to the allegations directly but said the museum had standards and rules for handling its collections. "The verbal row over the Internet has no meaning at all. Everything should be based on facts," Chen told the Beijing Times.
Meanwhile, the museum was accused of putting a collection of five calligraphy scrolls up for auction, China Youth Daily reported.
Antiques expert Bei Guang-hui had written in his blog that the scrolls were bought by the museum at 6.82 million yuan (US$1.06 million) at auction in 1997. However, the scrolls were auctioned for more than triple the original price in 2005.
"If the museum did put its collection up for auction to make profit, it's a serious crime," Bei had written in 2005. The blog was unearthed by reporters investigating the broken plate story.
However, Feng said the scrolls were not part of the museum's collection.
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