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The pavilion and stone arch bridge are among the few remaining original structures at The Old Summer Palace in Beijing. Photo by Shizhao, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.

Pinault family donates rabbit, rat fountain heads to people of China

Catherine Saunders-Watson
Catherine Saunders-Watson
The pavilion and stone arch bridge are among the few remaining original structures at The Old Summer Palace in Beijing. Photo by Shizhao, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.
The pavilion and stone arch bridge are among the few remaining original structures at The Old Summer Palace in Beijing. Photo by Shizhao, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.

BEIJING – The Pinault family has donated to the people of China the bronze rabbit and rat fountain heads that originally were ensconced at the Old Summer Palace in Beijing. An official donation ceremony was held at the National Museum of China to welcome these 18th-century cultural relics back home.

The fountain heads were included in Christie’s Feb. 23-25, 2009 auction in Paris of the Yves St. Laurent & Pierre Bergé collection, but the purchase of the fountain heads was never consummated.

Steven P. Murphy, Chief Executive Officer of Christie’s said, “The generous gift to the people of China of these historic works of art marks a memorable act of philanthropy by the Pinault family. As one of the leading proponents of the importance of cultural heritage, Christie’s is delighted to have played an instrumental part in ensuring their return. We welcome the fact that they will now go on display in the National Museum of China where many millions of Chinese and visitors to China will have the wonderful opportunity to appreciate them once again.”

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Auction Central News International contributed to this report.

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

The pavilion and stone arch bridge are among the few remaining original structures at The Old Summer Palace in Beijing. Photo by Shizhao, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.
The pavilion and stone arch bridge are among the few remaining original structures at The Old Summer Palace in Beijing. Photo by Shizhao, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.