Christie’s defends sales of cultural artefacts
Auction house criticises ‘woke’ social media posts over the provenance of ‘legitimate’ historical items
THE Black Lives Matter movement has had virtually every major institution dive into the history books to establish their links to slavery and colonialism. But for one major auction house, enough is enough.
Christie’s has fought back over what it says has been a rise in “unfounded accusations” from academics and the general public who, it says, are increasingly questioning the provenance of “legitimate” historical objects on ideological grounds. The strongly worded rebuttal emerged when concerns were raised over the provenance of a 15th Century Persian Koran manuscript it sold this summer, for a world record £7 million.
The Koran has been in the same collection and in the UK for 40 years and is believed to have been bought in the 1980s when there was an active trade in these types of object.
It had been estimated to sell for between £600,000 and £900,000 at Christie’s Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds sale but went for ten times the amount, beating the previous record of £3.7million for a Koran.
In a statement the company, founded in the 18th Century, told The Sunday Telegraph: “We are mindful that there
are nuanced and complex debates around cultural property and wish to listen and engage appropriately. However, we are also concerned that there has been a rise in unfounded accusations, spread far and fast on social media, that question the legitimate and legal exchange of these objects and collecting areas.
“As a marketplace we should all be concerned and ensure that the debate is balanced.
“If organisations who only work within the law turn away from this area, the trade would continue away from public view, objects would not be re-examined, catalogues published or exhibitions held, all of which provide access and provide opportunity for engagement and celebration of important cultures across the world.”
It comes after a week of cultural attacks on British institutions, with the British Museum’s director forced to defend its artefacts after calls for the Parthenon Marbles and the Benin Bronzes to be repatriated to their nations of origin.
Hartwig Fischer said many items at the museum were bought and paid for and it was a “simplification to simply say that the British Museum is a place of loot and stolen goods”.
A week before, the museum chose to remove the bust of its founder Sir Hans Sloane – who was a slave owner – from its plinth, as it said it wanted to confront its links to colonialism. The V&A took similar steps towards inclusion and in the last month announced it has provided staff with a guide on racial terminology for drafting captions and educational material.
The museum said it was “committed to addressing the history and legacy of our colonial past with rigour and transparency, across all areas of museum policy and our programme”.
Meanwhile, the controversial debate over the BBC Proms raged on after it announced that Rule, Britannia and Land Of Hope And Glory would be played without lyrics at the iconic Last Night performance.
The songs have been criticised by some because of their associations to imperialism and slavery.
The BBC said that the decision to drop the lyrics is due to coronavirus restrictions and both will return in full next year.
But the Prime Minister criticised the decision and said it is politically acceptable to sing Rule, Britannia.