Shanghai in trial of cultural relics reform
Overseas auction houses will be allowed to auction artworks created by foreign artists who died after 1949 in Shanghai, the city government said on Tuesday as part of a new round of reforms on the management of cultural relics.
The new policies will cover the paintings of famous contemporary painters such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Marc Chagall.
The National Cultural Heritage Administration signed a cooperative agreement with the city government to launch the trial reforms which aim to drive the development of Shanghai’s folk cultural relics collection and market as well as help retrieve the nation's cultural relics lost across the world.
It will also help Shanghai's ambition to develop an international trade center for heritage artworks.
Guan Qiang, vice director of the administration, and Shanghai Vice Mayor Chen Tong signed the agreement to launch a trial operation for three years from 2021.
Shanghai has taken a lead in the historical artwork trade market. The city has 52 cultural relics shops, 75 auction houses, 11 antique markets with 1,103 business operators. The city also has over 300 cultural relics and antiques trade websites.
Last year, 171 auctions of cultural relics were held in Shanghai with over 110,000 artworks with a trade volume of 5 billion yuan (US$756 million), according to the city government.
Demand for cultural relics is rising among collectors, but the demand has yet to be fully released due to lack of smooth purchase and collection channels as well as market credits, said Guan.
According to the agreement, the administration will support Shanghai to release the registration and management institutions to encourage social groups to open the identification and evaluation organizations. A qualification system for professional appraisers will be established.
Meanwhile, foreign auction houses will be supported to auction cultural relics collected from abroad from some foreign artists who died after 1949. The overseas cultural relics will be allowed to be stored at local bonded warehouses for an unlimited period, compared with the current six-month limit.
During the third China International Import Expo, which ended on Tuesday, five artworks and cultural relics of each exhibitor could enjoy tax reductions or free policies.
Shanghai also plans to build an international cultural relics artwork trade center, mainly based at Waigaoqiao in the Pudong New Area and the West Bund in Xuhui District. Apart from exhibition, trade, storage, logistics and custom preferential policies, the center will become a one-stop complex for the circulation of cultural relics.
Multiple international expos on cultural relics will also be invited to be held in the city.