HONG KONG - A SALE of Chinese treasures looted from Qing palaces by foreign troops has fetched record prices in Hong Kong on Tuesday, given gritty bidding by Chinese buyers looking to repatriate such objects from the West.

A white jade seal belonging to the Qing dynasty, Qianlong emperor carved in 1796 to mark his abdication, was the most expensive lot - going for HK$46.2 million (S$8.8 million).

It broke the record for any Chinese white jade or imperial seal ever sold at auction after intense bidding by mainland Chinese and Taiwanese bidders.

The squat, round seal inscribed with a poem, had been looted from the Hall of Imperial Longevity (Shouhuangdian) in Beijing in 1900 by a French soldier, General de Gercey.

The seal was sold six months ago in France for around a quarter of the price, Sotheby's said, reflecting the high premium Chinese buyers were willing to pay for such looted artworks.

'These objects are far more important historical relics than porcelains, they have a lot more history,' said Mr Nicolas Chow, Sotheby's international head of Chinese ceramics and artwork.

'These were items that were handled by the emperor.' The buyer was from mainland China and bought up several other rare imperial seals at the sale. 'There's a great interest in repatriating these objects back to China,' he added.

A total of HK$325.8 million was paid for the 34 'lost treasures' on offer, exceeding the pre-auction estimate of US$25 million. Sotheby's said most of the buyers hailed from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, but didn't give specifics.

Mr Richard Littleton, a New York based dealer present at the sale, said mainland Chinese buyers were now giving Western dealers 'an extraordinarily good run for our money'.

'Chinese interest pushes the prices up substantially, so we see this happening now around the world,' said Mr Littleton who bought a tiny 'bamboo' seal at the sale, after losing out to Chinese bidders for other treasures including a Qing brushpot.

A bronze horse head, looted from Beijing's old summer palace or Yuanmingyuan in 1860 - which would have been the star lot - was sold ahead of the auction to Macau gambling tycoon Stanley Ho for US$8.9 million. Mr Ho has since donated it to China.

A pair of bronze vase 'Yuanmingyuan War Trophies' looted from China by British troops in 1860, sold for US$1.3 million.

But Mr Nader Rasti, an Asian art dealer from London who attended the sale said some objects like a few jades were greatly overpriced, and had tenous links to the looted Qing palaces.

'It's a very clever presentation by these auction houses and it has an effect ... It's almost like the cachet of buying something at these sales,' he said. -- REUTERS

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