Chinese art takes long march home from US museums

AI Summary

The article follows a Christie’s auction of a rare Yongzheng-era Chinese bowl in New York, with bidders connected by phone from China and other locations. It places the sale within a broader story of Chinese art moving back from US museums and collections.

Christie’s auctioneer Rupert Banner leans forward with practised showmanship as bidding stalls on a rare Yongzheng bowl near New York’s iconic Rockefeller Centre. He pauses as if willing offers from thin air, scanning dozens of in-person buyers and phone banks connecting with China, London, Texas. It will be a bad look if the frenzy abates for this delicate peach-decorated bowl highlighted on Christie’s glossy Chinese sale catalogue and online advertising. But bidding soon resumes with a...