The bronze rat and rabbit heads are part of a zodiacal collection of 12 animals that decorated the palace in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The set were lost during the Second Opium War and so far five have returned. The whereabouts of the other five are still unknown.

The two relic heads are a tiny part of all Chinese antiquities lost overseas. UNESCO statistics show that 1.64 million Chinese relics are being kept in 200 museums in 47 countries. Chinese relics, scattered in the hands of civilian collectors, are 10 times the number of those in museums. Conservative estimates from a 2005 cultural relics survey have the number of lost Chinese treasures overseas exceeding 17 million, far more than the 12 million registered items kept in 2,300 Chinese museums.

Attempts at retrieval

It was a big sensation in China at the end of 2008 when the public learned that the two Chinese relic sculptures were among the items for the auction of the collection of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé. The two heads were expected to fetch 200 million yuan ($29 million).

On February 12, 2009, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Jiang Yu held a press conference to answer reporters' questions about the forthcoming sale. She said there was no doubt that China was the rightful owner of the antiquities, and that they should be returned.

Meanwhile a group of Chinese lawyers also organized to halt the sale using the French legal system and thereafter retrieve them.

"They have obviously overlooked and shown open defiance to the feelings of Chinese people by putting the two looted Chinese treasures to auction," said Liu Yang, a relic collector and leader of the volunteer group of lawyers.

Liu's group made several plans to fight the sale. First, they submitted an appeal to Christie's to ask the company to cancel the auction. They then appealed to the court to halt the auction. If both options failed, the group planned to bring the matter before the court of public opinion, in the final hope of stopping the auction.

"Personally speaking, I think it stands slim chance to get the two bronze heads back via a lawsuit," said Ren Xiaohong, a Chinese attorney licensed in France. The true point of the lawsuit was to "awaken the Chinese public's cherishing and devotion to their own relic treasures," which she deemed "much more important than the result of the lawsuit per se," Ren said.

Alternatives

The application was submitted to a Paris court to halt the auction four days before it was to be held. Bernard Gomez, President of the Association for the Protection of Chinese Art in Europe, had agreed to be the plaintiff for property preservation of the two pieces, said Liu.