Chinese art returns home from US museums
More than 100 lots from the Art Institute of Chicago are offered at Christie's Chinese sale in New York. The return of works collected during the Gilded Age is being called a "long march home."
Yulduz Salimov1 min read
On October 3, 2026, at Christie's Chinese sale in New York, a rare Yongzheng-era vase with Persian-style decoration sold for $2.05 million, becoming the top result of the auction. Auctioneer Rupert Banner conducted the sale from the Rockefeller Center, taking bids from the room and phone lines connected to China, London and Texas.
The vase is one of more than 100 items consigned by the Art Institute of Chicago. As noted, the dispersal reflects a generational shift: collections of rarities amassed by American magnates of the Gilded Age are, after more than a century in Western museums, gradually returning to Chinese hands.
The next lot, number 1032, was an archaic zun-form vase once owned by financier Charles Schwab. A Chinese buyer acquired it for $40,960.
"Here we go," Banner said before the lot went to the buyer.
The return of the works is described as a "long march home": pieces that spent decades in Western collections are gradually passing to wealthy Chinese collectors, changing the centuries-old structure of the art trade.
Source: scmp.com
