Sunday 10 November 2013

Collector Wang Zonquan has Died


Wang Zonquan spent 60 million yuan (£6 million) on his collection and with state support opened  the Jibaozhai Museum in Jizhou, northern China to display it to the public. In July a Chinese writer and blogger claimed its prized collection of "ancient" relics was in fact almost entirely fake. Indeed, it seems that its 40,000-strong collection of supposedly ancient relics was unfortunately almost entirely composed of fakes. The collector was ridiculed by the press, who pointed out some of the most egregious failures to identify what it was he'd been buying no-questions-asked. The museum was closed, but later the collector decided to put on a brave face and re-open it. Last week, Mr Wang applied for permission to reopen the museum. Sadly, the collector who was 68 died on Monday, reportedly of an anger-induced heart-attack. The website "Chinese Collectors" said Mr Wang had left this world "filled with anger and the sense of having been wronged".  For all my criticism of rich collectors who buy no-questions-asked as Mr Wang certainly seems to have done, it is difficult even for me not to feel some sympathy for this man.

Tom Phillips, 'Owner of China's 'fake' museum dies of 'anger'...', Telegraph 28 Oct 2013

1 comment:

David Knell said...

"For all my criticism of rich collectors who buy no-questions-asked as Mr Wang certainly seems to have done, it is difficult even for me not to feel some sympathy for this man."

Me too but my sympathy is tempered by the consideration that this was a man who thought museums were all about creating buildings with bags of cash, filling them with mindless junk, and then sitting back and waiting for the accolades. And then throwing a hissy tantrum when he was challenged by people who dared to think.

 
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