A man in charge of overseeing valuable works of art by some of China’s most celebrated artists has admitted to being terrible at his job but pretty good at making millions through illegal means.
Over the course of his eight-year tenure as head librarian at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Xiao Yuan pilfered 143 paintings in his care by masters such as Qi Baishi, Zhang Daqian and Bada Shanren (including the pictured "Rocks and Birds"), and replaced them with his own forgeries.
Even more astonishingly, Xiao went on to sell 125 of the stolen works at the Guangzhou branch of China Guardian Auctions, and for at least seven years, no one noticed that the auctioned paintings were supposed to be hanging on the walls of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts.
Xiao pocketed a cool RMB34.7 million at auction, which he used to buy property and yet more paintings.
In a deliciously ironic twist of fate, Xiao almost made more than double that amount with the 18 other stolen works – estimated to be collectively worth RMB76 million – but the auction house refused to sell the original works, dismissing them as forgeries.
In a bold attempt to defend himself, Xiao protested that the practice of replacing original works of art with copies is so rampant that not only did he notice other people’s fakes masquerading as the real thing on his first day on the job, but that his own forgeries had also been stolen from the gallery.
"I realized someone else had replaced my paintings with their own because I could clearly discern that their works were terribly bad," he bragged in his court hearing.
Xiao pleaded guilty to charges of corruption and awaits sentencing.
[Images via The Telegraph and People’s Daily]
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