Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- China said it will tighten control on the activities of Christie’s International, hours after the auction house sold a pair of Qing Dynasty bronzes in Paris for 31.4 million euros ($40 million), ignoring calls to return them.

London-based Christie’s must give details of the ownership and provenance of any artifacts it wants to bring into or out of China, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage said today in a statement on its Web site. Antiques that are without papers won’t be allowed to enter or leave.

“China has overreacted,” said James Sung, a political science professor at City University in Hong Kong. “At least 1 million such items have been lost and are at different places across the world: How can it control what people do with them?”

Today’s decision follows protests against the auction by the Chinese government and art advocacy groups about the sculptures, taken from China’s Summer Palace when it was ransacked by British and French troops in 1860. A Paris court ruled on Feb. 23 that Christie’s could sell the sculptures after a challenge brought by a cultural defense group, Apace.

Christie’s, in an e-mailed statement, denied wrongdoing.

“Christie’s regrets that the State Administration of Cultural Heritage has taken the unusual step of announcing reprisal measures as a consequence of Christie’s legal auction of the fountainheads in Paris this week,” the statement said.

More than 1 million pieces of top-grade Chinese relics are scattered in more than 200 museums in 47 nations, according to a 2003 article by state-run Xinhua News. Looting was worst in the century after the first Opium War (1839-1842), when British, Russian and other foreign troops annexed parts of China.

Paperwork

China’s move today implies added paperwork on antiques handled by Christie’s, and may make it tougher for mainland Chinese to bring home artifacts they buy from the company’s auctions.

Hong Kong, where the auction house and main rival Sotheby’s hold biannual art sales, is Christie’s hub for the sale of Chinese antiquities, with revenue of more than HK$1 billion ($129 million) last year.

“It may mean more trouble buying from Christie’s than Sotheby’s,” said Lu Feifei, a China-based dealer who paid more than HK$70 million for Emperor Qianlong’s jade-hilted saber- and-scabbard and armor at Sotheby’s Hong Kong auction in October. “I’m a law-abiding businessman and we don’t want to be embroiled in unnecessary trouble, so we may buy our antiques elsewhere.”

Severed Bronzes

The circular was issued after Christie’s sold two Qing sculptures in Paris as part of the Yves Saint Laurent art auction. The bronzes, the heads of a rabbit and a rat, were severed from a water clock in the Summer Palace.

At yesterday’s auction, they were sold to telephone bidders. Christie’s had maintained before the auction, in response to China’s protests, that “the fountainheads have a clear and extensive history of ownership.”

In today’s statement, Christie’s said “the legal ownership of the fountainheads was clearly confirmed, and we have directly and honestly engaged with SACH in discussing the sale over the past months.”

The relics were “stolen and robbed,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a regular press conference on Feb. 13. Jiang urged their return to China.

‘Second Raiding’

Chinese bloggers blasted the Paris court ruling of Feb. 23, calling it a “second raiding.” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency featured these comments in bold headlines on its Web site.

Sung said the government was forced to respond to these Internet comments.

“The escalating situation will hurt China’s image,” he said. “This will also hurt the China-France relations.”

The administration said it will “continue to seek the return of the sculptures by all means in accord with related international conventions and Chinese laws.”

Christie’s counts Hong Kong as its third-biggest auction market after New York and London.

“We continue to believe that sale by public auction offers the best opportunity for items to be repatriated,” Christie’s statement said.

To contact the writer on the story: Le-Min Lim in Hong Kong at lmlim@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 26, 2009 07:35 EST