The surprising bid of $373,750 bought a lot estimated at $300 to $500 at an August auction in Maine. The lot included two bowls and four saucers, but it was the yellow bowl the bidders were after. Auction bidders sitting at the James Julia auction had learned the bowl was very similar to a bowl made about 1730 that was part of the collection in the Palace Museum in Beijing. The lot was one of many that was consigned by Dorothy-Lee Jones, who had founded a glass and ceramic museum in Sebago, Maine, in 1978. The museum later became the center of a controversy that ended with a bankrupt museum. The pieces in the lot had been described as from the late 19th or early 20th century. Other Chinese antiques assigned by Jones and by the great-great-granddaughter of the Chinese Empress Dowager Cixi (reign 1861-1908) went for very high prices. James Julia told us that wealthy Chinese bidders are trying to “repatriate their heritage.” (See the press release).
Photo courtesy of James D. Julia Auctioneers, Fairfield, Maine, www.jamesdjulia.com
I really feel for these people. I think the so-called director and the board tried to flim-flam Jones and her husband right out of her museum and steal her collection. I’m surprised they didn’t try to steal her land too! They may have killed her dream but she got what counts: her collection. The auctions validated her world-class expertise that was pooh poohed by the director. If anyone out there knows the family tell ’em I said Hooray for them!!!
The museum was just fine under her control and in a good little building. But no, the board and director wanted a big blowout of a building. Why? To show off? A museum is not about construction, grand buildings, big salaries for so-called experts or running a party center. It IS about the artifacts, the collection, the artwork…………… the reason people come. Ms. Jones and her husband knew that.
Stories like this and the one about the Slavery Museum and the Ohr O’Keefe museum always make me think five times about donating anything to a museum. If I ever do, it will ONLY be LOANED with an iron clad contract. And if the museum gets in trouble, I’m coming with a truck and taking what is mine!
I have a Yellow bowl very simular. What is the mark?