Museums holding collections of east Asian art have been advised to assess their security arrangements as the market for such artefacts grows.
A gang of thieves stole almost 50 items from the Museum of East Asian Art (MEAA) in Bath, in April. The stolen items include a jade monkey, a stoneware vase and a set of 14 gold belt plaques. Police said it was a targeted attack, with the artefacts possibly stolen to order.
The Art Market 2018, a report analysing the global art industry produced by banking firm UBS and art fair organiser Art Basel, shows that Asia accounted for 23% of global sales last year, with Chinese and Asian art experiencing a steep rise in value.
Nicole Chiang, the curator at the MEAA, says museums holding similar collections should seek advice from national security agencies and local police.
“The price of east Asian, particularly Chinese, artefacts is going through the roof,” she says. “I suppose museums with Chinese collections are easy targets.”
Asian art was a target for thieves in 2012, when there were two major incidents. Durham University’s Oriental Museum lost two items worth £1.8m in a night-time raid, while 18 mainly jade artefacts worth £57m were taken from the Fitzwilliam Museum, none of which have been recovered.
The police are investigating the theft from the MEAA. The museum was founded in 1990 by Brian McElney, a former lawyer and long-term Hong Kong resident who donated much of his personal collection.
“We are quite lucky – we have a healthy endowment fund and our board of trustees takes security seriously,” says Chiang. “It provides funding wherever possible. But for many museums where funding has been cut, it might be difficult to upgrade their system.”
Vernon Rapley, the director of cultural heritage protection at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and the chair of the National Museum Security Group (NMSG), said about the Bath theft: “I know that museums across the UK will do all they can to assist in recovering the property and hopefully bring the offenders to justice. It is concerning to witness a crime targeting jade and gold in a museum, after a period of relative quiet within the UK.
“The NMSG monitors crime patterns across the UK and Europe, and has been keeping a cautious eye on events targeting gold and other precious goods. We hope that this crime isn’t the start of a pattern of offending, similar to that witnessed between 2012 and 2014.”
A gang of thieves stole almost 50 items from the Museum of East Asian Art (MEAA) in Bath, in April. The stolen items include a jade monkey, a stoneware vase and a set of 14 gold belt plaques. Police said it was a targeted attack, with the artefacts possibly stolen to order.
The Art Market 2018, a report analysing the global art industry produced by banking firm UBS and art fair organiser Art Basel, shows that Asia accounted for 23% of global sales last year, with Chinese and Asian art experiencing a steep rise in value.
Nicole Chiang, the curator at the MEAA, says museums holding similar collections should seek advice from national security agencies and local police.
“The price of east Asian, particularly Chinese, artefacts is going through the roof,” she says. “I suppose museums with Chinese collections are easy targets.”
Asian art was a target for thieves in 2012, when there were two major incidents. Durham University’s Oriental Museum lost two items worth £1.8m in a night-time raid, while 18 mainly jade artefacts worth £57m were taken from the Fitzwilliam Museum, none of which have been recovered.
The police are investigating the theft from the MEAA. The museum was founded in 1990 by Brian McElney, a former lawyer and long-term Hong Kong resident who donated much of his personal collection.
“We are quite lucky – we have a healthy endowment fund and our board of trustees takes security seriously,” says Chiang. “It provides funding wherever possible. But for many museums where funding has been cut, it might be difficult to upgrade their system.”
Vernon Rapley, the director of cultural heritage protection at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum and the chair of the National Museum Security Group (NMSG), said about the Bath theft: “I know that museums across the UK will do all they can to assist in recovering the property and hopefully bring the offenders to justice. It is concerning to witness a crime targeting jade and gold in a museum, after a period of relative quiet within the UK.
“The NMSG monitors crime patterns across the UK and Europe, and has been keeping a cautious eye on events targeting gold and other precious goods. We hope that this crime isn’t the start of a pattern of offending, similar to that witnessed between 2012 and 2014.”