206
APPENDIX I
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
STATEMENT OF SOTHEBY PURCHASES
The Chairman of the Urban Council's Museum and Art Gallery Select Committee, Mr. BERNACCHI, made a statement today about recent purchases at the Sotheby auction.
Mr. BERNACCHI said that he had already answered questions in public at the previous meeting of the Council. Since then he had discussed the matter at a Standing Committee meeting of the Whole Council and he had intended to make a fuller statement at the next public meeting of the Council on December 10.
"However," said Mr. BERNACCHI today, "a number of letters have been written to the press, some of them clearly from people with an axe to grind, which are likely to mislead the public on this matter. I have therefore, with the concurrence of the Chairman of the Urban Council, decided to make this statement now before anyone has an opportunity to confuse matters further.
The plain facts of the matter are that the Select Committee decided, after listening to its advisers, to spend a total of £14,500 on four lots of ceramics. In the event we spent a total of £12,700. We bought two of the lots which the advisers had recommended and two which they had not.
We paid less than the recommended price for one lot and more for another.
"In the case of the pictures the advisers had recommended spending up to £9,100 on seven lots. In the event we bought only two lots and spent £4,400, one also above the recommended price, the other below.
"Thus altogether we spent £6,500 less than we were advised to spend.
"The argument however centres on the purchase of articles, two lots of which had not been previously discussed, and one vase for which we paid considerably more than the advisers' estimate, and thus the extent to which we disregarded the advisers.
"In this matter I take full responsibility and have never attempted to evade it. I have the greatest respect for the judgment of our advisers; otherwise the Committee of which I am chairman would never have invited them to advise us. I hope that we shall continue to have the benefit of their advice.
"Nevertheless, in the last analysis, the decision on price, particularly at an auction, does not depend only on decisions taken previously at a committee meeting. One cannot hold a committee meeting between each bid. It must be related to the success or failure of our bids for previous items and the price actually prevailing at the auction which may not be what was anticipated on the basis of prices obtained in other countries.
"As it is I took a decision, or a series of decisions, which in retrospect still seem to me to have been right. They resulted in the acquisition for the people of Hong Kong of a number of interesting and attractive pieces which will fit well into the pattern of the collection which we have been building up over the years.
"The last thing anyone will ever expect in matters of artistic judgment is unanimity and there are no absolutes. I think the best way for the people of Hong Kong to judge this matter is, of course, to come and have a look at the new acquisitions when they are put on show. I have asked the Curator of the Museum and Art Gallery to arrange this at an early date."
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE GOVERNMENT PRINTER, HONG KONG
Page 122 of 187
206
APPENDIX I
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
STATEMENT OF SOTHEBY PURCHASES
The Chairman of the Urban Council's Museum and Art Gallery Select Committee, Mr. BERNACCHI, made a statement today about recent purchases at the Sotheby auction.
Mr. BERNACCHI said that he had already answered questions in public at the previous meeting of the Council. Since then he had discussed the matter at a Standing Committee meeting of the Whole Council and he had intended to make a fuller statement at the next public meeting of the Council on
December 10.
"However," said Mr. BERNACCHI today, "a number of letters have been written to the press, some of them clearly from people with an axe to grind, which are likely to mislead the public on this matter. I have therefore, with the concurrence of the Chairman of the Urban Council, decided to make this statement now before anyone has an opportunity to confuse matters further.
The plain facts of the matter are that the Select Committee decided, after listening to its advisers, to spend a total of £14,500 on four lots of ceramics. In the event we spent a total of £12,700. We bought two of the lots which the advisers had recommended and two which they had not.
We paid less than the recommended price for one lot and more for another.
"In the case of the pictures the advisers had recommended spending up to £9,100 on seven lots. In the event we bought only two lots and spent £4,400, one also above the recommended price, the other below.
"Thus altogether we spent £6,500 less than we were advised to spend.
"The argument however centres on the purchase of articles, two lots of which had not been previously discussed, and one vase for which we paid con- siderably more than the advisers' estimate, and thus the extent to which we disregarded the advisers.
it.
"In this matter I take full respensibility and have never attempted to evade I have the greatest respect for the judgment of our advisers otherwise the Committee of which I am chairman would never have invited them to advise us. I hope that we shall continue to have the benefit of their advice.
"Nevertheless, in the last analysis, the decision on price, particularly at an auction, does not depend only on decisions taken previously at a committee meeting. One cannot hold a committee mecting between each bid. It must be related to the success or failure of our bids for previous items and the price actually prevailing at the auction which may not be what was anticipated on the basis of prices obtained in other countries.
"As it is I took a decision, or a series of decisions, which in retrospect still seem to me to have been right. They resulted in the acquisition for the people of Hong Kong of a number of interesting and attractive pieces which will fit well into the pattern of the collection which we have been building up over the years.
"The last thing anyone will ever expect in matters of artistic judgment is unanimity and there are no absolutes. I think the best way for the people of Hong Kong to judge this matter is, of course, to come and have a look
at the new acquisitions when they are put on show. I have asked the Curator of the Museum and Art Gallery to arrange this at an early date."
PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE GOVERNMENT PRINTER. HONG KONG
Page 122 of 187
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