Top bid on disputed Yves Saint Laurent bronzes

The apparent winning bidder for two prized Chinese sculptures in a Paris auction surfaced Monday, a Chinese collector and auctioneer who said it was his patriotic duty to refuse to pay the $40 million he had pledged.

Cai Mingchao said at a news conference in Beijing that he had made the anonymous successful bids last week for the 18th-century bronzes, the heads of a rat and a rabbit. Cai described himself as a consultant with the Lost Cultural Relics Recovery Program, a nongovernmental group that seeks to bring looted artifacts back to China.

The bronzes were part of the high-profile sale last week of the collection of the late French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his personal and business partner, Pierre Bergé. The three-day auction, held in Paris, was the most lucrative ever for a private collection, bringing in about $484 million, according to Christie’s, the auction house.

“I think any Chinese person would have stood up at that moment,” Cai said of his bid, made by telephone through Christie’s. “It was just that the opportunity came to me. I was merely fulfilling my responsibilities.”

To protest the auction, Cai said, “I want to emphasize that the money won’t be paid.”

In the days leading up to the sale, the Foreign Ministry in Beijing had said the bronzes were part of China’s cultural patrimony and demanded their return. A group of Chinese lawyers tried to block the auction with a lawsuit, but a French court allowed the sale to proceed.

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Yves Saint Laurent Bronzes and the Old Summer Palace…