China: artifacts

China vests archaeological material in the state. Cultural relics in the ground belong to the state; export of relics before 1911 (and many later) is prohibited or licensed. The governing law is Law of the PRC on the Protection of Cultural Relics (1982, rev. 2002, 2017); the date Stratum treats as decisive is 1982. An object documented outside China before that date is sold with the document cited; one documented only later is sold with a warning that China could regard the export as unlawful, and the ownership history stated in full; one with no provenance at all is not listed.

The United States restricts import of China archaeological material of 75000 BCE – 907 CE and monumental sculpture and wall art at least 250 years old, coins included under the CPIA (CBP Dec. 19-02; extended CBP Dec. 24-01, restricted since 2009). Entry needs the export certificate or proof the object left China before 2009. Domestic resale of material already lawfully in the US is not restricted by this, but the paper is what a buyer will ask for.

US courts have applied foreign patrimony laws through the National Stolen Property Act (United States v. McClain, 1977; United States v. Schultz, 2003): an object exported after a clear vesting law can be stolen property in the United States even when no US import restriction existed at the time. The date of the earliest document that places an object outside China is therefore the single most valuable fact on its record.