旅美收藏家去世十年遗产纷争未决

2014-10-23 19:34:15来源：网络

　　Divining who rightfully owns these works, and who is to blame for the disappearance of somany of them, has consumed the family for more than a decade.

　　谁理应拥有这批藏品?而这么多藏品失踪究竟又是谁的错?这些问题王家人已经争执了十多年。

　　The case has become so complex, and so expensive, that the Surrogate’s Court hassuspended discussing matters of inheritance until it can come up with a reliable inventory ofwhat was initially in the collection to see if the estate will be able to pay lawyers and othercreditors.

　　这宗案子已经变得如此复杂，费用如此高昂，以至于遗嘱检验法院已暂停讨论继承问题，直到托管机构可以提供最初藏品的可靠清单，以便看看是否足够支付律师费和欠其他债权人的债务。

　　Among the few certainties at this point is that Mr. Wang demonstrated the ability to acquireobjects of historical importance, objects that since his death have increased many times invalue as the Chinese art market has boomed.

　　目前，可以确定的事情寥寥无几，其中之一是：王己千在收藏历史名作上很有眼力。自他过世后，随着中国艺术品市场的蓬勃发展，这些作品增值了很多倍。

　　Born near Suzhou, China, in 1907, he moved to the United States during China’s politicalupheavals in 1949, settling in Manhattan, where he built a career teaching, consulting atSotheby’s, and dealing in real estate and in art. He became the dean of the rarefied marketfor Chinese art in New York and was an accomplished artist in his own right. By the end of the1990s, the Met had bought some 60 works that were once part of his collection and named agallery in his honor.

　　1907年，王己千在中国苏州附近出生。1949年，中国政局动荡期间，他移居美国，最终到曼哈顿定居，并在那里教学、为苏富比提供咨询服务，以及买卖房地产和艺术品。纽约的中国艺术市场当时规模较小，而他成为了这个市场的领军者，而他本人也是一位颇有建树的艺术家。20世纪90年代末，大都会博物馆从他的收藏中购买了大约60件作品，并以他名字为一间陈列室命名。

　　Among the Met acquisitions was a colossal hanging scroll titled “Riverbank,” attributed to the10th-century painter Dong Yuan, but which attracted its own controversy after some scholarsdeclared it a 20th-century forgery.

　　大都会从他那里购得的作品之一，是一幅巨大的山水立轴《溪岸图》，据称为10世纪的画家董源所作。不过，它后来引起了争议，被一些学者宣称是20世纪的伪作。

　　Maxwell K. Hearn, chairman of the Met’s Asian art department, said Mr. Wang acquired much ofhis important collection early on, when the market for Chinese art didn’t exist.

　　大都会亚洲艺术部主任何慕文(Maxwell K. Hearn)表示，王己千的大部分重要收藏都是他一早购入的，当时中国艺术品市场尚未成形。

　　“He saw their continued relevance as sources of artistic inspiration,” Mr. Hearn said. “Now,they have become enormously valuable, because people are recognizing their culturalsignificance and acknowledge him as a source of validation.”

　　“这些作品一直都很重要，而他把它们视为艺术灵感的来源，”何慕文说。“现在，它们的价值已经变得非常高，因为人们开始认识到它们的文化意义，并认为他的收藏是对作品的一种认可。”

　　Before his death, Mr. Wang left some works to his daughter Yien-Koo Wang King, now 79, andsome to his son, Shou-Kung Wang, now 85, both of whom served during different periods asconfidant and business agent to their father.

　　临终前，王己千把藏品中的一部分留给女儿王娴歌(Yien-Koo Wang King)，另一部分则留给儿子王守昆(Shou-Kung Wang)。王娴歌现年79岁，王守昆85岁，两人均曾在不同时间段与父亲关系亲密，并担任他的商业代理人。

　　But they have battled over the legacy, particularly the validity of a 2000 will that listed Mrs.King as executor and of a competing will, drawn up shortly before Mr. Wang’s death, thatnamed Shou-Kung Wang’s son, Andrew, as executor, and disinherited Mrs. King.

　　但两人为遗产，特别是两份遗嘱的真伪起了纷争。其中一份立于2000年，指定王娴歌为遗嘱执行人;另一份则是在王己千过世前不久定立的，指定王守昆及其子王义强(Andrew Wang)为遗嘱执行人，并剥夺了王娴歌的继承权。

　　Amid the fighting, estimates differ widely about how many classical Chinese paintings were inMr. Wang’s collection when he died, from about 240 to 438.

　　在这场纷争中，对于王己千身后留下的藏品中究竟有多少中国古画，各方估计的数目存在很大的出入，从240至438幅不等。

　　Together, since 2003, the son and daughter have surrendered more than 120 artworks to theestate for sale, but have also accused each other of hiding many more of the most valuablepaintings in the United States, in China or elsewhere.

　　加起来，自2003年以来，双方一共交出了120多幅作品，供遗产托管机构出售。不过，他们还互相指责对方在美国、中国或其他地方藏匿了更多价值极高的画作，规模远超这一数字。

　　The Internal Revenue Service is seeking more than $20 million in estate taxes, based on itsown inventory of paintings, real estate and other possessions at the time of death, thoughthat fee is based on a valuation of some paintings that may well now be missing.

　　根据美国国税局(Internal Revenue Service)掌握的一份清单，它要征收逾2000万美元的遗产税。这张清单列出了王己千过世时的画作、房地产和其他类型的财产，不过这笔税涉及的一些画作现在很可能已经失踪。

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