The New York Times recently published an intriguing article detailing the fight over C.C. Wang's $50 million estate. When C.C. Wang moved to New York in 1949 he brought with him ancient works of art that he had been collecting since he was a young man in China, as well as his two youngest daughters. However, Wang left his two oldest children in China to care for elderly family members. Now, Wang's children are battling each other for their share of their father's beloved art collection with each side accusing the other of stealing masterpieces and taking advantage of Wang's diminished mental state during his final years.
Click here for information on the C.C. Wang Family Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Posted by Wesley J. Bailey, Associate Editor, Wealth Strategies Journal.
Click here for information on the C.C. Wang Family Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Posted by Wesley J. Bailey, Associate Editor, Wealth Strategies Journal.
My wife is C.C. Wang's granddaughter. I know first hand much of what was described in the N.Y. Times article and can say that it is inaccurate to say that it is a matter of two siblings "fighting over their share".
What happened is that C.C. discovered in February of 2003 that his youngest daughter YK (My wife's aunt) had moved his collection out of the bank vault it normally was kept in. He searched for the new vault, found it, and started retrieving paintings. He'd retrieved 25 scrolls when, while he was at his apartment, the remaining 275 (or so) scrolls were moved by YK into a new vault in the same bank, for the purpose of disguising their location from C.C.
She then went to his apartment with her husband and demanded he give her the remaining paintings. At one point, YK's husband held a scroll by 18th century painter Ni Tsan in his hand ("Pine Pavillions", and C.C. demanded it back. He took it from the much younger man, who then struggled with C.C. bodily for possession of the paintings. After securing it from the 96 year old C.C., he and his wife fled the apartment.
C.C. then told his son SK to call the police and have YK arrested, but he didn't want to because the family would lose "face". So my wife called up her aunt and told her that she would call the police if she didn't return the painting. She did it, but at the same time, she had her son take the remaining paintings from the new vault location and fly them out of the country. The battle is about getting those paintings returned to the US. They haven't been seen since 2003.
AP