Chinese fine art is like a magnet. In a hotel somewhere in Jalan Prapatan, not far away from the National Gallery in Jakarta, a crowd of people took part in an auction of Chinese paintings. Clean-shaven, these people, their bodies emitting the fragrance of perfume, paid rapt attention to this event.

Last Sunday afternoon, in one of the hotel's ballrooms, Larasati Auction Agency organized this auction. When the gavel was brought down, a pain