Google Image Search can identify a lot of things. But according to a new lawsuit filed in Oregon, multimillion-dollar Chinese paintings aren’t one of them.
An estate sale company is accused of selling dozens of Chinese scrolls and rubbings for as little as $45 apiece after allegedly relying on Google Image Search to value them. Now the family that owned the works wants the sale unwound, arguing that several pieces could be worth hundreds of thousands—or even millions—of dollars.
The lawsuit, first reported by the Oregonian, was filed Monday in Clackamas County Circuit Court by John E. Moody, who says Marble Road Estate Sales dramatically undervalued a cache of Chinese artworks discovered while clearing out his late mother’s home near Lake Oswego.
According to the complaint, the scrolls had been tucked beneath clothing and textiles inside two chests. Moody says he believed they had long ago been sold, donated, or lost because they never appeared in the estate inventory. Instead, he alleges they were uncovered during the estate sale and priced between $45 and $275 without his knowledge.
Court filings claim several of the works may be by Xu Beihong, “one of China’s most celebrated modern artists.” One scroll depicting a galloping horse is believed to be by Xu, according to the lawsuit. His paintings have sold at auction for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and his record stands at nearly $42 million. (Data from ARTDAI reviewed by ARTnews shows Xu’s top five most expensive art works sold at auction for between $3.9 million and $9.2 million.)
Moody says the works were acquired by his late father, Robert Behymer Moody, while serving as a US diplomat in China during the 1940s.
Rather than seeking damages from the estate sale company, Moody is asking a judge to order the buyers to return the artworks. The lawsuit alleges several purchasers were knowledgable collectors or dealers in Chinese art who immediately recognized the potential significance of the scrolls and quietly bought as many as they could.
One defendant, Changning “Charlie” Huang, told the Oregonian he did not purchase any of the disputed scrolls but questioned the family’s attempt to claw back the sale. “If you buy something from the store and then they say, ‘Sorry, we marked it the wrong price. You have to give it back,’ I say, ‘No way,’” Huang told the newspaper.
The case poses an unusual question for the one segment of the art market. Estate sales are built on the idea that hidden treasures still exist. Buyers spend weekends combing through boxes and basements precisely because every so often someone misses something.
In 2016, a Minnesota art collector paid less than $50 for what was later reported by the Smithsonian to be a long-lost painting by Vincent van Gogh that was valued at roughly $15 million. Meanwhile, earlier this year, a Portland teenager bought a warm-up jacket worn by Wilt Chamberlain for $3 from a Goodwill outlet before it resurfaced at Sotheby’s with a presale estimate of $150,000 to $250,000.
