The dealer's eye.(Christian Deydier )(Interview)

The multifaceted, multilingual Paris dealer Christian Deydier is also a world-class multitasker. In addition to his travels to obtain ancient Chinese bronzes and other treasures for his gallery, he dips into the field of twentieth-century painting for his own collection. As president of the Syndicat Nationale des Antiquaires, he is charged with meeting the needs of its 393 dealers and with increasing the prestige of the Paris Biennale.

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Born in Laos, Deydier studied Chinese cultural history and language at the University de Paris and later the earliest Chinese writing and archaeology at the Tai Ta University in Taiwan. The author of several books, among them the sumptuous Ancient Chinese Gold (Arhis), and curator of several exhibitions, Deydier was honored by the French government in 2006 as an Officier de la Legion d'Honneur.

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How do you account for the current appeal of your specialty, archaic Chinese bronzes and gold?

The sense of history imbued in Chinese bronzes is compelling. But there's another aspect that draws people to them and that's the exacting nature of the craftsmanship. At the Biennale, I'm showing a bronze water buffalo from the Warring States dating from the fifth to the third century. BC. Although we have no idea of the meaning of the pattern on the figure, the intricacy of the design resembles abstract art. Ten years ago I had only a handful of collectors for such material, but today that figure has tripled.

What prompted you to move your gallery recently to the rue de Seine along-side twentieth-century design establishments such as Galerie Vallois, Jousse Entreprise, and Galerie Downtown, as well as art dealers such as Galerie Pascal Lansberg?