China has threatened Christie's auction house with �repercussions' after what it calls an illegal sale in Paris of two bronze artifacts taken from a Chinese palace 150 years ago, the BBC reported Thursday.

A strong statement by The Chinese State Administration of Cultural Heritage said China did not recognize the EUR 31 M sale of the bronze rat and rabbit. It also ordered tighter checks on artifacts that Christie's auction house takes into or out of China.

The Chinese said the auction would bring repercussions as it had "harmed the cultural rights and national feeling of the Chinese people".

"This will have a serious impact on Christie's development in China," they said in the statement to the official newspaper of the ruling Communist Party.

China says the animal heads were part of a collection of 12 looted from the Old Summer Palace in Beijing in 1860 when it was sacked and burnt by French and British armies during the Second Opium War.

The animals represent the Chinese zodiac, and adorned a fountain built for the Emperor Qianlong. China has managed to track down five of the other statues, which are now displayed in a Beijing museum. It had earlier called on Christie's to stop the bronzes' sale.

A court in Paris had rejected a Chinese appeal to have the sale blocked.

The bronzes were sold as part of the estate of late French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent from which Christie's auctioneers scored a world record Tuesday as they sold 59 Impressionist and Modern paintings, drawings and sculptures from the Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre BergГ© collection for EUR 206.15 M, the International Herald Tribune reported.

A large proportion of the sale proceeds are to go to a foundation for Aids research.

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