A Chinese bidder who said he had bought at auction two looted bronze imperial sculptures once owned by Yves Saint Laurent announced today that he would not – or could not – pay for the treasures.

The two pieces, the head of a rat and the head of a rabbit that were designed by Jesuit priests as part of a 12-head Chinese zodiac fountain for an imperial pleasure palace in the 18th century, were bought for €15,745,000 (£13,977,000) each by a telephone bidder last week.

The revelation of what now appears to have been a stunt bid in Paris last week was made by Cai Mingchao, already a well-known buyer on the international auction scene and the general manager of the Xiamen Harmony Art International Auction Company.

Mr Cai described his bid as a patriotic act. "I think any Chinese person would have stood up at that moment. It was just that the opportunity came to me. I was merely fulfilling my responsibilities."

But he made clear, speaking in his role an adviser to a fund seeking to retrieve looted treasures, that no money would change hands for the relics stolen from Beijing's Yuan Ming Yuan – the Garden of Perfect Brightness, or Summer Palace of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) emperors.

“What I want to stress is that this money cannot be paid," he said.

China had demanded a halt to the auction of the two heads, saying these were the rightful property of the nation because they had been stolen when British and French troops burnt and plundered the Yuan Ming Yuan in 1860 after the second Opium War. The order to set fire to the sprawling palace on the edge of Beijing was given by the eighth Lord Elgin – son of the man famed for obtaining the Elgin Marbles – as a punishment to the emperor whose government had kidnapped and killed several members of a diplomatic mission – including The Times correspondent.

If Mr Cai is indeed the winning bidder, his decision not to pay for the two heads is unlikely to have a serious impact on Christie’s – although his standing in the international art world could be affected.The auction house would be unlikely to sue him for breach of contract and in such cases usually turns to the underbidder to take the items.

Many Chinese have worked themselves into a nationalistic passion at the prospect of the loss of the two imperial treasures.

Five of the heads have already been bought by patriotic philanthropists at international sales and returned to China. The whereabouts of the other five are unknown.

However, respected academic Luo Zhewen, chairman of the Chinese Heritage Society, wrote that there was no need for such breast-beating and questioned the artistic merit of the bronze fountainheads – which he described as “taps”.

He wrote: “The greatest value of the bronze heads is that they are evidence of the crime committed by imperialists who invaded China. The despicable part of the auction is not that it has breached international agreements, but that it is trading criminal evidence for a massive profit." Asked by one Chinese newspaper to give his estimate of the true value of the heads, the venerable historian replied: "Less than one million renminbi [£100,000]. More than that, and the buyer should figure that he's been cheated."

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