--- title: Florida Man Deliberately Smashes $1M Vase by Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei description: Artist Maximo Caminero apparently dropped the paint-dipped vase to protest the fact that Pérez Art Museum Miami features international, not local, work canonical: https://time.com/8280/florida-man-deliberately-smashes-1m-vase-by-chinese-artist-ai-weiwei/ author: Emily Rauhala article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-02-18T09:01:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T06:25:49.046Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Florida Man Deliberately Smashes $1M Vase by Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei og:description: Artist Maximo Caminero apparently dropped the paint-dipped vase to protest the fact that Pérez Art Museum Miami features international, not local, work og:url: https://time.com/8280/florida-man-deliberately-smashes-1m-vase-by-chinese-artist-ai-weiwei/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6c0d7bee28bc4246/698682b913c79f6fd9190bbb/ai_weiwei_urn_0218.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: ai_weiwei_urn_0218 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Florida Man Deliberately Smashes $1M Vase by Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei twitter:description: Artist Maximo Caminero apparently dropped the paint-dipped vase to protest the fact that Pérez Art Museum Miami features international, not local, work twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6c0d7bee28bc4246/698682b913c79f6fd9190bbb/ai_weiwei_urn_0218.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Florida Man Deliberately Smashes $1M Vase by Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Emily Rauhala](https://time.com/author/emily-rauhala/) ## Emily Rauhala Feb 18, 2014 9:01 AM UTC  Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's "Colored Vases" are shown at the Perez Art Museum Miami, Florida in this Dec. 3, 2013 photo Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's "Colored Vases" are shown at the Perez Art Museum Miami, Florida in this Dec. 3, 2013 photoZachary Fagenson—Reuters by [Emily Rauhala](https://time.com/author/emily-rauhala/) ## Emily Rauhala Feb 18, 2014 9:01 AM UTC Was it protest, performance art, or vandalism? The question lingers after news broke that a Florida man deliberately trashed a vase by Chinese artist and dissident [Ai Weiwei](http://search.time.com/?site=time&q=Ai%20Weiwei). His act echoes one of Ai’s most famous works, [_Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn_](http://vimeo.com/64886243)(1995), a triptych that shows him destroying a Chinese artifact. Artist Maximo Caminero, 51, told Miami police he dropped the paint-dipped vase to protest the fact that Pérez Art Museum Miami features international, not local, work. The _Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn_ pictures were hanging behind the soon-to-be-smashed _Colored Vases_ (2006-2012). “I saw it as a provocation by Weiwei to join him in an act of performance protest,” Caminero [told](http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2014/02/miami%5Fartist%5Fmaximo%5Fcaminero%5Fs.php) the Miami _New Times_. Provocative? Perhaps. Definitely costly. Caminero said he thought the vase was a “common clay put you would find at Home Depot.” It was not. The paint-dipped, Han dynasty vase may be worth as much as a $1 million. And Caminero faces criminal charges. **MORE:** Watch Ai Weiwei discuss his cover art for TIME, [here.](http://content.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,2439940617001%5F2145178,00.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/8280/florida-man-deliberately-smashes-1m-vase-by-chinese-artist-ai-weiwei/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/8280/florida-man-deliberately-smashes-1m-vase-by-chinese-artist-ai-weiwei/"},"headline":"Florida Man Deliberately Smashes $1M Vase by Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei","datePublished":"2014-02-18T09:01:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:25:49.046Z","description":"Artist Maximo Caminero apparently dropped the paint-dipped vase to protest the fact that Pérez Art Museum Miami features international, not local, work","url":"https://time.com/8280/florida-man-deliberately-smashes-1m-vase-by-chinese-artist-ai-weiwei/","keywords":["Arts","Crime","protest","China","Miami","Ai Weiwei"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6c0d7bee28bc4246/698682b913c79f6fd9190bbb/ai_weiwei_urn_0218.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Emily Rauhala","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/emily-rauhala/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6c0d7bee28bc4246/698682b913c79f6fd9190bbb/ai_weiwei_urn_0218.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"ai_weiwei_urn_0218","caption":"Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's \"Colored Vases\" are shown at the Perez Art Museum Miami, Florida in this Dec. 3, 2013 photo","creditText":"Zachary Fagenson—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/arts/","name":"Arts"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/8280/florida-man-deliberately-smashes-1m-vase-by-chinese-artist-ai-weiwei/","name":"Florida Man Deliberately Smashes $1M Vase by Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei"}}]}] ```