The book is reminiscent of the Lovejoy series on A&E, the main character an art/antique dealer who isn’t above a little scamming to increase the “value” of his “finds”.
Somehow he gets mixed up with the Chinese government, and to pay off a debt, helps them organize a massive art fraud. They create “Soon Ping, the first Chinese Impressionist” (I’m not 100% the name is correct, but it’s close), who supposedly travelled to the salons of Paris early in the century, then returned to China and created a body of work unknown in the West.
I had the sense this might be one book in a series.