From humble beginnings, the self-made businessman Au Bak Ling rose to become a Hong Kong legend. During the war years, he survived as a bare-footed street boy and started his own business at the mere age of fifteen, and it would go on to become an international conglomerate with almost 50 companies worldwide.
Outside his business, he is a highly esteemed Chinese Ceramics collector. Through a drive to pursue the very best, he amassed what is known as the best encyclopedia on imperial Chinese porcelains, but few actually have a chance to view what's inside it as he kept a low profile.
In celebration of the opening of Christie's new Asia-Pacific headquarters at The Henderson, the auction house dropped a happy bombshell on Chinese collectors last month – for the very first time, nineteen pieces from the mysterious Au Bak Ling Collection will be brought to the auction market.
Having soon become the talk of the town, the much-hyped inaugural sale on 26 September was eventually a massive success with every single lot sold, many soaring past their high estimates by multiple times. Propelled by fierce bidding, its final tally came to HK$87 million (US$11.2 million) – doubling its pre-sale total estimate of HK$43.5 million.
Christie's star auctioneer Liang-lin Chen received a pair of white gloves after the sale
A round of applause followed after the sale
Au Bak Ling with his "chicken cup," one of the known most prized pieces in his collection
The legendary collector's first foray into the ceramic world was in 1974, when he attended an auction with a friend. At the time, he was a total novice: no catalogue, no knowledge, and no one to advise him, but he simply grabbed a paddle, bidding on anything that appealed to him. That day, he walked out the door taking fourteen lots home, with a newfound passion that would last until his death.
In 1998, for the first and only time, a selection of his ceramic treasures was unveiled at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. That exhibition, titled 100 Masterpieces of Imperial Chinese Ceramics from the Au Bak Ling Collection, was the first ceramics exhibition from a single private owner to be held at the Royal Academy since its foundation in 1768.
At the time, the show's curator Regina Krahl revealed, "The value of the collection is pretty phenomenal. We are talking about a tremendous number of zeros if you tried to give a total figure – we are probably talking about something close to £100 million."
On display there was a relatively small proportion of his encyclopedic collection of best pieces from the 12th to 18th centuries, many never before been seen in public. Notably, the top two lots of Christie's inaugural sale were both included in the 1998 exhibition.
100 Masterpieces of Imperial Chinese Ceramics from the Au Bak Ling Collection was the first ceramics exhibition from a single private owner to be held at the Royal Academy
Lot 5 | A fine and very rare blue and white pear-shaped bottle vase, yuhuchunping
Yongle period (1403-1425)
Height: 25.5 cm
Provenance:
- Sold at Christie’s London, 10 December 1990, lot 167 (illustrated on the front cover)
Exhibited:
- Royal Academy of Arts, 100 Masterpieces from the Au Bak Ling Collection, London, 1998, no. 42
Estimate: HK$18,000,000 - 25,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$22,500,000
Sold: HK$27,600,000 (around US$3.5 million)
The first is a fine Yongle (1403-1425) blue and white pear-shaped bottle vase (pictured above). Bidding for the lot started at HK$16 million and rapidly attracted interest from at least five bidders. After seven bids, it was hammered for HK$22.5 million to the bidder with paddle number 8035, represented by Charmie Hamami (Managing Director of Christie's Indonesia). With fees, its final price came to HK$27.6 million (around US$3.5 million), the highest achieved in the sale.
Known as yuhuchunping, pear-shaped vases from Yongle period are hard to come by on the market, with most of the few surviving examples preserved in museums. The majority of published examples bear floral designs in their major decorative band, but the bold scroll encircling the current vase is a rare one of a mixed floral scroll with four major flowers. These are peony, gardenia, chrysanthemum, and camellia – probably intended to represent the "flowers of the four seasons".
Similar examples of this form and decoration are mostly in the collections of top-notch museums, including the Palace Museum in Taipei, the Shanghai Museum, and the Museum of Islamic Era in Tehran. The two Tehran examples, in particular, were bequeathed to the Ardebil Shrine by Shah ‘Abbās in 1611. They were so highly prized that they were inscribed with the mark of Shah ‘Abbās.
Charmie Hamami (Managing Director of Christie's Indonesia) (left) won the lot for her client with paddle number 8035
The vase is decorated with a mixed floral scroll with four major flowers
A similar example in the Shanghai Museum
The second piece is an extremely rare doucai and gilt-decorated 'anbaxian' vase from the Qianlong period (1736-1795) (pictured below). After the auctioneer opened the bidding at HK$2.8 million, Sherese Tong (Senior Specialist, Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art) jumped it to HK$5 million in a single bid, but that did not deter the other two determined bidders – one bidding online and the other live – from pursuing the lots. Eventually, it was the online bidder with paddle number 99 who placed the winning bid of HK$8.2 million. After fees, it sold for around HK$10.3 million (US$1.3 million).
Translated as contrasted colors, doucai is a porcelain enameling technique combining underglaze cobalt blue and overglaze polychrome decoration. While this vase is noted for combining doucai palette and gilt-decoration details, what makes it stand out is its decorative motif: the Eight Daoist Immortals.
Interestingly, the Qianlong Emperor, like his father and grandfather, was a devout Buddhist. It is therefore more common to see the Eight Buddhist Emblems on Qianlong doucai vessels. There were two examples with the same motif on the market in recent years, a tianqiuping from the Philbrook Museum of Art which sold at Christie's in 2018, and an octagonal vase from the Duchange family collection offered at Poly Auction Hong Kong in 2021. Neither of them, though, was gilt.
The vase is decorated with the Eight Daoist Emblems in a rare doucai and gilt palette
Lot 18 | A fine and extremely rare doucai and gilt-decorated 'anbaxian' vase
Qianlong six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795)
Height: 23 cm
Provenance:
- Sold at Sotheby’s London, 2 April 1974, lot 321
Exhibited:
- Royal Academy of Arts, 100 Masterpieces from the Au Bak Ling Collection, London, 1998, no. 72
Estimate: HK$3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$8,200,000
Sold: HK$10,297,000 (US$1.3 million)
A typical self-made man, Au Bak Ling was born in 1928 into a family of meager means in Hong Kong and had to start work at the age of eight. When he was ten, he was forced to leave the free school he was attending, in order to help his father run a small second-hand bookstall.
In December 1941, war broke out in Asia-Pacific and Hong Kong fell into the hands of the Japanese troops. Au was thirteen at the time, but found himself saddled with the responsibility of supporting the whole family throughout the three years and eight months of painful war days: many died of starvation, while Au himself fortunately escaped a bomb blast. Nevertheless, two years later, he formally started a business under his own name, Ling Kee.
Soon, he realized the only way forward was self-cultivation, and his first step was to study English. With one dictionary and two pronunciation guides, he went on to attain an excellent command of both spoken and written English that allowed him to gain knowledge on diverse European subjects – as a Chinese kid he knew about Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, as well as the works of the great German writer Goethe.
Talent plus this self-enhancement, ultimately transformed him and changed his destiny. The young entrepreneur later expanded his stock, ordered new books from England, and entered the wholesale side of the book trade – a market the British publishing houses had dominated in Hong Kong for over 120 years. Yet under Au's prudent management, Ling Kee became the city's largest supplier of school textbooks.
Au Bak Ling and family at a charity trust event
His success in publishing led him to diversify his business interests, and today Ling Kee Group operates as a global conglomerate with six divisions – including educational publishing, IT, land development, property investment, manufacturing, and hotel – comprising almost 50 companies worldwide.
"What you have gained from the community must, at least in some measure, be returned to the community," Au Bak Ling once said. In 2008, when the global financial crisis hit hard and caused mass layoffs in Hong Kong, Au saw on television men in suits scrambling for food from garbage cans. Deeply shocked and saddened by the scene, he founded the Au Bak Ling Charity Trust in 2009, which has, as of this year, donated more than 3.2 million kg of rice to more than 60,000 poverty-stricken families and individuals.
As a successful educational publisher, Au also spared no effort in helping the young. The Au Bak Ling Charity Trust Scholarship Scheme, for instance, is established to support disadvantaged students studying to become teachers in Hong Kong, China, and Canada. It was his hope that the aspiring teachers would view a lifelong career of educating youth as a sacred mission, and would devote their efforts to nurturing tomorrow’s leaders.
While Au lived with his collection, he always reminded himself that he was just "the custodian and not the owner of the piece in perpetuity". It was therefore his wish to release part of his prized collection to the next generation of collectors after he passed away. Honouring his philanthropic spirit in giving back to society, a portion of the proceeds from the Au Bak Ling Collection sale will be donated to charitable causes.
All other lots from The Au Bak Ling Collection: The Inaugural Sale:
Lot 11 | A doucai 'mythical animal' jar
Yongzheng period (1723-1735)
Height: 10.3 cm
Provenance:
- J.T. Tai Collection
- Important Chinese Ceramics sold for the benefit of the J.T. Tai Foundation, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 21 May 1985, lot 23
Estimate: HK$1,000,000 - 2,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$4,000,000
Sold: HK$5,040,000
Lot 17 | A very rare celadon-glazed double-gourd vase
Yongzheng six-character archaic seal script mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1723-1735)
Height: 32.8 cm
Provenance:
- Sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 23 May 1978, lot 227
Estimate: HK$3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$3,500,000
Sold: HK$4,410,000
Lot 8 | A rare copper-red-decorated and enamelled water pot
Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1662-1722)
Height: 8.8 cm
Provenance:
- Hugh Moss, by repute
Estimate: HK$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$3,500,000
Sold: HK$4,410,000
Lot 12 | A rare pink-enamelled tea bowl
Yongzheng six-character mark in underglaze blue within a circle and of the period (1723-1735)
Diameter: 9.3 cm
Provenance:
- Sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 16 May 1977, lot 155
Estimate: HK$1,200,000 - 2,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$3,500,000
Sold: HK$4,410,000
Lot 19 | A fine underglaze blue gilt and iron-red decorated seal paste box and cover
Maoqindian mark in gilt and iron red, Jiaqing six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1796-1820)
Diameter: 23 cm
Provenance:
- Sold at Sotheby’s London, 13 December 1977, lot 539
Estimate: HK$2,500,000 - 3,500,000
Hammer Price: HK$3,500,000
Sold: HK$4,410,000
Lot 7 | A rare blue and white 'dragon' dish
Zhengde six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1506-1521)
Diameter: 17.5 cm
Provenance:
- Marchant, London, 12 June 1988
Estimate: HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Hammer Price: HK$3,200,000
Sold: HK$4,032,000
Lot 3 | A rare blue and white barbed-rim 'floral' cup stand
Hongwu period (1368-1398)
Diameter: 19.5 cm
Provenance:
- Sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 27 October 1992, lot 31
Estimate: HK$800,000 - 1,200,000
Hammer Price: HK$3,000,000
Sold: HK$3,780,000
Lot 1 | A longquan celadon mallow-form dish
Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279)
Diameter: 15.9 cm
Provenance:
- Sold at Christie’s London, 10 December 1990, lot 114A
- Sold at Sotheby’s New York, Harmony of Form, Serenity of Color: A Private Collection of Song Ceramics, 23 March 2011, lot 510
Estimate: HK$1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Hammer Price: HK$2,400,000
Sold: HK$3,024,000
Lot 16 | An extremely rare faux bois basin
Yongzheng six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1723-1735)
Diameter: 38.2 cm
Provenance:
- Sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 16 May 1977, lot 153
Estimate: HK$3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$2,400,000
Sold: HK$3,024,000
Lot 9 | A rare famille verte 'mandarin ducks and lotus pond' bowl
Kangxi period (1662-1722)
Diameter: 17.5 cm
Provenance:
- T.Y. King, Hong Kong
- Bluett & Sons, London, acquired in 1966
- Derek Ide, London, acquired in 1966
- Bluett & Sons, London
- F.W.A. (Fredrick) Knight, acquired in 1970
- Bluett & Sons, London
- Hugh Moss, acquired in 1976
Estimate: HK$800,000 - 1,200,000
Hammer Price: HK$2,200,000
Sold: HK$2,772,000
Lot 6 | An incised green-enamelled 'dragon' dish
Zhengde six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1506-1521)
Diameter: 17.5 cm
Provenance:
- Sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 22 May 1986, lot 214
Estimate: HK$600,000 - 800,000
Hammer Price: HK$1,600,000
Sold: HK$2,016,000
Lot 15 | A rare carved yellow and green enamelled 'dragon' bowl
Yongzheng six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1722-1735)
Diameter: 23 cm
Provenance:
- Sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 23 May 1978, lot 168
Estimate: HK$800,000 - 1,200,000
Hammer Price: HK$1,600,000
Sold: HK$2,016,000
Lot 13 | A pair of lemon yellow-enamelled tea bowls
Yongzheng six-character marks in underglaze blue within double circles and of the period (1723-1735)
Diameter: 8.2 cm
Provenance:
- Sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 12 May 1976, lot 243
Estimate: HK$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Hammer Price: HK$1,600,000
Sold: HK$2,016,000
Lot 10 | A famille verte 'dragon and phoenix' dish
Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1662-1722)
Diameter: 25.1 cm
Provenance:
- A Japanese Private Collection
- Sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 November 2006, lot 1533
- The Property of an Important American Private Collector, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 December 2010, lot 3048
Exhibited:
- S. Marchant & Son, Recent Acquisitions, London, 2003, catalogue no. 5
Estimate: HK$1,200,000 - 1,800,000
Hammer Price: HK$1,200,000
Sold: HK$1,512,000
Lot 2 | A rare blue and white 'dragon' bottle vase, yuhuchunping
Yuan dynasty (1279-1368)
Height: 28.5 cm
Provenance:
- Sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 28 April 1998, lot 726
- Sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1 June 2011, lot 3805
Estimate: HK$500,000 - 800,000
Hammer Price: HK$650,000
Sold: HK$819,000
Lot 20 | A gilt-decorated enamelled and moulded 'dragon' vase, tianqiuping
Guangxu period (1875-1908)
Height: 53.5 cm
Estimate: HK$500,000 - 800,000
Hammer Price: HK$600,000
Sold: HK$756,000
Lot 21 | A fine and rare famille rose 'magpie and prunus' vase
Republic period
Height: 32 cm
Provenance:
- Sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 16 May 1977, lot 227
Estimate: HK$150,000 - 250,000
Hammer Price: HK$500,000
Sold: HK$630,000
Auction Details:
Auction House: Christie's Hong Kong
Sale: The Au Bak Ling Collection: The Inaugural Sale
Venue: Christie's Asia-Pacific headquarters (The Henderson building in Hong Kong)
Date: 26 September 2024
Number of Lots: 19
Sold: 19
Sale Rate: 100%
Sale Total: HK$86,974,000