Last autumn, Christie’s marked the opening of its new Asia-Pacific headquarters at The Henderson in Central with a series of high-profile inaugural auctions. Among them, one stood out for antique collectors was The Au Bak Ling Collection: The Inaugural Sale.
This single-owner sale featured 19 exceptional porcelain works, spanning a millennium from the Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing, to Republic periods, all from the esteemed collection of Au Bak Ling, founder of the Ling Kee publishing house. The auction achieved a 100% sell-through rate, earning the coveted “white glove” status, and totaled nearly HK$87 million (US$11.2 million) – a resounding success that marked a new chapter for Christie’s Hong Kong.
One year on, Christie’s has announced a second part of this esteemed collection, to be offered this October, and it is already generating strong anticipation. While details of the upcoming sale are still under wraps, let's revisit last year’s highlights and reflect on the remarkable life of Au Bak Ling (1928-2019).
Au Bak Ling was a legendary collector of Chinese antique porcelain
A fine and very rare blue and white pear-shaped bottle vase, yuhuchunping | Yongle period | Sold: HK$27,600,000, Christie’s The Au Bak Ling Collection: The Inaugural Sale in 2024
At last year’s sale, auctioneer Liang-lin Chen raised the white glove, a symbol of 100% sell-through rate
1. Founding Ling Kee to Support His Family – A Shared Memory for Hongkongers
For many in Hong Kong, Ling Kee was a go-to destination for school textbooks – a shared memory of childhood.
Born into a grassroots family, Au Bak Ling left school after third grade and began working at the age of 10 to help support his family. During the Japanese occupation, at just 15 or 16 years old, he founded Ling Kee, starting out by selling second-hand fountain pens to make ends meet.
After the war, Au continued to self-educate, studying English with a dictionary and reading extensively in both Chinese and English. Ling Kee broke the British monopoly on Hong Kong’s textbook market, becoming a pioneer in the local publishing industry. Over time, his business expanded into manufacturing, hospitality, real estate investment, and land development, with dozens of companies across Greater China, the UK, and Canada.
After achieving business success, Au was deeply committed to philanthropy, giving back to society. Christie’s continues this legacy by donating a portion of the auction proceeds to the Au Bak Ling Charity Trust.
2. His First Passion Was Actually Chinese Paintings
Although Au is best known for his porcelain collection, his earliest collecting interest was in Chinese paintings.
In 1998, the Royal Academy of Arts in London held 100 Masterpieces of Imperial Chinese Ceramics from the Au Bak Ling Collection – the first-ever solo exhibition dedicated to Chinese porcelain by a private collector since the institution’s foundation in 1768. The exhibition catalogue featured commentary by Au’s friend and advisor, Julian Thompson, the legendary Sotheby’s executive.
Thompson noted that Au had a deep love for art from a young age, even enjoying drawing tigers as a boy. He began collecting works from the Lingnan School, particularly admiring Gao Qifeng, best known for his lifelike depictions of animals and plants.
Gao Qifeng, together with his brother, is known as the “Three Masters of Lingnan.” All three were active participants in the 1911 Revolution, and their revolutionary ideals extended to art, founding the Lingnan School with the aim of blending East and West, past and present.
A fine and extremely rare doucai and gilt-decorated 'anbaxian' vase | Qianlong period | Sold: HK$10,297,000, Christie’s The Au Bak Ling Collection: The Inaugural Sale in 2024
A doucai 'mythical animal' jar | Yongzheng period | Sold: HK$5,040,000, Christie’s The Au Bak Ling Collection: The Inaugural Sale in 2024
A rare pink-enamelled tea bowl | Yongzheng period | Sold: HK$4,410,000, Christie’s The Au Bak Ling Collection: The Inaugural Sale in 2024
3. Introduced to Porcelain by a Doctor Friend During an Auction Visit
According to Julian Thompson, Au’s journey into porcelain collecting began in autumn 1974, during a visit to Sotheby’s Hong Kong, where he attended an auction with a friend he had met through Tung Wah Group of Hospitals. That friend was none other than Dr. Hu Shih Chang (1924-2006).
Dr. Hu, one of Hong Kong’s pioneering pediatricians, was also an internationally renowned lacquerware collector. Though he and Au were only four years apart in age and both shared a passion for art, their collecting interests diverged – Dr. Hu loved lacquer, while Au fell in love with porcelain.
Thompson recalled that even though it was Au’s first time bidding, he purchased at least 14 porcelain pieces. Interestingly, Au later admitted that he didn’t initially like two of them, and hadn’t intended to bid on them at all.
4. A Private Collector with Legendary Pieces
Au was famously low-profile, and little was known about his collection. Yet even just two pieces from his trove are enough to place him among the greats.
After the death of famed dealer Edward T. Chow in the early 1980s, a large portion of his collection entered the market through auction. The bidding frenzy included many top collectors like Au Bak Ling, shipping tycoon T.Y. Chao, and members of the Hong Kong elite Min Chiu Society. In the end, Au acquired a Chenghua Doucai Chicken Cup for HK$4.18 million, while Chao won a rare blue-and-white Islamic-style moonflask.
Doucai porcelain began in the Xuande reign of the Ming dynasty and reached its peak during Chenghua. The term “doucai” means “contrasting colors,” combining underglaze blue outlines with overglaze enamels in red, green, and yellow. The Chenghua emperor famously incorporated mother-hen and chicks motifs, resulting in the legendary Chicken Cup – a masterpiece revered across history.
Today, fewer than 20 authenticated Chenghua Chicken Cups exist, most held in top museums like the National Palace Museum in Taipei. In 2014, another Chicken Cup sold in Hong Kong for HK$281 million to Liu Yiqian, setting a record for Chinese porcelain.
Au Bak Ling pictured with his treasured Chenghua Chicken Cup
A rare copper-red-decorated and enamelled water pot | Kangxi period | Sold: HK$4,410,000, Christie’s The Au Bak Ling Collection: The Inaugural Sale in 2024
A fine underglaze blue gilt and iron-red decorated seal paste box and cover | Jiaqing period | Sold: HK$4,410,000, Christie’s The Au Bak Ling Collection: The Inaugural Sale in 2024
Among the Five Great Kilns of the Song dynasty – Ru, Guan, Ge, Ding, Jun – Ru ware reigns supreme. With fewer than 100 surviving examples, most are in museums, making private ownership near impossible.
In 1992, a Northern Song Ru ware washer in sky-blue glaze appeared at Christie’s New York. Au acquired it for US$1.54 million, setting a new auction record for Chinese ceramics.
This piece had impeccable provenance, once owned by legendary dealer C.T. Loo, and later by Hungarian-American collector Stephen Junkunc III.
In 2017, another Ru washer sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong for HK$294 million to Liu Yiqian, becoming the most expensive ceramic ever sold at auction at the time.
5. A Home Full of Porcelain
To hear the best collector stories, you ask the best antique dealers. William Chak, founder of Hong Kong’s Chak’s, recalled visiting Au’s residence:
“When I visited Mr. Au’s home, the moment the door opened, I was stunned – the place was filled with porcelain. Not just the rooms or display cabinets – the hallway walls were lined as well, with only a narrow path to walk through. Every step had to be taken with extreme caution.
His children had a grand piano. The cover was closed, and even the top was covered with antiques. I couldn’t imagine how they ever opened it. It felt less like a home and more like a private museum.
To love porcelain to such an extent – to live every moment surrounded by it – Au Bak Ling is almost like a porcelain sage.”
William Chak, founder of Hong Kong’s Chak’s
An important and extremely rare doucai stemcup | Chenghua period | On display at The Au Bak Ling Collection Special Exhibition (Not for sale)
6. By 1998, His Collection Was Estimated at No Less Than £100 million
As mentioned earlier, the Royal Academy’s 1998 exhibition featured 100 imperial porcelain works from Au’s collection. When asked by the media about the collection’s value, curator and renowned scholar Regina Krahl replied:
“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.”
Krahl also revealed that Au was initially reluctant to agree to the exhibition, but eventually consented after much persuasion. Even then, he personally supervised the handling and authentication of every object, underscoring his deep care.
7. Two Cancelled Catalogue Projects – The Collection Remains Elusive
One reason why Au’s collection remains shrouded in mystery is that no full catalogue has ever been published – though it wasn’t for lack of trying.
When news first emerged in the collecting world that Au intended to publish a catalogue, the reaction was instant: “Shut up and take my money.” Collectors rushed to pre-order. But soon after, everyone received refunds – the project had been cancelled.
Publishing such a catalogue is no small feat, especially for a collector of Au’s stature. Though disappointed, many understood. Later, another catalogue project was announced, this time priced in the five-figure HKD range. Yet again, collectors enthusiastically placed orders, seeing it as both a valuable reference and a learning tool.
Unfortunately, this second attempt also quietly fell through. It seems the full story of Au’s collection may only be revealed gradually – through auctions and future exhibitions.
Promotional image from last year’s Christie’s campaign for The Au Bak Ling Collection
A very rare celadon-glazed double-gourd vase | Yongzheng period | Sold: HK$4,410,000, Christie’s The Au Bak Ling Collection: The Inaugural Sale in 2024
A rare blue and white barbed-rim 'floral' cup stand | Hongwu period | HK$3,780,000, Christie’s The Au Bak Ling Collection: The Inaugural Sale in 2024
A longquan celadon mallow-form dish | Southern Song dynasty | Sold: HK$3,024,000, Christie’s The Au Bak Ling Collection: The Inaugural Sale in 2024