This autumn, Sotheby’s Hong Kong Fine Chinese Paintings presents the collection of British diplomat George Walden (b. 1939). In 1962, Walden joined the British Foreign Office, embarking on a diplomatic career that spanned over two decades. In 1965, he studied Chinese at the University of Hong Kong, and later served as a Second Secretary in the office of the British Chargé d'Affaires in Beijing.
During his tenure in Beijing from 1967 to 1970, Walden, with a deep enthusiasm towards Chinese art, frequently visited the antique and curio store to amass a remarkable collection of artworks. Selected based on personal interest and taste rather than the artist’s fame, Walden’s collection primarily consists of works by artists from the late Qing Dynasty and onwards, such as Chen Hengke, Pu Ru, Yu Fei’an and Huang Binhong. Most works still retain their original mounting from the 1960s or earlier, and many still bear labels and receipts from the antique and curio store. Since Walden returned to the UK, the collection remained hidden from the public eye for over half a century until now.
