Sir Alexander Heathcote rosé at seven o’clock every morning, joined his wife at breakfast to eat one boiled egg cooked for precisely four minutes, two pieces of toast with one spoonful of Cooper’a marmalade and drink one cup of China tea. He would then take a hackney carriage from his home in 11 Cadogan Gardens at exactly eight-twenty and arrive at the Foreign Office at promptly eight-fifty-nine.

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Sir Alexander Heathcote received the Chinese Statue when he was in China. It was bequeathed to his first born, Major James Heathcote and Sir Alexander had also mentioned it in the will that, after his death, the statue should pass to the eldest born in the family and not to be sold off, until and unless the family’s honour was at stake. Everything went on smoothly till the statue was passed into the hands of Alex Heathcote. Alex, who was a spendthrift, gambled away all his money and fell into serious debt. Unable to overcome his debt, he decided to sell the statue to save himself. So he took the family heirloom to Bond Street and delivered it to Sotheby. This was how the statue found its way to the auction room.

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The Chinese Statue, acquired by Sir Alexander Heathcote, was regarded as a family heirloom and was to be always passed on to the first born in the family after Alexander’s death. Fate changed when the statue finally came into the hands of Alex Heathcote, the great-great grandson of Alexander. Alex was a spendthrift who gambled away all his money and to get out of his debt, sold the statue at an auction, from where the narrator bought it.

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Sir Alexander Heathcote, a gentleman, had been exact from an early age, as became the only son of a general.

But unlike his father, he chose to serve the Queen in the diplomatic service. He progressed from a shared desk at the Foreign Office in Whitehall to third secretary in Calcutta, to second secretary in Vienna, to first secretary in Rome, to Deputy Ambassador in Washington and finally to minister in Peking.

When he was invited to China, Sir Alexander Heathcote had taken some considerable time to look through the art of the Ming dynasty. An opportunity to observe in their natural habitat some of the great statues, paintings and drawings was always welcomed by him.

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Being an exact man, Sir Alexander Heathcote wrote a long and detailed will in which he left precise instructions for the disposal of his estate, including what was to happen to the little statue after his death. He bequeathed the Emperor Kung to his first son requesting that he do the same, in order that the statue might always pass to the first son, or a daughter if the direct male line faltered. He also made a provision that the statue was never to be disposed of, unless the family’s honour was at stake.

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