As a calligrapher and painter, Qian Jingtang had a close relationship with Zhang Daqian and had similar interests; as an appraiser, he and Wu Hufan were "double walls"; as a collector, he and the business tycoon Liu Jingji had their own merits. They are indistinguishable and are known as "the richest collection in Shanghai". He has inspected no less than 30,000 to 40,000 paintings and calligraphy works. Every time he got a piece, Qian Jingtang always researched it carefully, classified it into categories, and wrote clearly the author's life, artistic style, writing achievements, etc. in regular script. The scope of his collection is very wide, which can be seen from the several commonly used identification seals: "Seal of Haichang Qianjingtang Collection", "Qianjingtang Seal of Authentic Ren Bonian", "Jingtang Collection Fan", "The lotus hidden in the mirror pond" and so on are immediately apparent.
His collection of famous people's letters is rich and sophisticated, and it is said to be unprecedented and unprecedented. Shanghai Jinghua's 2001 spring auction launched the "Special Sale of Celebrities' Rulers and Slips from the Qianjingtang Collection", with 39 lots ranging from the Ming Dynasty to modern times, with a 90% sale rate for the left rear. Among them, "Jin Nong Zhi Jun Ren Zha (One Pass)" was sold for 52,800 yuan, making it the highest priced lot. In 2002, China Jiade Autumn Auction launched the 20-volume "Qianjingtang Collection of Ming Dynasty Celebrities' Sketches", which contains more than 400 celebrities from Yongle to Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, and more than 600 pieces, including princes, generals, officials, literati, loyal and traitorous people. , it is a complete collection of letters and calligraphy written by celebrities of the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, among the more than 400 collections, no one only collects books and letters. Basically, there is no repeated collection. It has the characteristics of concentrated time and a wide range of characters, making collection extremely difficult. This unidentified celebrity's official slips were commissioned by Mr. Ni Yugong of Jiaxing 50 years ago to sort out the texts one by one. He also asked Zhang Shiyuan to write a bookmark and reinstall them. In the end, it was returned to the Shanghai Library for 9.9 million yuan, setting a world record for a single auction of rare Chinese ancient books.
The works of modern and contemporary Shanghai-style painters are also the focus of Qian Jingtang’s collection. Among them, the number of works by Xiang Xian Ren Bonian is the most, with more than 100 paintings at most. His ability to identify Ren Bonian's works is also valued by the Tibetan community. For example, Ren Bonian's "Infinite Life Buddha" was launched at Shanghai Jinghua Spring Auction in 2001, with an estimated value of 400,000-600,000 yuan, and was finally acquired by Hong Kong's Zhang Zongxian for 1.232 million yuan; in the autumn of 2001, Tianjin National Auction launched Ren Bonian's "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea" Four screens, estimated at 700,000-1 million yuan, and the final transaction price reached 1.32 million yuan. He has many fine collections of other Shanghai-style painters such as Zhao Zhiqian, Xu Gu, Wu Changshuo, etc. For example, Xu Gu's "Sui Dynasty Picture" vertical scroll was launched by Shanghai Jinghua in the spring of 2003. This painting is a masterpiece of plum blossoms made when the author was 63 years old. This painting was originally 4 panels, and they were titled "Lotus Picture" and "Chrysanthemum Picture". , "Chrysanthemums on the Fence" and "Sui Dynasty Picture" were originally collected by Qian Jingtang. They were later sold to a Shanghai cultural relics store with an estimated value of 350,000-450,000 yuan and a transaction price of 550,000 yuan.
Tibetan fans are also a major feature of Qian Jingtang’s collection. In Shanghai Jinghua’s 2004 spring auction of “Shanghai-style calligraphy and painting”, a special feature on “Qian Jingtang” Tibetan fans was launched, among which Zhao Zhiqian’s “Shaoyao Palace Spring” 》Fan color on paper, estimated at 100,000-120,000 yuan, and the transaction price reached 203,500 yuan; Ren Bonian's "The Legacy of Nantian" fan color on paper, estimated at 45,000-55,000 yuan, and the final transaction price reached 242,000 yuan . In addition, he also collected many paintings with lotus themes. For example, Zou Yigui's "Autumn Water Poetry Picture" (60x28cm) sold by Shanghai Jinghua in the spring of 2001 has Zhang Shiyuan's inscription "Authentic Zou Xiaoshan Autumn Water Bird Picture, Counting Lotuses in Qingcaotang" and the appraisal seal "Jingtang" "Hidden Lotus", estimated at 120,000-180,000 yuan, and the final transaction price was 132,000 yuan