Of all the billionaires that come and go on the Forbes China Rich List, Liu Yiqian is certainly the one with the biggest appetite for art. Liu, who ranked No. 220 with a net worth of $ 1 billion, yesterday bought a 600-year-old imperial embroidered Tibetan tapestry at a Christie’s auction for $ 348 million Hong Kong dollars ($ 45 million), setting a record for any Chinese works of art sold by an international auction house.

For the art-savvy Liu, the magnificent piece is too important to miss. The silk tapestry, known as a thangka, is more than three meters tall and two meters wide. The work, created more than five centuries ago during the Ming dynasty on command of Emperor Yongle, is excellently preserved. The still brightly colored gold and silk threads depict the story of Raktayamari, 'The Red Conqueror of Death', embracing his consort, Vajravetali, according to Christie’s. The thangka is the only one of its kind still in private hands - two other known examples are in the Jokhang Monastery in Tibet.

Liu, who bought the piece for his private Long museum in Shanghai, said he is “proud to bring back to China this significant and historic 15th century thangka, which will be preserved in the Long museum for years to come.” In his WeChat message now widely circulated on Chinese media, Liu said the auction was a tough battle.

The 50-year-old collector has an eye for all sorts of artwork. In April, he spent $36.3 million on a tiny porcelain cup with a humble chicken painted on its surface- he also took a celebratory swig from it. Liu’s collection also includes revolutionary pieces from the Mao period and modern Chinese artworks by celebrated artists such as Chen Yifei and Fang Lijun.

Liu, who sometimes is dubbed the eccentric one, has a penchant for paying his purchases through American Express . He paid for the chicken cup by swiping his American Express card an individual 24 times and confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that he intended to settle payment for the thangka through American Express again.

Liu is chairman of Shanghai-based investment company Sunline Group. Born in 1963 into a working-class family in the city, he left school at 14 to help with his mother’s handbag business. After amassing a small amount of fortune by selling bags, he learned stock trading at 27 and was one of the earliest investors in the Shanghai stock market. He started collecting art about two decades ago with his wife Wang Wei.