A RETIRED Sydney solicitor has emerged as one of the most generous benefactors in the history of the Art Gallery of NSW with the announcement that he will donate his entire collection of 18th-century European porcelain to the institution.

Yesterday Kenneth Reed, 76, revealed he would bequeath to the gallery 200 porcelain works, valued at a total of $5.4 million.

The collection includes Meissen parrots by Joseph Joachim Kandler, made for the consort of Augustus III, plus a pair of vases by Andre-Vincent Vielliard.

Richard Beresford, senior curator of European art, says the gift will transform the gallery's presentation of European art.

"The gallery has had neglected holdings of European decorative arts until now," he says.

"The decision to show 16th-18th-century ceramics alongside paintings of the same period will add a new dimension to the gallery's collection display.

The gallery is now also better placed to respond to an expected rise in public interest in ceramic history."

Reed first made headlines as a philanthropist in 2005, when he donated $1 million to the Australian Ballet, where he had been a subscriber since its inception in 1962.

In 2010 he extended his generosity to the AGNSW, announcing he would leave 25 European pictures to the institution, including a Dutch still life by Abraham van Beyeren and a large portrait by English painter John Hoppner.

Earlier this year he chipped in $550,000 to help the gallery acquire a large Italian painted plate by Francesco Xanto Avelli from 1530, Sack of Rome.

With yesterday's announcement, Reed's total gifts to the gallery come to almost $13m.

Reed says his apartment is getting "a bit crowded" and he is ready to part with his porcelain.

"They're like children to me . . .," he says.

"They're really works of art -- the figures are like miniature sculptures, it's all hand-painted."

He says philanthropy in Australia is playing a big role in the breadth of gallery collections.

"It's the only way galleries can acquire a lot of things because the funds aren't available for them to buy it themselves," he says, likening the practice to a form of social service.

And now that he has made some room in his apartment?

"There's nothing left, really, it's all here . . . now I've got a lot of empty cupboards that I'm starting to fill with books."