Royal European art treasures on display at Palace Museum

Over 120 treasures owned by the royal family of Liechtenstein will be exhibited in Hong Kong for the first time at the Hong Kong Palace Museum from tomorrow.

It will be the first display of Western artifacts after the museum opened on July 3 with a show featuring an art collection of Chinese emperors.

The microstate of Liechtenstein, which covers 160 square kilometers, or twice the size of Hong Kong Island, is south of Germany and in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland.

It is one of the wealthiest countries on Earth, and the House of Liechtenstein is one of the oldest lineages in Europe.

The princes of the royal family have amassed art for more than 400 years, establishing one of the largest and most important collections of paintings, sculptures and carpets in the world today.

Baroque paintings are particular standouts.

Curating teams of the collection and the museum handpicked some 124 pieces from over 30,000 items for the special exhibition titled Odysseys of Art: Masterpieces Collected by the Princes of Liechtenstein. It runs until February 20.

Almost 40 masterpieces featured in the exhibition come from two of the most gifted of Baroque painters in Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck.

Rubens (1577-1640) was especially skilled in capturing people's physiognomy and psychological states. And his famous drawing of his daughter Clara Serena, who died at the age of 12, is among the exhibits in Hong Kong.

A striking work by Rubens' pupil Van Dyck of Maria de Tassis from 1630 is also displayed.

Close to home and also in the exhibition is a porcelain dish with a blue underglaze and a garden motif that was made in China.

Divided into eight thematic sections, the exhibition in the museum's Gallery 8 casts reveals much about Liechtenstein's history of art collecting. Central to the story are five princes whose passion for art shaped what are known today as the Princely Collections.

Each of the featured princes enriched the whole through unique talents.

Through the Chinese ceramics the princes collected and the gardens they commissioned visitors can also appreciate the influence of Chinese art and culture on European decorative arts and architecture.

The director of the Princely Collections, Johann Kraftner, said his team has been wanting to hold an exhibition in Hong Kong for years, but was unable to find a suitable venue until he saw the news about the creation of the Palace Museum.

Museum director Louis Ng Chi-wa added: "Looking at the collections and the opening exhibition of the HKPM, which showed pieces from the royals in the Ming and Qing dynasties, we can make a comparison in terms of interests and scope."

Ng said the special exhibition has been planned for two years and that the display of the top European treasures is "a conversation between two cultures. We hope the exhibition can draw visitors from around the world."

Admission to Odysseys of Art is HK$120 for adults, with a concessionary ticket costing HK$60.