Liechtenstein Baited Chinese Investors with Flemish Masterpieces

Peter Paul Rubens’s The Discovery of the Child Erichthonius (c. 1615)
Photo via Liechtenstein Princely Collections

The Prince of Liechtenstein loaned 100 Flemish masterpieces from the Princely Collections to state Chinese museums in Beijing and Shanghai, as part of a larger marketing plan to lure investors to the princedom, Spear’s reports.

The 100 masterpieces surveyed the best Flemish painting from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and included works by Old Masters such as Quentin Matsys, Jan de Cock, the Bruegel family, Peter Paul Rubens, and Anthony van Dyck.

This branding strategy is based on the idea that if Liechtenstein—whose royal family is one of the oldest in Europe—can prove its prowess in long-term wealth preservation, it could gain the trust of key Chinese investors.

“It’s important for families in Asia to see that the Liechtenstein family has been around for eight centuries,” Christof Buri, head of marketing and communications of LGT, the private banking group of the princely House of Liechtenstein, told Spear’s. “It’s important to create, preserve, and manage wealth for such a long time. The Princely Collections are testimony of that.”

Although Chinese investors are coming in, it’s still early days, according to Buri. But the princedom’s faith in the diplomatic and economic allure of these paintings is unfaltering.

“They’re good ambassadors for Liechtenstein,” Prince Regent Alois, said of the treasure trove of paintings that form the Princely Collections. “We like to show them to other people, we let them travel to exhibitions as one of the most important collections of Old Masters in the world.”


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