Luxe de poche,Musée Cognacq-Jay,museum theft
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Museum Theft: During the Musée Cognacq-Jay - Luxe de poche" Exhibition
The event showcased perfume bottles, candy boxes, music boxes, snuff boxes, and sewing kits decorated with gold, precious stones, mother-of-pearl or even enamels, highlighting objects from the 18th and early 19th centuries, which are representative of the Age of Enlightenment when precious objects like these were in vogue in France. The event included objects loaned from the Château de Versailles, the Musée du Louvre, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, the Palais Galliera, the English Royal Collections and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
In total, seven highly valuable objects were taken by the thieves before they made a hasty exit, departing into the Paris traffic on scooters.
The stolen material taken in the robbery are as follows:
This gold snuff box dating from the 8th century and encrusted with agate cabochons made by Johann Christian Neuber , known for his gold snuff boxes, which he called Steinkabinettabatiere. This object was on loan from the Musée du Louvre.
This snuff box made of agate plates dating from 1760-1770, with hard stone reliefs, joined by a gold cage mount, and a lid encrusted with numerous brilliant-cut diamonds, made by Daniel Baudesson, also on loan from the Musée du Louvre.
This 16th century gold and lapis cartouche shaped snuff box with a cameo of the Birth of Venus Cameo from the UK's Royal Trust.
This 1789 snuff box made by Johann Christian Neuber, one of the most celebrated goldsmiths in the history of snuffboxes which combined his own technique of Zellenmosaik, or mosaic of hardstones set into gold collets, with the technique of Roman micromosaics only recently developed, part of the Gilbert Collection ©, The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
This diamond-encrusted, varicoloured-gold snuffbox, decorated with figures in neo-classical landscapes, gifted to Thomas Dimsdale (1712-1800), by Catherine II during the Russian smallpox epidemic of 1768, , part of the Gilbert Collection ©, The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
"The Fulford Thefts" occurred in 1981 when Temple Newsam House in Leeds was burglarised in a nighttime heist, resulting in the loss of 24 exquisite snuffboxes. In that incident, the culprits, operating under the cover of darkness, targeted these highly valuable items due to their intricate craftsmanship and historical significance. The incident was named after the notorious criminal gang linked to the thefts, and remains one of the most notable art crimes in UK history from a stately home. The recovery of some pieces from this theft took decades.
On June 10, 2003, the Johnson gang carried out a high-profile theft at Waddesdon Manor, a historic estate in Buckinghamshire, England. The gang broke into the Rothschild collection housed at the manor and stole over 100 priceless items, including a significant collection of antique gold snuff boxes. The meticulously planned raid lasted only minutes, during which the thieves targeted small but immensely valuable £5 million collection, due to their portability and worth.
The Cognacq-Jay museum has specified that it is closed while the investigation is underway and that it will reopen on Tuesday, December 10, 2024. People who have purchased advanced tickets for the “Luxe de Poche” exhibition or for other activities will be automatically refunded.