In the Latest Brazen Heist, Jewelry and Artworks Worth $5 Million Were Stolen From a Famed French Designer's Museum

Femme libellule ailes ouvertes, or Dragonfly Woman With Open Wings, made by René Lalique between 1898 and 1900, was stolen from the museum earlier this week. © Studio Y. Langlois - Musée Lalique Months after burglars broke into the Louvre and stole royal crown jewels, another brazen art theft rocked France.

Early on Sunday, three masked thieves armed with sledgehammers forced their way into the Lalique Museum in the French village of Wingen-sur-Moder near the country’s eastern border, reports Kelly Crow for the Wall Street Journal. In just 11 minutes, the trio broke into six display cases and made out with 27 pieces of jewelry and art, escaping into the morning. The town’s mayor expressed anger about the burglary to local newspaper Les Dernieres Nouvelles d'Alsace, saying that the break-in triggered alarms but not a quick response from the security team, reports Le Monde and Agence France-Presse.

Officials estimate that the value of the stolen artworks amounts to roughly $5 million. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Musée Lalique (@museelalique) The museum is known for glasswork, crystals and perfume bottles but especially for jewelry, a specialty of artist René Lalique. He worked in the late 19th century as an apprentice for craftsman and jeweler Louis Aucoc, then as an independent designer for Jacta, Cartier and Boucheron before finally setting up his own shop in Paris.

He frequently won contests and collaborations with the most influential celebrities of the day. His desire to “create something that had never been seen before” earned him the moniker of “inventor of modern jewelry” from French glassmaker Emile Gallé, according to the Journal of Antiques & Collectibles. A cockerel diadem, made from gold, enamel, horn and amethyst between 1897 and 1898, is one of Lalique’s many celebrated creations.

Antonio via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 2.0 Often, artifacts stolen from museums that are not retrieved are melted down and sold for their material value. But the losses this week are particularly devastating, museum officials say, because each piece is much greater than the sum of its parts.

“René Lalique’s jewelry is renowned for its artistic value rather than the materials used. Indeed, the artist particularly enjoyed using enamel, horn and glass in his creations,” the museum told the National Jeweler’s Michelle Graff. “Once the jewelry has been dismantled, the value of the materials pales in comparison to its artistic value.”

Expo 2024 - René Lalique, l'inventeur du bijou moderne Watch on The centerpiece of the heist is Femme libellule ailes ouvertes, or Dragonfly Woman With Open Wings, a pendant that Lalique crafted from gold, diamond and enamel between 1898 and 1900. It was the first piece acquired in preparation for the museum. “The team was therefore particularly fond of it and hopes that it may one day be found,” the museum says in a statement issued on Instagram.

“It was, in particular, the centerpiece of one of our tours for very young children.” Did you know? Art Nouveau Lalique’s designs contributed to the sinuous, organic Art Nouveau movement at the turn of the 20th century.

Other items taken in the heist include brooches, necklaces, pendants, bracelets, a bust, a perfume bottle, a comb, a hatpin, a belt buckle and a face-à-main, which is a pair of handheld glasses. The museum has remained closed since Sunday as officials continue their investigation. Meanwhile, the theft adds momentum to the growing call for improved investments in infrastructure and security within France’s museums.

In May, the country’s parliament published a report about the growing “museum crisis,” the Art Newspaper’s Vincent Noce reports. Of 616 museums surveyed by the Ministry of Culture in 2024, only 54 percent had a video surveillance system, and 64 percent had formalized security procedures, per the report. You Might Also Like An Ancient Sea Once Split North America Down the Middle.

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