Around 15 valuable artefacts from eastern Asia were stolen from the Chinese Museum of the Chateau de Fontainebleau, in the south of Paris, the Art Newspaper reports. Among them was a replica of the crown of the Siamese King offered in 1861 to Napoleon III, an 18th-century Chinese cloisonné enameled chimera and a rare Tibetan mandala. Although the objects were located in the most secured aisle of the museum, the thieves managed to get hold of the objects and escape in less than 7 minutes.
Decorated in 1863 by Napoleon III’s wife Empress Eugenie, the Chinese Museum mixed furniture and works of art from across eastern Asia, including diplomatic gifts and objects taken from the Peking Summer Palace in 1861, after it was ransacked by French and British soldiers.
2 March 2015.
