French civil servants have lost 16 thousand rarities

[Marina56]

From the French ministries, embassies, prefectures and other government agencies over the past ten years, mysteriously disappeared 16 thousand works of art. It found only 900 valuable objects.
Their finding specially created commission under the Ministry of Culture.
As stated in the report of the commission, among its outstanding lost objects carpets, watches of famous masters, paintings, chandeliers. Some national museums lent by the French public institutions, more than a century ago, and since then their fate remains unknown, wrote La Libre Belgique.
Commission collects data on the missing works of art from 1997 to 2007.
Among the most precious objects disappeared clock work, André Charles Bull, once located in the XVII century chateau Maisons-Lafitte, sketch, painted by Raoul Dufy, which must reside in the Museum of Marseilles, canvas XVII century, which vanished from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France painting by the French artist Joan Miro, disappeared from the French Embassy in Washington.
"We focus on what really should be found", - said chairman of the committee, advisor to the Accounting Chamber of France Jean-Pierre Bady. He said that within ten years the commission had found some 900 valuable objects.
Thus, in the search committee members discovered in a private Parisian art galleries, three antique carpets made in the factory Savonri, simply disappeared from the UN building in New York. In addition, the French Embassy in Stockholm found valuable Japanese vase XVIII century. If none of the embassy staff was not able to explain exactly how a vase found myself among them, told the head of the commission.
As stated in the report, from 184 thousand reported cases of transmission of objects of art 133 thousand government institutions have become objects of scrutiny committee members. Of these, 133 thousand works of art of the 20 th Commission has classified as an unnoticed, 3400 destroyed, mostly during the various wars, 150 stolen. Location of 16 500 objects, which represent less value (copies of famous paintings, posters), "is not defined," said Badi.
The most valuable objects had disappeared from the Ministry of Education (almost half of the objects that are classified as unnoticed). This is followed by the Ministry of Defense (39%of lost objects) and economics (36.1%).

The tradition of "borrowing" state institutions for works of art from national museums originated in France during the Revolution.