Baseball bats and gold snuff boxes: robbery at the Cognacq-Jay museum

The Cognacq-Jay museum in Paris was robbed this Wednesday morning. Several pieces, with a total value of 1 million euros, were violently stolen in the presence of visitors and employees.

CWednesday November 20 at 10:30 a.m., the Cognacq-Jay museum, located in 3^e district of Paris, was the target of a violent robbery, while visitors as well as museum employees were on site. No injuries were reported. According to information from Monde, the four hooded robbers, who entered the museum armed with an ax and baseball bats, seized five objects, gold boxes and snuff boxes, shown as part of the “Pocket Luxury” exhibition, some of which belong to the English royal collections. The amount of loot would amount to 1 million euros. The municipal police and the national police intervened immediately following the incident. The identity of the robbers is not yet known, but an investigation was opened after the complaint was filed by the City of Paris.

Located in the Donon mansion, the Cognacq-Jay museum is one of the fourteen museums belonging to the City of Paris (Paris Musées), and exhibits works from the 18th^e century acquired between 1900 and 1927, then bequeathed to the City by Ernest Cognacq, founder of the Samaritaine department stores, and his wife Marie-Louise Jaÿ.

Its state rooms recreate the refined life of the Age of Enlightenment, with, among other things, rare period furniture and precious objects, such as Saxon porcelain. You can also observe masterpieces of European art from the 18th century.^e century, including paintings by the still life painter Jean Siméon Chardin (1699-1779), the Dutch master Rembrandt, the portrait painter Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755-1842), the landscape painter and leader of the rococo style Fragonard (1732 -1806), as well as drawings by the painter Watteau (1684-1721). The museum will remain closed until further notice, for the purposes of the investigation.