A well-planned museum theft has thrown the Royal Marymont Museum in Belgium into chaos.
According to the Belgian "Evening News" reported on April 21, at 4 a.m. local time on the 21st, three daring thieves broke into this historic museum, the Musée royal de Mariemont (Musée royal de Mariemont).
Swift and silent, they skillfully broke through the museum's glass doors for emergency escape and infiltrated the East Asian art exhibition area, targeting a precious artifact, the Ming Dynasty Imperial Porcelain Jiajing Dynasty's multicolored fish algae jar, to steal the porcelain in a very short time.
Stolen Ming Dynasty fish algae lid jar - Royal Museum of Marimont, Belgium
Despite the museum's security system working properly and staff quickly alerting the police after the alarm bells rang, the thieves fled the scene within a very short period of 6 minutes, leaving no trace. Police are now making every effort to track their whereabouts based on CCTV footage.
After the incident, the museum guards quickly called the police, and the Belgian federal police rushed to the scene to investigate. However, the thieves seem to have been well prepared, and there are not many valuable clues left at the scene. The police are making every effort to investigate and hope to solve the case as soon as possible and recover the stolen lid cans.
Thieves break through the glass door for emergency escape - Royal Museum of Marimont, Belgium
The Royal Museum of Marymont said that although the case is distressing, the museum will remain open and provide quality services to the public. However, the Department of Incident Development has been temporarily closed to allow the police to conduct further investigations.
This priceless treasure became the focus of global attention for a while. According to the museum staff, this multicolored fish algae pattern lid jar is listed as a treasure in Belgium, and its value cannot be estimated.
- Royal Museum of Marimont, Belgium
This stolen porcelain lid jar is the museum's treasure. Dating from the Ming Dynasty in China, around the 16th century, it was brought back to Belgium from China in 1912 by the Belgian coal magnate Raoul Warocque, and became a "rare item" in the collection of the Belgian Wallonia-Brussels Regional Alliance. Now, this priceless treasure has mysteriously disappeared, making people sigh.
哈乌勒·瓦洛克 Raoul Warocque 肖像画
Raoul Warocque (1870-1917) was one of the leading industrialists of his generation, and his business expanded in a variety of fields, including coal mines, railways, fuels, and electric energy. At the beginning of the 20th century, he became the richest man in Belgium with his business skills and market vision, and enjoyed great prestige in the local political and business circles. In addition to this, it is recorded that he was also a member of the Freemasonry.
During the First World War, Raoul Warocque died of illness, leaving behind a large collection of precious antiques and works of art. Among them, including the stolen Jiajing colorful fish algae pattern jar. He donated these treasures to the nation, which eventually became the cornerstone of the collection of the Royal Marymount Museum, leaving a rich cultural heritage for posterity.
The multicolored fish algae pattern jar is a famous product of the Jiajing official kiln, among which the one with the original lid and the complete body is particularly rare, and is mainly collected by important museums at home and abroad. There are only four known multicolored fish algae jars with lids in the collections of the Palace Museum, the National Museum, the Tianjin Museum and the Shanghai Museum in Beijing, and four in the Guimet Museum in Paris, the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the Walters Museum of Art in Baltimore, and two pieces in private collections.
In the world of private collections, Hu Huichun (1910-1993) is the most powerful. From Hu's old photos (below), it can be seen that he once owned two Jiajing colorful fish cans with lids, one of which was sold at a sky-high price in 2017.
Hu Huichun took a photo at home, with a Jiajing colorful fish jar on the left and right
In 2017, at Christie's Hong Kong, a Jiajing multicolored fish algae jar with an original lid became the center of attention. This jar was once owned by Mr. Hu Huichun, a well-known collector of "Temporary Tak Building". After fierce bidding, it was sold for a staggering HK$213 million, the third highest price in the history of Ming Dynasty porcelain auctions.
In this type of art theft, whether it is antique porcelain or famous paintings and sculptures, it is extremely difficult to resell them because they are considered illegal gains worldwide. Therefore, it is speculated that the mastermind of this incident may have had a deep love for this artwork and was willing to take such a huge risk to plan and carry out this theft.
This theft has aroused widespread attention from all walks of life, which not only caused huge losses to the Royal Marymont Museum in Belgium, but also made people put forward higher requirements for the security of the museum. We hope that the police will solve the case as soon as possible, recover the stolen lid jar, and return this priceless treasure to the museum's exhibition halls and continue to show its unique charm to the public.