French museum confirms one of its signature Art Nouveau jewels
among 27 works stolen during an eleven-minute robbery.
The thieves were inside the Musée Lalique for only eleven minutes.
When they left, 27 works by one of history’s greatest jewelry artists had disappeared.
Just after dawn on Sunday morning, July 5, three masked thieves forced their way into the Musée Lalique in Wingen-sur-Moder, France, smashed six display cases, and escaped with what has been widely reported as approximately €4 million (about US$5 million) worth of René Lalique masterpieces.
According to published reports and statements released by the museum, the robbery lasted only about eleven minutes.
While French authorities have released relatively few details as the investigation continues, the Musée Lalique has now confirmed that 27 works were stolen from its collection.
Among them is one of the museum’s most beloved treasures.
Here’s what has been confirmed
—and why the loss of even a single Lalique masterpiece is significant.
The Dragonfly Woman Pendant
In a statement following the robbery, the Musée Lalique confirmed that Dragonfly Woman with Open Wings (Femme libellule aux ailes ouvertes) was among the stolen works.
The pendant occupies a special place in the museum’s history.
According to the museum, it was the first jewelry masterpiece acquired in 2002 for what would become the museum’s permanent collection. More than simply another exhibit, it became an ambassador for René Lalique’s work and, according to the museum, “the centerpiece of one of our tours for very young children.”
“The team was therefore particularly fond of it,” the museum said, “and hopes that it may one day be found.”
More than gemstones
One of the more fascinating aspects of the robbery is that these masterpieces were not valuable because they contained extraordinary gemstones.
In fact, that would have completely misunderstood René Lalique’s artistic philosophy.
As the museum explained following the theft, Lalique’s jewelry is renowned for its artistic value rather than the intrinsic value of the materials from which it was created.
Gold, enamel, horn, glass, pearls, opals, moonstones, carved ivory, diamonds, and more, all became elements of a larger artistic vision.
Once separated from that vision, the individual materials become only a fraction of the work’s true importance.
It is one reason museums around the world consider Lalique’s jewelry to be cultural treasures rather than simply valuable jewelry.
Not the famous Dragonfly Woman
Readers may recognize another celebrated Lalique masterpiece often referred to simply as the Dragonfly Woman.
The two jewels are frequently confused.
The pendant reported stolen from the Musée Lalique is Dragonfly Woman with Open Wings, a delicate Art Nouveau pendant integrating a female figure into translucent dragonfly wings.
The better-known Dragonfly Woman corsage ornament, housed in Lisbon’s Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, is an entirely different work—a dramatic sculptural ornament featuring carved horn, plique-à-jour enamel, and articulated dragonfly wings.
Although created during the same remarkable period of Lalique’s career, they are separate masterpieces.
Twenty-seven works
According to the Musée Lalique, the thieves escaped with a total of 27 objects, including:
- pendants
- necklaces
- brooches
- two bracelets
- a choker
- a long necklace
- a comb
- a hatpin
- a belt buckle
- a face-à-main (lorgnette)
- a perfume bottle
- and a sculptural bust.
French authorities have not released a complete illustrated inventory, and the investigation remains ongoing.
A museum dedicated to Lalique
The Musée Lalique opened in 2011 in Wingen-sur-Moder, the Alsatian village where René Lalique established his glassworks in 1921.
Today it houses more than 650 works, tracing Lalique’s remarkable evolution from master jeweler to pioneering glassmaker.
Visitors begin with galleries devoted to his revolutionary Art Nouveau jewelry before continuing through exhibitions dedicated to perfume, glass, Art Deco, and crystal.
For many visitors, the jewelry galleries remain the emotional heart of the museum.
The loss of even a single Lalique masterpiece is therefore measured not simply in monetary terms, but in the disappearance of an irreplaceable work of art that helped define one of the most influential periods in jewelry history.
The Musée Lalique has expressed hope that the stolen works will eventually be recovered.
The tortoise shell Lalique hair comb with enameled violets, Circa 1895.
Tortoise shell hair comb with enameled Orange Sun Landscape, Circa 1895.
Tap here to visit The Musée Lalique.
