Displaying items by tag: customs

French custom officials in the island of Corsica have seized a 24 million-euro ($27.4 million) masterpiece by Pablo Picasso that was banned from leaving Spain where it is considered a national treasure.

Corsican authorities say in a statement Tuesday they were tipped off about an attempted smuggling of the prized 1906 painting, "Head of a Young Woman," to Switzerland.

A 16^th century religious tapestry that was stolen from a Spanish cathedral in 1979 and sold at auction three years ago was returned to Spain on Wednesday, April 17, 2013 by the United States customs service. Special agents from the Homeland Security Investigations division of the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement seized the tapestry from the undisclosed Texas business that had purchased it for $369,000 in 2010.

The wool and silk tapestry, which depicts the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus, was stolen from the Cathedral of Saint Vincent, Martyr of Roda de Isabena in northeastern Spain. After the work appeared in a Brussels art fair catalogue in 2010, Belgian, Spanish, and U.S. investigators pieced together that a Belgian gallery owner along with two partners from Milan and Paris had acquired the tapestry in 2008.

The tapestry was given to Madrid’s ambassador to Washington, Ramon Gil-Casares, on behalf of his nation at a ceremony at his residence.