In a report published in June 2024, the Ministry of Culture takes stock of deposits from French museums in French institutions located in southern European countries, and notes persistent problems in Italy. After recalling that inventory is the responsibility of the diplomatic network posts and depositing institutions, the report presents the figures for Spain, Portugal, Italy, Malta, Greece, Cyprus, Andorra and Monaco. Of the 17,153 objects on deposit, the main depositors are unsurprisingly the Manufacture de Sèvres (15,399) and national museums (1,027). The overall inventory rate for southern Europe is 81% in 2023, but this rate hides significant disparities depending on the country, the status of the pieces deposited and the institutions.
The Manufacture de Sèvres thus collected 12,179 pieces, of which 7,713 remain to be located: it is indeed more difficult to collect tea services or plates than paintings. Among the black spots in the report is the French embassy in Madrid, which has not collected any of the 3,117 Sèvres deposits. But we especially note the case of the Académie de France and the French embassy in Rome, where the deposits seem impossible to locate for several years. The report points out “a lack of vigilance on the part of the occupants” and “a casualness” on the part of the Villa Medici regarding the works and tableware on deposit.
The ministry recalls that in 2008 the inventory of the Manufacture de Sèvres already reported that “thousands of ceramic pieces” were missing from the deposits at the Académie de France. While the Manufacture does not pursue the disappearances of pieces prior to 1945, it deplores the fact that unique pieces created especially for the Villa Medici have vanished and is considering legal action. On the side of the French embassy in Rome, the report notes that seven deposits of the Mobilier national are being searched for there without success, four of which have been the subject of a complaint since 2019: an Aubusson carpet, a Gobelins tapestry, a bronze centrepiece (Second Empire) and a drawing by Boucher the Younger.
Filing complaints is the last resort after several unsuccessful attempts at location, and leads to an investigation by the Central Office for Combating Trafficking in Cultural Property (OCBC): these pieces are sometimes found on the art market or during police investigations. But only fifteen complaints were filed following the 2023 inventory.
