A Picasso painting missing from Paris for more than a decade resurfaced in the United States, where it had been shipped under false pretenses as a $37 holiday-themed “art craft.” 
 
 The 1911 painting, “La Coiffeuse,” which translates to “The Hairdresser,” was unearthed in December in a FedEx shipment from Belgium to Newark. The canvas had been smuggled out of a storeroom of the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Paris museum and arts center, and its whereabouts had not been known. 
 
 On Thursday, Loretta E. Lynch, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, filed a civil complaint to forfeit the Picasso and return it to France. 
 
 Its shipping papers described it as a $37 “art craft/toy” and also read “Joyeux Noel,” French for “Merry Christmas.” When federal Customs and Border Protection officials examined the shipment, though, they found the master artist’s work. Department of Homeland Security officials working from Long Island City, Queens, which is within the Eastern District of New York’s jurisdiction, then took over. 
 
 The oil painting is owned by the French government; it had been bequeathed to the National Museums of France by one of its former directors. It was last exhibited in Munich in 1998, and then returned to Paris, where it was stored at the Pompidou. Officials there thought it was safe and sound until they received a loan request for it in 2001, searched the storerooms and could not find it. They declared the painting, then valued more than $2.5 million, stolen. 
 
 On Dec. 17, someone going by “Robert” with an address in Belgium shipped the painting to a climate-controlled warehouse in Long Island City. The next day, the painting arrived at the Port of Newark and was seized. 
 
 French museum officials came to New York last month to examine the painting in person alongside historical records and photographs, and they confirmed that it was “La Coiffeuse.” 
 
 Under federal law, imported merchandise can be seized by the government if it was stolen or smuggled. 
 
 “The market to sell stolen antiquities in the United States is drying up,” Anthony Scandiffio, deputy special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations, which seized the painting after border officials flagged it, said in a statement. ||||| A stolen Picasso worth millions of dollars was shipped to the U.S. in a package that described it as a $37 "art craft" — but it will soon be on its way back to France. 
 
 Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn filed papers Thursday to forfeit the century-old cubist painting, which was swiped from a museum storeroom in 2001. "A lost treasure has been found," U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said in a statement. 
 
 The canvas, titled "La Coiffeuse," was bequeathed to France's National Museum and was placed in storage at the Centre Georges Pompidou, where staffers discovered it was missing when they received a loan request for it. 
 
 It was shipped by Federal Express from Belgium in December and seized at the Port of Newark. Officials said shipper was identified only as "Robert" and the destination was a climate-controlled storage facility in Queens. Court papers did not indicate whether the sender or intended recipient have been identified. 
 
 La Coiffeuse, painted by Picasso in 1911. U.S. Department of Justice 
 
 Facebook 
 
 Twitter 
 
 Google Plus 
 
 Embed 0:31 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog 
 
 IN-DEPTH 
 
 — Tracy Connor ||||| The US government has formally returned a painting by Pablo Picasso, valued at $15m (£9.6m), which had been stolen more than a decade ago from a Paris museum and seized by immigration officials late last year in New Jersey. 
 
 During a ceremony at the French embassy, Sarah Saldaña, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), officially repatriated the abstract artwork, titled La Coiffeuse (The Hairdresser). It was signed over to Frédéric Doré, the Embassy of France’s deputy chief of mission. 
 
 “There’s a tremendous feeling of accomplishment when we return a piece of art like this,” said Saldaña. 
 
 The painting was on its way from Belgium to the New York borough of Queens when it was identified and seized in Newark, New Jersey. 
 
 Kelly Currie, acting US attorney for the eastern district of New York, said the package aroused suspicion because it was heading for a climate-controlled storage facility — a peculiar destination for a package marked with French words suggesting it contained a $37 Christmas gift. “The US is not an easy market for black-market smuggling of art and antiquities,” he said. 
 
 Currie added that the speed with which government agencies handled the case was unprecedented. 
 
 Details surrounding who sent the package and how the painting was stolen weren’t provided and the investigation continues. Currie said no arrests have been made. 
 
 Picasso painted La Coiffeuse in 1911. The cubist painting, which is no bigger than a pizza box, sat on a tan easel wrapped in plastic and situated behind a burgundy rope for the duration of the event. 
 
 In November 2001, officials at the National Museum of Modern Art in Paris discovered the artwork was missing from storage when they went to retrieve it in preparation for an exhibition in India. 
 
 Officials gave no indication when the painting will be returned to the museum and said it had endured minor damages and would have to be restored. 
 
 “The message from ICE today is, ‘This is a part of our mission, a part of the work we do’,” said Saldaña. “You saw some tremendous investigative work in detecting this piece to begin with and we will continue to do so.”
– A Picasso painting that was found to have vanished from a Paris museum more than a decade ago has turned up—in the US, in a package shipped from Belgium. Its papers identified it as a $37 "art craft/toy" and also included the line "Joyeux Noel," or Merry Christmas, the New York Times reports. A man named "Robert" attempted to send the package to a climate-controlled warehouse in Queens, New York, in December, but custom officials at the Port of Newark seized what turned out to be Picasso's 1911 La Coiffeuse (The Hairdresser). French museum officials traveled to New York last month and confirmed the find is indeed the missing Picasso work, which the Centre Georges Pompidou realized was missing from its storerooms in 2001 following a loan request; it was then valued at more than $2.5 million. Court documents don't specify whether the sender or would-be recipient have been identified, NBC News reports, but "a lost treasure has been found," US attorney Loretta Lynch said in a statement. She filed a civil complaint yesterday that will have the painting returned to France. The Pompidou's director, who called the painting's rediscovery a "true comfort," hopes the painting can go on display at the museum as early as May, the AP reports. (Another Picasso work was stolen days before this one was found.)