The Louvre loaned 130 artworks for the exhibition “Napoleon” which was on exhibition in the Forbidden City until July 4 2008. The loans came from several different departments at the Louvre and included 12 paintings, 20 drawings, 5 ivory miniatures, 30 sculptures and over 80 other objects including crockery, clocks, pieces of furniture and tapestries. The largest painting – a piece by Gerard - measured 280 x 230 cms (110 x 91 inches) and the heaviest sculpture weighed some 950 kgs (over 2,000 lbs).

A red isotherm painting crate

During the initial planning process Curators from Musee du Louvre expressed particular concern about access to the exhibition space at the Palace Museum. Considering the size of the largest painting and the weight of the heaviest sculpture and the need for them to be hauled up stairs at the Palace Museum it was decided that a simulation should be organized. Crown Fine Art arranged with their counterpart in Beijing to have simulation crates built in China with dimensions matching the largest and most awkward of the exhibition crates. The local team then handled the empty crates up to the exhibition rooms. The Louvre staff was very happy to know that the crates could be transferred safely to the exhibition space and that their precious artworks could go on exhibition in Beijing!

Packing detail - object crate

From their new climate controlled warehouse at Technoparc in Poissy, Crown Fine Art managed the design and fabrication of International Museum crates to exacting specifications provided by Musee du Louvre. Once all the crates were built the crew of technicians from Crown worked over a period of 2 weeks packing the entire exhibition at the Louvre. The design team at Crown fabricated different categories of crates for the different types of artworks: isotherm crates for the paintings (red painted), objects crates for the sculptures and objects, isotherm hand luggage for the ivory.

“We all understand that good planning is the key to a successful project” says Sylvie Fournier Hausseur of Crown Fine Art, Paris. “Because we were able to work so closely with Louvre staff we discovered early that there might be access problems in Beijing and we had time to come up with a way to discover if it would work.”