Alphonse Kann (14 March 1870 – 1948) was a prominent French art collector of Jewish heritage. He was a childhood playmate and adult friend of the writer Marcel Proust, who incorporated several of Kann's features into the character Charles Swann (in Swann in Love).

The name Kann, written with double "nn", was said in Paris to be "le plus chic du chic". Known for his discerning taste and shrewd collecting instincts, Kann shocked the art world in 1927 by auctioning off most of his Old Master collection (including works by Bruegel, Cimabue, Fragonard, Pollaiuolo, Rubens and Tintoretto) in order to concentrate on the acquisition of 19th century and modern art, which he collected vigorously over the following decade.

Kann left France for England in 1938 without making an inventory of his eclectic art collection, which was kept in a St.-Germain-en-Laye mansion and subsequently looted in October 1940 by Nazi occupiers. Kann recovered only a small fraction of his large collection before his death in England in 1948. Although he did not live to see a copy, the Nazi inventory of Kann's art collection ran to 60 typed pages. Decades after the war, several paintings from Kann's collection were discovered in prominent European and U.S. museums. "Smoke Over Rooftops," a 1911 painting by Fernand Léger, was returned in October 2008 to Kann's heirs by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts after an eleven-year investigation.

In the 1990s, eight antique manuscripts once owned by Kann turned up the vaults of Wildenstein & Company, still bearing the distinctive Nazi catalog numbers ("KA 879" to "KA 886", in red pencil) likely made by Bruno Lohse as he processed the Kann collection in the Jeu de Paume. The discovery of the missing manuscripts prompted a lawsuit by Kann's heirs against Wildenstein & Company.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphonse_Kann

Inventory (museum)

An inventory is an itemized list of objects that the museum has accessioned or received via loan(s) and must be physically located by an examiner. A complete, one-hundred percent inventory, or a random inventory of the collection must be carried out periodically to ensure the museum is operating under best practices and for security purposes.^[1] The museum is legally responsible and ethically obligated for the maintenance of up-to-date information detailing the location of all objects within the collection, including loaned items and objects that have yet to be accessioned; this is stipulated by many museum associations, including the American Association of Museums

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"Law-enforcement officers are not trained in art, and that, therefore, they "rely very heavily on accurate descriptions and particularly on distinguishing features to be able to identify property which may be stolen."

A Member of Art and Antiques Focus

"It is no use trying to describe a work of art or antique after it has been stolen. Then, only approximations can be given. Descriptions should be compiled when an object is bought or inherited, some (insurance) companies presume that owners take these precautions as a matter of course but this is rarely the case".

Philip Saunders writing in Trace Publication

ESTATE CONTENTS - COLLECTION CATALOGUING

Fine Art - Antiques - Wines - Automobiles - Publications

"Your collections, as well as the inventory data, is a valuable asset to you..

Your Inventory Solutions data will support asset valuations and insurance quotes, and security against theft." Art of Inventory 2010

ART of INVENTORY :

Designs inventory databases and produces catalogues of collections.

We provide a full range of services to complete or complement the inventory process: database design, photography, data collection, data entry and research..

Specializes in Estate & Collection Inventory Management for private estates, villas, chalets, small organizations, including art galleries and museum collections.

Utilizes the latest international standards, specializing in a service that automates inventories tailored to client requirements.

This service is sort for many reasons, including :

• Collection security & management
• Asset scheduling
• Item location tracking
• Insurance requirements

...'or even a satisfaction in a catalogued presentation of collections'.

MEDIA COMMENTS

"Every work of art is unique and irreplaceable. Archaeological finds (antiquities), medieval manuscripts, paintings and prints, not forgetting furniture and art-and-craft objects such as porcelain and silver, are irreplaceable cultural assets. They should be protected and preserved. Moreover, despite the tendency of prices on the art market to fall in the recent past, works of art constitute great assets. Therefore insurance (inventory) of art means above all: taking precautions to prevent or minimize loss."
Dr. Rolf Wickenkamp Nordstern Allgemeine Versicherungs

"It is no use trying to describe a work of art or antique after it has been stolen. Then, only approximations can be given. Descriptions should be compiled when an object is bought or inherited, some (insurance) companies presume that owners take these precautions as a matter of course but this is rarely the case".
Philip Saunders writing in Trace Publication

"Law-enforcement officers are not trained in art, and that, therefore, they "rely very heavily on accurate descriptions and particularly on distinguishing features to be able to identify property which may be stolen."
A Member of Art and Antiques Focus

ESTATE & COLLECTION INVENTORY SOLUTIONS

Art Objects Inventory is dedicated to your art objects and can contain specialized art fields such as: title, artist, signed name, signature location, size, medium etc.

Wine Collection Inventory is formatted to catalog wine libraries, including: wine name, classification, varietals, label, winemaker, description, reports, publicity, tasting notes, storage, purchase details, valuations, serial numbers.

Household & Antique Inventory is designed with fields necessary for cataloging household furnishings, antiques, decorative arts, ethnographic materials, historic objects and artefacts.

Library Catalog Inventory is formatted with fields for titles, author, subject, publisher, published date, physical description, series, edition, summary, LCCN, ISBN, object ID, object name, status, condition.

Automobile Collection Inventory is a 'specialist' cataloguing and is tailored to client requirements and can include digital photographs (studio style by arrangement) plate and id logging and identification of mechanical components, including addition id photographs.

Map Publications Inventory is formatted to catalog maps, including: publisher, projection, scale, longitude, and latitude, and prime meridian.

also Music Collections; Jewellery, Diamonds, Fashion Collections, Artefacts and Garden Inventories

Art of Inventory is an independent entity, therefore secure from cross agency exchange of information.

The Team at Art of Inventory have academic backgrounds in the arts, with diverse International back grounds within Europe, America, United Kingdom, Asia and Australia.

All reports can be presented in English and/or French; additional languages by quotation.