Priceless Ming treasures snatched from museum

“Priceless” Ming artefacts were stolen from a museum by masked men, police said yesterday.

The Museum of East Asian Art in Bath, Somerset, has closed until further notice after thieves smashed through a window, stealing jade and gold treasures from display cabinets.

A jade monkey, jade mandarin ducks, a wooden box, a soapstone figure of Han Dynasty scholar Dongfang Shuo, a set of 14 gold belt plaques and a Jizhou stoneware vase, dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties, were stolen.

DS Matthew Reed said the items were “possibly stolen to order”.