A stolen Picasso painting, worth millions of dollars, made its way to the US in a package that described it as a US$37 art craft.

The canvas, "La Coiffeuse", was stolen from France's National Museum storeroom in 2001 and investigators were having a hard time tracing the piece of art.

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"A lost treasure has been found," said US Attorney Loretta Lynch.

"Because of the blatant smuggling in this case, this painting is now subject to forfeiture to the United States. Forfeiture of the painting will extract it from the grasp of the black market in stolen art so that it can be returned to its rightful owner," added Lynch, who is also the US Attorney General nominee.

The stolen Picasso, however, will soon be on its way back to France after federal prosecutors in Brooklyn sought to forfeit the cubist painting and return it to the museum.

The multi-million dollar piece of art was shipped through Federal Express from Belgium in December by the shipper identified only as Robert.

The destination was a climate-controlled storage facility in Quees. The item, however, was intercepted and seized at the Port of Newark.

Court documents did not show whether the recipient have been identified or if charges have been filed.

The painting, known as "La Coiffeuse" or "The Hairdresser," is estimated to be worth millions of dollars, US prosecutors said.

The oil-on-canvas measures 33 by 46 centimeters and was painted in 1991. The painting is part of the Musee National d'Art Moderne collection in Paris.

It was last exhibited publicly in Munich, Germany, where it was on loan to the Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung.

Staff at France's National Museum discovered that the item was missing when they tried to retrieve it from the storeroom after someone requested to loan it.

TagsLa Coiffeuse, Picasso Painting, Pablo Picasso