It took 25 workers 14 painstaking hours to pack up a fragile, painted Picasso curtain from the Four Seasons restaurant lobby over the weekend.
“We have it swaddled up like a baby,’’ boasted a worker from the specialty moving company Auer, referring to the $1.6 million work, “Le Tricorne,’’ on Sunday.
It took three hours alone to wrap the large 95-year-old canvas stage curtain in plastic.
The painting had hung in the restaurant’s lobby for more than a half century — until a nasty court battle erupted between conservationists and the owners of the building, who wanted to stuff it into storage to clean the wall behind it.
One of the building’s owners even dismissed the work as a “shmatte,’’ Yiddish for “rag.”
But under a deal, the painting is now headed for restoration in Massachusetts before being displayed at the New York Historical Society.
“That was a real piece of the history of Midtown, New York,” said Four Seasons regular Robert Carlin , 54, at the East 52nd Street haunt Sunday.
“Whenever I went to the Four Seasons, I took a long look. It’s a beautiful work by Picasso.’’