Wellesley College, an elite women’s liberal arts college in Wellesley, Mass., is missing one of its most prized possessions, a 1921 painting by French Cubist artist Fernand Leger, apparently gone missing after being lent to another exhibition.

“Woman and Child,” a 1921 oil painting by Fernand Leger depicting a female figure with her arms around a child, with the typical angular lines of the Cubist style, had been part of the college’s Davis Museum collection since 1954.

The artwork’s disappearance remains a mystery for the time being. It was last seen in 2007, after Wellesley College had lent it to the Oklahoma City Museum of Art for a 2006-2007 exhibition.

The institution was being renovated at the time, the college’s president said on Wednesday.

The 25-by-21-inch (63.5-by-53.3-cm) painting was safely returned to Wellesley College after the Oklahoma exhibition ended and the artwork remained in a deposit while renovation work continued at the Davis Museum and Cultural Center.

Its absence may have been discovered even later had Wellesley officials not initiated an inventory of the museum’s collection of artworks in November 2007. It was then than “Woman and Child” was found to be missing.

College President Kim Bottomly said in a statement the loss of the “valuable and irreplaceable painting has saddened the entire community, as quoted by Reuters. “We still hope it will be found.”

One possible explanation college officials have is that the painting, stored in a crate, may have been mistakenly thrown away. Two other paintings by Fernand Leger which were also stored with the missing painting have been accounted for though.

Bottomly said the other 31 works loaned to the Oklahoma Museum have also been accounted for.

Davis Museum and Cultural Center officials offered a $100,000 reward for the painting’s return.

Fernand Leger (1881-1954) was a painter, sculptor and filmmaker. In November 2003, his painting, “La femme en rouge et vert” sold for more than $22 million. “Etude pour La Femme en Bleu” sold for $39.2 million at auction in New York in May.