NEW YORK—The Art Loss Register has recovered a Mario Carreño painting that was stolen from a New York law firm in 1993.

Tres Mujeres, a gouache on paper, surfaced years later when a woman discovered it in the back of a closet in a Harlem townhouse she had just purchased. She brought the work into Sotheby's for appraisal early this year. Sotheby's offered her a consignment and began to research and catalogue the work in preparation for their May Latin American art sale. It was estimated at $25,000-35,000.

An art historian at the ALR identified the work in a routine checking of the auction catalogue and, with the help of Sotheby's legal department and the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Companies, which had insured the work, was able to broker a deal among all parties and return the painting to its owner.