£1.5m statue of Kate Moss unveiled

12:23am Saturday 4th October 2008

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A 50kg solid gold statue of supermodel Kate Moss in a yogic pose has been unveiled.

Siren, a £1.5 million solid gold sculpture, is one of several contemporary art works in the exhibition Statuephilia.

Each work will be sited in a different gallery within London's British Museum, juxtaposed with its permanent collection.

Marc Quinn's solid gold statue of Moss, described as an "Aphrodite of our times", finds fitting setting at the centre of the Nereid Gallery, interacting with the great Greek beauties that surround it. Quinn's most famous work was Alison Lapper Pregnant.

His sculpture is said to be the largest gold statue to be made in the world since the time of Ancient Egypt.

Quinn has said of using Moss as a subject: "I thought the next thing to do would be to make a sculpture of the person who's the ideal beauty of the moment. But even Kate Moss doesn't live up to the image."

Philip Attwood, co-ordinator of modern collections at the British Museum, said: "Perhaps because the British Museum is often celebrated as a museum of antiquities, it is not always realised that its collections also include a broad range of contemporary works from around the world."

Statuephilia: Contemporary sculptors at the British Museum runs from October 4 to January 25 2009.