Solid gold statue of Kate Moss sells for $900,000

An 18-carat gold statue of Kate Moss in a provocative yoga pose has sold for £577,250 (AUD$893,150).

Sold to an anonymous Asian telephone bidder, the sculpture itself is worth $310,000 in gold alone.

Entitled Microcosmos (Siren), the sculpture is one of four smaller, identical 10kg versions of Marc Quinn’s 50kg controversial Siren statue of Kate Moss.

The smaller statues were part of a private collection made famous by the aforementioned 50kg Kate Moss sculpture that cost more than $2 million to make.

Related links:
The most fashionable British stars
Kate Moss and her famous friends
Rimmel celebrates 10 years with Kate Moss

The statue depicts a contorted version of the fashion icon, with arms bending backwards, legs behind ears, and a long-haired sculpted face protruding through her leg halo – a position that Quinn admits Kate never attempted: “She didn’t pose for me like that.”

According to The Daily Mail, Siren has been “dubbed a 'modern day Aphrodite' [as] the original golden supermodel statue is the largest gold statue made by man since ancient Egyptian times.”

While the original statue is hollow, it apparently weighs the same weight as Kate Moss, and the body, hands, face and feet are all based on the supermodel’s proportions.

But why Kate Moss?

Quinn has previously said that he chose the supermodel as his muse for this project because he “believes her to be the contemporary version of the Sphinx. A mystery. She is a mirror of ourselves, a knotted Venus of our age.”

Related links:
PICS: Hot trends for spring/summer
PICS: Sizzling speedo swimwear show
PICS: Celebs most regrettable hairstyles