Photo by frencie1978, courtesy flickr

Carole Feuerman's "Survival of Serena" (2006)

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Survival of Serena, a lifelike and roughly life-size depiction in resin of a woman resting on an inner tube, was shattered after being packed in an insufficient, weak-walled shipping crate.

"It's definitely not my crate," said Feuerman. "What person would build a crate like this?"

The artist added that although the work is valued at $350,000, insurance will pay only $9,100.

"It feels like I was torn in half, too ... so much of me is in this piece. It was so spectacular," said Feuerman, who worked on the sculpture for two years. "It looked like a real girl, but you knew it wasn't."

The sculpture — one of three similar works, including a smaller version in the collection of the Boca Raton Museum of Art — had been shown at the National Museum of China in Beijing during the Olympics, then in Italy. It was to serve as the welcome piece at Art Miami this week and then return to Italy, to be displayed in Florence.

Art Miami has decided to present the work anyway, inside its mangled crate.