In a bizarre episode at the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum, taxidermy is giving way to treasured Renaissance sculpture.

After cutting through a wall behind a basement diorama of stuffed antelope, the museum has uncovered a 15th- or 16th-century sculpture of the Madonna and child that is believed to be the work of a member of Italian Renaissance art family the della Robbias, Newsday reports.

Restoration supervisor Peter Newman first suspected that the eight-foot terra-cotta sculpture may have been hidden behind the taxidermy wall when he came across a newspaper clipping from 1952 that mentioned the work and showed a photograph of it. Although the Vanderbilt does not have acquisition records for the piece, internal archive photos exist that identify it as a della Robbia sculpture.

Until the recent discovery, the museum had been unable to solve the mystery of the artwork's disappearance in 1970. As it turns out, officials had left the sculpture in place and built a wall in front of it, chopping off the Madonna's right hand, cherubs, and other features that were sticking out. Former director Lance Mallamo said that museum trustees had planned to demolish the sculpture until they learned that it would cost $1,500 to do so.

Current executive director Carol Ghiorsi Hart said that the museum is now attempting to determine which of the three della Robbia family members might have created the sculpture.

Although the Vanderbilt is on the verge of running out of money as a result of its rapidly shrinking endowment, Hart said there are no plans to sell the work because of the potential legal issues involved. Instead the hope is that displaying the sculpture will bolster attendance and that visitors will contribute to the restoration fund.

According to Newsday, the museum must also decide whether to remove the taxidermy diorama "or leave the juxtaposition of antelope and sculpture with an explanation to visitors."