Updated

A Swiss art collector has shelled out $45,000 for a replica of the famed Venus de Milo statue -- that's made of panda dung.

The work of art attracted many admirers while on display in a museum in the central province of Henan, not because of it's famous shape, but because of the material from which it was made, AFP reported Friday.

It eventually sold to Uli Sigg, a Swiss businessman and former ambassador to China who collects contemporary Chinese art.

Children from the southwestern province of Sichuan, the home of China's beloved giant panda, made the unusual statue with the help of famous sculptor Zhu Cheng.

"From time to time, people get closer to the statue and smell this yellow Venus and some claim it smells nice," web portal sina.com reported.