A WEALTHY businessman who paid US$1 million (S$1.4 million) for a life-size bronze statue of The Thinker has sued the art gallery, claiming he was misled about the sculpture's origin.The gallery has counter-sued Mr David Eng, 63, claiming that his allegation had dented its business and reputation.

Mr Eng claimed that Opera Gallery director Stephane Le Pelletier told him that the sculpture being sold was an 'original' piece cast from a mould from the Rodin Museum in Paris, and the mould used to make it was broken after 25 statues were cast.

The gallery maintains that Mr Eng had bought the sculpture knowing it was a posthumous limited edition reproduced by a Parisian art gallery with the permission of the Rodin Museum. The gallery said Mr Eng had viewed the sculpture before buying it and would have seen the engraving on the statue stating that it was a 'copyright reproduction' by Sayegh Gallery in 1998.

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