NEW YORK, April 26 (Reuters) - An art collector is suing a publisher for ${esc.dollar}300,000 after a 2,630-year-old Nigerian sculpture was smashed by a butter-fingered photo crew during a magazine shoot in her Manhattan apartment.
Corice Arman asked Louise Blouin Media Inc., publisher of Art + Auction magazine, to pay ${esc.dollar}300,000 for a terra cotta figurine that was destroyed when the crew tried to move it across a room.
"During the photographers' move of the Nok Figure, the Nok Figure fell onto the floor and was smashed into myriad pieces, cannot be restored and is a total loss," said the lawsuit filed Tuesday in state Supreme Court in Manhattan.
The Nigerian sculpture, approximately 2,630 years old and valued at ${esc.dollar}300,000, was moved without Aman's permission during the May 12, 2011, shoot, the lawsuit said.
The president of Louise Blouin Media, Ben Hartley, said the firm had no liability.
"Anytime an artwork is damaged, it's a great tragedy," Hartley said. He declined further comment, saying he had not yet received a copy of the complaint. (Reporting by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Philip Barbara)
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