Blood spilled in Nigella's kitchen

One of contemporary British art's most significant works has been unwittingly destroyed by builders, it is understood.

Sculptor Marc Quinn's 1991 work Self - a bust of Quinn's head made from nine pints of his own frozen blood - was part of Charles Saatchi's peerless collection of contemporary British art, which also includes works by Damien Hirst and Chris Ofili.

It is understood that builders working at Mr Saatchi's Eaton Square house, where he has a special room for Tracey Emin's £150,000 unmade bed, turned off a special freezer unit without realising it held one of contemporary art's most iconic works.

The accident happened during work to extend Mr Saatchi's kitchen to new love and 'domestic goddess' Nigella Lawson's specifications.

"It all went wrong when the builders started to take the old kitchen to pieces," said a source. "They turned the freezer off and moved it away from the wall.

"After a couple of days, a pool of what looked like suspiciously like blood appeared around the freezer."

Advertising guru Mr Saatchi, 58, who lives with television cook Nigella, 42, rarely talks to the press and could not be contacted today. A spokeswoman at his gallery said he had no comment to make.

Mr Saatchi bought Quinn's Self for a rumoured £13,000 in 1991 from the influential art dealer Jay Jopling, owner of the White Cube gallery, who describes the piece as "a very significant work of art".

Somewhat prophetically, Mr Jopling has said of the frozen-blood bust: "It is a very fragile sculpture and it requires quite a bit of commitment on the part of the collector. The sculptural form of Self - literally its sculptural life - would be nonexistent if one were to pull the plug out."

This, it is believed, is exactly the fate that has befallen Quinn's famous work. The Evening Standard understands the sculpture may be only partially melted - so if Quinn were to contribute some more of his blood it could, perhaps, be refreshed.

However Quinn, who creates his works from a Shoreditch studio, would not comment on the news today, according to his spokeswoman at the White Cube.

Even if Mr Saatchi's Self has been melted away to a puddle of blood, however, it is believed Quinn owns another identical work.

"The self is what one knows best and least at the same time," Quinn said of his art. "Casting the body gives one an opportunity to 'see' the self."

When Self was exhibited at 1997's notorious Sensation exhibition at the Royal Academy, the by then slightly blackened work of art made some visitors feel faint.

Another of Quinn's sculptures is a bust of his son Lucas, created when he was three days old and made in a mixture of the baby's liquidised placenta and umbilical cord.

A spokesman for the Tate said today: "Marc Quinn is a very important artist."

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