Police Break Into Art Gallery Over Reports Of Dead Woman Inside; It's Just A Sculpture

Police in the United Kingdom forcibly entered an art gallery after someone mistook a hyper-realistic sculpture for an unconscious woman and contacted authorities.

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) received a distress call shortly past 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 25 about a person who appeared to be unconscious inside the Laz Emporium in London's Soho neighborhood, Artnet News first reported.

Police responded to the location 20 minutes later only to discover that the supposed woman slumped over a table was not a person at all.

"Officers forced entry to the address, where they uncovered that the person was in fact a mannequin," a police spokesperson told the outlet.

The realistic sculpture made of packing tape and foam filler, titled "Kristina," was a creation of American artist Mark Jenkins and had been commissioned by the Laz Emporium's founder, Steve Lazarides, London newspaper Evening Standard reported.

It portrayed Lazarides' sister, also named Kristina, passed out and with her face buried in a bowl of soup.

An employee named Hannah Blakemore who was working in the gallery that day had just locked up and gone upstairs to make a cup of tea when police arrived, according to Lazarides.

"She came down to find the door off its hinges and two confused police officers!" Lazarides, who is also the former agent of England-based street artist and political activist Banksy. said in a statement to Artnet News.

Blakemore, who was "shocked" to find the uniformed police officers in the gallery, was allegedly told that "somebody reported that the woman here has not been moving for the last two hours" and that the officers assumed the figure had "a heart attack" or "overdosed."

"The [MPS] has a duty of care to respond when there is a welfare concern," the police spokesperson told Artnet News.

This is not the first time "Kristina" received attention from authorities.

Paramedics were called in when "Kristina" appeared at the Decorex art and design fair in October, Blakemore told the outlet.

Officers lectured the gallery employee for having a sculpture of a human being that looked so real, she claimed.

"The work is to provoke and it's definitely achieving that," Blakemore said.

"Kristina" is on show at the Laz Emporium until Dec. 24. The work is reportedly not for sale, but it would come with a £18,000 ($22,080) price tag should it ever be sold.