The Kiss is one of Rodin's most famous pieces

La Main du Dieu, or Hand of God, was housed at the Museo de Bellas Artes fine arts museum in Buenos Aires, but police are mystified as to how it was taken.

The statue is just 15cms high and depicts a hand cradling a small body, with a rough valuation of $150,000 (�91,000).

"We don't talk about prices, it was of huge artistic worth. This is a disaster," the museum's director Jorge Glusberg said.

The robbery came as Argentina continues to be in the grip of an economic crisis which has led to a rise in crime.

Controversial

The Buenos Aires police said they have no leads as to who may have committed the theft, which took place on Thursday.

The museum has about 30 works by Rodin in its collection, including a plaster copy of The Kiss sculpture. The original is usually housed at the Tate Modern in London.

Rodin, who was born in 1840, is widely considered the father of modern sculpture and like many contemporary artists of their time his work often caused controversy.

When The Kiss, which sees a man and a woman entwined, went on display in a gallery in East Sussex, in 1904, the naked clinch caused such an outcry that it was removed from public view.