A sculpted bust long thought to be a simple garden ornament in the Cotswolds, England, has been identified as a rare work by Harriet Goodhue Hosmer, a pioneering female sculptor associated with the neoclassical movement. The discovery was made during a property valuation by Thomas Jenner-Fust, director of the auction house Chorley's Auctioneers. The sculpture, covered in lichen, had been in the owners' collection since the 1950s and was believed to be a valueless composite stone piece. However, beneath the patina of time, it was revealed to be a marble sculpture measuring 69.5 cm, bearing the Latin inscription "Harriet Hosmer me fecit Romae" – "Harriet Hosmer made me in Rome." Harriet Hosmer was born in Massachusetts in 1830 and moved to Rome at the age of 22, where she studied anatomy in the workshop of British sculptor John Gibson. She established herself in a male-dominated artistic environment and was part of a group of expatriate female sculptors nicknamed by writer Henry James "the white marble herd." She openly lived in relationships with women, at a time when homosexuality was widely condemned by society. The bust represents the nymph Daphne, pursued by Apollo before her transformation into a laurel. It was modeled in 1853 and carved in marble the following year. It is the fourth copy of a rare series, of which specialists had previously only known three authenticated marble versions, all preserved in American institutions: at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, at the North Carolina Museum of Art, and at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Over several decades spent outdoors, the sculpture had become gray, covered with plant matter, and had cracked along the right arm, while a small chip had affected its base. After cleaning and restoration, it was put up for auction on September 15 in Gloucester, where it was estimated up to 18,000 pounds sterling (approximately 21,000 euros) but ultimately did not find a buyer. The Chorley's house plans a new sale, the date of which has not yet been announced.