A valuable sculpture from the 1890s by French artist Auguste Rodin has been stolen from the Israel Museum.

The work, given to the Jerusalem museum by Broadway impresario Billy Rose, went missing at the end of last year. The museum was being renovated at the time and has since reopened.

It was one of several sculptures by the artist depicting French writer Honore de Balzac and was originally made as part of a monument to Balzac in Paris. The statue weighs 140 pounds and is 127 centimetres high

Police are still investigating the theft.