Gallery unveils the $4 million woman

She is tiny, exquisite and has won the hearts of the director and staff of the National Gallery of Australia.

Unveiled yesterday at the opening of the South-East Asian Gallery, The Bronze Weaver is the most important piece of bronze sculpture to enter the National Gallery's collection.

The director of the National Gallery, Ron Radford, describes the piece, which cost $4 million, as a masterpiece of sixth-century Indonesian art. And Robyn Maxwell, the senior curator of Asian art, is thrilled by it.