By Mail Foreign Service  UK

It was supposed to be a bit of fun during recent heavy snow, but one family's snow sculpture has earned a frosty reception.

Maria Conneran and her family had worked hard to create their armless, nude snow lady in the front garden of their home in Rahway, New Jersey.

But despite several compliments on their chilly version of the Venus de Milo, the family were forced to cover up her blushes after complaints from other residents.

Naked: The Conneran family made their own snow version of the Venus de Milo after heavy snowfall in New Jersey

Censored: The family were forced to put a green bikini and a blue sarong on their realistic sculpture after anonymous complaints to police

The icy goddess, which was visible from the roadside, had attracted admiring glances from passing motorists.

But Rahway police sent a patrolman to the Conneran home after they received an anonymous complaint 'of a naked snow woman', according to Sergeant Dominick Sforza.

Elisa Gonzalez, a court reporter who built the snow goddess with her daughter Maria, 21, and son Jack Shearing, 12, was shocked after being asked to cover up her assets.

She said: 'She was curvaceous, bodacious and booty-licious. But she had a six-pack!

'I thought she looked more objectified and sexualised after you put the bikini on.'

Art: Jack Shearing, 12, and his mother Elisa Gonzalez get to work on the snow lady

Icy: A policeman was sent out to the family's home in Rahway to ask them to cover up their sculpture's modesty

The policeman was apologetic after asking the family to dress the snow lady, she said.

The family complied by dressing her in a green bikini top and a blue sarong around her hips.

The move echoes the decision by former Attorney General John Ashcroft to cover up a semi-nude statue of the Spirit of Jusice when he began his post at the U.S. Justice Department.

Admirers: A passing motorist stops to take a picture of the voluptuous sculpture

Miss Conneran said they had been made to cover up art.

She said: 'Our snow lady looked like marble. It looked like a statue.

'Are you going to go to the Met and cover up all the statues?'

The family decided to take the snow lady down on Monday, because warmer weather meant she had started to melt away.

But they say they will continue to make snow sculptures. Last January, the family created a realistic bust of then newly inaugurated President Barack Obama.