VALENTINE, Tex., Oct. 7 - The adobe sculpture called "Prada Marfa" was two years in the making and assuredly incongruous, plopped down in the vast, empty landscape on U.S. 90.

But after a well-attended artists' opening on Oct. 1, the 15-by-25-foot sculpture replicating a Prada store was vandalized on Tuesday night. Six purses and 14 shoes, all for right feet, disappeared.

About 35 miles southeast in Marfa, where the international art community gathers this weekend for the annual Chinati Foundation Open House, the scuttlebutt is that the vandal "was just some jealous Marfa artist," said Charlie Maxwell, a builder who was called in for repairs. Among the area's tourist attractions are square concrete boxes by the minimalist artist Donald Judd.

The Prada sculpture is the work of the Berlin artists Michael Emlgreen and Ingar Dragset. It was produced by Yvonne Force Villareal and Doreen Remen through their nonprofit Art Production Fund, and they said last week that they intended to forgo maintenance and let time ravage the $80,000 sculpture so that "50 years from now it will be a ruin that is a reflection of the time it was made."