British street artist Banksy's painting-- his gift for Valentine's Day--was removed by council officials hours after it was unveiled by the artist in Margate in southeast England on Tuesday.
The painting had reportedly appeared on the back of a building just off Grosvenor Place in Margate, Kent.
While fans flocked to the seaside town to pose for selfies by the painting, officials moved in and carried away the freezer on "health and safety grounds," reports said.
The mural depicts a 1950s-style housewife with a swollen eye and a missing tooth seemingly shoving her male partner into a real chest freezer, Arab News reported.
The mural, titled "Valentine’s Day Mascara," had seen its chest freezer, broken garden chair, blue crate and empty beer bottle taken away by a local council, Irvine Times reported.
The elusive Banksy, whose true identity remains unconfirmed, posted three images of the work on his Instagram account.
Two of the images were close-ups showing the woman, wearing a blue pinafore and yellow washing-up gloves, smiling but seemingly with a battered face.
The removal of the freezer prompted bemusement — and even conspiracy theories — among bystanders.
“People were sort of like, ‘Stop, stop, you know, this is a Banksy, right?’” local resident Laura Holden, 35, told AFP.
“And they (the workers) were like, ‘Yeah, no, we’ve got permission to take everything away’,” she said.
The local council announced on Wednesday however that it had returned the old appliance.
"The freezer which council operatives removed from the Banksy installation in Margate has now been made safe," said a statement from Thanet District Council, which administers Margate.
"It has been returned to its original position at the site of the artwork today."
The council acknowledged that Banksy had raised an important issue in dealing with domestic abuse in his latest work.
It was in touch with the owner of the property to find out what they intended to do to preserve it, it added.
(With inputs from Online Desk)