I have a marble sculpture that weighs about 2,500lbs that needs to be placed on a pedestal, which is about 3 feet high. My prepartor would like to use a forklift to lift the sculpture- rigging to the tines of the lift and suspending the sculpture below. He feels that a gantry would be too unstable of a lift and would potentially damage the protrusions of the sculpture, where as the forklift would offer a smooth hydraulic lift.

What are your thoughts on this? Does anyone have experience lifting artwork in this manner?

Thanks.