Important Natural History Auction 2017-07-30
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/29/2017
RARE GOGOTTE - NATURAL SANDSTONE SCULPTURE
Chartres or Fontainbleu, France
By far the most beautifully aesthetic of all the world's sandstone concretions are those from two Oligocene deposits just south of Paris - the 30 million year old "gogottes". They were formed by superheated water extruding through crevices into a basin of extremely fine, pure white silicate sand. The water itself was saturated with calcium carbonate (limestone) and as the superfine sand became suspended in the water and swirled around, the very movement of the water itself was captured in the gradually concreting stone. When first discovered at the start of the twentieth century, they immediately stirred the imagination of all those who saw them, including Jean Arp, who took them as inspiration for a number of his sculptures. This is a typically fine example, with a somewhat mottled patina, a mass of botryoidal, swirling forms, seemingly melting in all directions and fascinating to behold from any angle, measuring 13 1/4 inches high on an oval wood base.
$3,000 - 4,000\n