A pair of impressive Italian sculpted limestone garden obelisks, 20th century, after Gian Lorenzo Bernini tapered and supported on the backs of elephants above rectangular section panelled plinths, 308cm high overall, the plinths 60cm wide Bernini's original marble Elephant (probably actually executed by his assistant Ercole Ferrata was commissioned by Pope Alexander VII, to carry an ancient Egyptian obelisk which had been recently uncovered. It was unveiled in February 1667 in the Piazza della Minerva in Rome, adjacent to the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, where it still stands In November 2016 Bernini's work was vandalised, possibly in protest at the international trade in ivory, when one of the elephant's tusks was broken off Condition report disclaimer
A pair of impressive Italian sculpted limestone garden obelisks, 20th century, after Gian Lorenzo Bernini tapered and supported on the backs of elephants above rectangular section panelled plinths, 308cm high overall, the plinths 60cm wide Bernini's original marble Elephant (probably actually executed by his assistant Ercole Ferrata was commissioned by Pope Alexander VII, to carry an ancient Egyptian obelisk which had been recently uncovered. It was unveiled in February 1667 in the Piazza della Minerva in Rome, adjacent to the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, where it still stands In November 2016 Bernini's work was vandalised, possibly in protest at the international trade in ivory, when one of the elephant's tusks was broken off Condition report disclaimer
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
