Bernini. Elephant and Obelisk. Tall Modern Version Bookends. Pair.
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The Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini – commissioned by Pope Alexander VII – unveiled his masterpiece sculpture in the Piazza della Minerva in Rome in 1667. It was an elephant on a pedestal with an obelisk on a platform on the pachaderm’s back.
This décor piece is certainly Bernini-esque (or in Italian: -esco) with the same configuration . . . but different composition and size. It is 26” tall! The elephant appears to be cast in metal and the walnut-grained pedestal and obelisk are in wood and perhaps laminated.
Both are in excellent condition with felt bottoms.