Vintage Modernist Carved Petrified Wood Elephant Sculpture

Details

Description

A wonderfully stylized carved elephant sculpture made from richly patterned petrified wood.
The elephant is rendered in a highly simplified … Read more A wonderfully stylized carved elephant sculpture made from richly patterned petrified wood.
The elephant is rendered in a highly simplified modernist form, with an elongated body, abbreviated legs and a small, gently articulated head and trunk. Its playful proportions give the sculpture tremendous personality while retaining the clean, abstract quality associated with modernist decorative design.

The natural material is particularly striking. Warm shades of brown, caramel, cream and charcoal move across the polished surface, with areas that appear to retain the growth-ring and grain-like structure of the original wood. Over immense periods of time, the organic material in petrified wood is replaced by minerals while aspects of the original wood structure can remain visible, making the patterning of each piece unique.
The sculpture has been carved to take advantage of these natural variations, allowing the mineralized wood pattern to become an integral part of the elephant's design.
The maker and exact country of origin are unknown. While the strongly abstracted form has a Mid-Century Modern character, the sculpture cannot be securely dated from style alone and is conservatively described as vintage.

A charming small sculpture with an unusually successful combination of natural history, material beauty and modernist design. Equally appealing as a standalone object, desk sculpture or addition to a collection of carved stone and natural-material objects.

Dimensions: approximately 8" W × 2.25" D × 5" H.
Condition: Very good vintage condition with natural variations, inclusions and irregularities inherent to petrified wood and hand carving. Please refer to photographs for details. See less