A FOSSIL MARBLE LIDDED URN, 18TH CENTURY

A FOSSIL MARBLE LIDDED URN18TH CENTURYThe Ottoman style pointed onion finial above turned lid, turned body and stepped foot, the whole with distinctive marine fossil patterning23cm high, base 10cm diameterThe richly figured marble appears to be occhio di pavone, a fossiliferous micritic limestone rich in mollusc shells (G. Borghini, ed., Marmi Antichi (Rome, 1998), p. 257, no. 103)An Irish Queen Anne standish of Roman sarcophagus form, carved from the same marble with base incised 'M.D.CC.VI' (1706), was sold from Luggala, Co. Wicklow, by Mealy's, 2 May 2006, lot 178. The stone was there described as 'limestone with fossilised reeds', although the transverse sections could equally be molluscs such as razor clams or Othoceras.A larger, lidded vase or urn of related form was sold Sotheby's Germany, The Royal House of Hanover, 5-15 October 2005, lot 5380 (pl. 23).A Baroque vase and cover of similar inspiration, described as being carved from Bigio Antico marble and dated Rome 17th / 18th century, was with Finch & Co. in 2023.

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