Sculpture that nature created all by itself
Thirty-million-year-old sculptural forms that have been produced entirely by nature are the subject of a new exhibition at Eskenazi, in London’s Mayfair. It is probably the first time such objects have been shown as art, in a gallery, and they have very nearly sold out, at prices ranging from £7,500 to £60,000.
The intricately undulating forms are known as “gogottes”, and were discovered in the vicinity of Fontainebleau in France. Essentially blocks of sandstone or quartz that have been shaped by the movement of water around them underground, the intricacies of their formation remain a mystery to scientists, even our favourite naturalist, David Attenborough, who, last year, unveiled one that had been gifted to the Natural History Museum in honour of his 90th birthday.
The earliest records of their being used for decorative purposes are at the Palace of Versailles. They were unearthed by Louis XIV’S workmen and placed around the outdoor fountains. Following centuries of weathering, they have turned black and are covered in algae.
In their unmined, underground state, they are thought to be tens of metres in length, but those that have been excavated are smaller, broken at the ends where they have either been dropped or cut, because of their heavy weight.
Gogottes have long been a feature of natural history sales in London and Paris, along with rare minerals, fossils, meteorites and dinosaur skeletons. Sotheby’s has recently been selling them in its Curiosity sales, so-titled in reference to the penchant of Renaissance collectors to assemble natural objects in cabinets of curiosity or Wunderkammern.
“They struck me as a sort of Western equivalent to [the fantastically shaped stones known as] Chinese scholar’s rocks, which have been prized in China for their grotesque beauty since the Tang Dynasty over 1,300 years ago,” says Nicolas Chow of Sotheby’s. “Since the very first time that we offered [gogottes] here, they have been popular with clients in Asia.”
To begin with, forms under 2ft-long could be bought for less than £3,000. But recently, prices have risen to as much as £110,000 for the larger, more intricate examples. In comparison, the largest and earliest scholar’s rocks can be priced in the millions.
“Gogottes perhaps lack the historical and literary dimension that some of the finest stones may display, with their inscriptions by wellknown scholars, associations with famous halls or gardens, or specific literary references,” explains Mr Chow. “With gogottes, the value rests within their aesthetic appeal. What makes one more desirable than another remains subjective.”
For Daniel Eskenazi, a specialist dealer in Asian Art, the gogottes’ connection with scholar’s rocks was his primary reason for holding the exhibition. Another was the resonances between gogottes and modern sculpture. “Henry Moore had one in his studio,” he says, “and Jean Arp, the modernist sculptor of biomorphic forms, was clearly looking at them.” Other sculptures that spring to mind are the grotesque surrealist doll sculptures of Hans Bellmer, or some of the work of Louise Bourgeois, Tony Cragg and even – in concept, at least – the nature-inspired ceramics of Rachel Kneebone.
There is now a law in France preventing excavation in the sandstone areas where gogottes have been found, so supply is limited.
This exhibition opens in time for the Asian art auctions this week, but collectors coming from Hong Kong will have to scrap over the two remaining gogottes that have not yet sold.
“The buyers have been mostly European,” says Eskenazi, “what we call ‘multi-discipline’ collectors who are interested in ancient Chinese as well as modern and contemporary art.” Odds are, therefore, that this won’t be the last time we see a gogotte in an art gallery.
Intricacies of their formation remain a mystery