Gothic Period XV-xvi Superb Limestone Carved Pinnacle, Fantastic Bestiary Endings

Haite Epoque

Gothic period, late 15th to early 16th century

Stunning limestone carved architectural element. This pinnacle is made up of various hooks and finials, and ends in its 4 lower angles with monsters directly inspired by the fantastic bestiary: half animals and half dragons: 2 of them opposite each other have a lion's body while the other 2 alternate have a raptor's body (eagle).

"In Gothic architecture, the pinnacle is a slender form of pyramidal damping of the buttresses and abutments of buttresses. (Functional by its weight, very ornate from  13th century, it became a decorative part, translated into carpentry and goldsmithery.) The pinnacle (from the Latin pinnaculum, "ridge", from pinna, "crenel") is, historically, the highest part of a building (syn onym of ridge).
The pinnacle is a work in lead or stone, pyramidal or conical in shape (shape of a more or less worked steeple), often openwork and adorned with finials, serving as the crowning of a buttress, a pillar, a gable, a pediment, a gable. Decorative, it can also contribute to the general structural stability. It thus adds its weight to that of the top of the buttress which retains the thrust of the buttress and makes it possible to avoid sliding (lateral towards outside) cut stones in the vicinity of this critical place. Finally, it is also a damping element. Simple and massive in the Romanesque period, in the Gothic period it had a finial at its top and hooks on its slopes."

Condition: some gaps and old restorations (collages of original broken elements, notably gaps of certain florets,... Please check many photos; others available on request)

Sizes 63cm height for the stone pinnacle itself and 83cm total height (with the central iron axis) and max diameter 45cm approx.

Very nice patina, especially with a light layer of moss, but which does not alter the legibility of the great finesse of the sculpture. There even remain rare remains of polychrome (red)
A rusty iron axis in the center of the base for its fixing, and a nail formerly reported to support a test of reconstruction of a missing finial, now disappeared.

The piece, obviously fragile, can easily be placed on a wooden support and presented as a decorative sculpture.

No parcel shipment, delivery by carrier (quote on request) or by me (once a month approx to Chartres, Le Mans, Paris, Lyon, Avignon, Béziers or Montpellier...)
You can ask me about other possible destinations.

To anticipate any superfluous questions, this is not about reconstituted stone but limestone, nor a neo-Gothic production from the end of the 19th century !