Carved Black Stone Obelisk. Engraved Text In Latin. Europe 19th Century Or Earlier.

This obelisk was carved from a fine-grained black stone similar to marble, but the stone appears to be harder, making it difficult to scratch with a steel point. The whole is made up of 3 superimposed parts held together simply by 2 iron tenons. The 4 faces of the obelisk are decorated with hieroglyphs, as is the pyramidion. The cubic base is engraved on one side with Latin characters. Traces of gilding in the incisions. Good condition, with a few small chips, including a large one on the tip of the pyramidion, which does not detract from the sculpture's aesthetics. The multitude of hieroglyphs were executed with a grinding wheel. European work, possibly French or Italian, from the Empire period (return from Egypt) but possibly earlier. Height 45cm.