Unique sculptural Gogotte 'Micky' discovered in the Phosphate deposits of Benguerir, Oulad Abdoun Basin, near Casablanca, Morocco. It dates from the Oligocene Period and is 30 - 60 million years old approximately.
The unique sculptural form of a Gogotte discovered in the Phosphate deposits of Benguerir, Oulad Abdoun Basin, near Casablanca, Morocco. It dates from the Oligocene Period and is 30 - 60 million years old approximately.
The form was mainly in this region of quartz crystals and calcium carbonate. Where superheated water naturally creates Gogottes under enormous pressure when extruded through crevices of extremely fine white silicate. The water became heavily saturated with calcium carbonate (Limestone), and so the swirls of the liquidious mass have over a long time become solid stone, which emulates the movement under the earth where pools of the mineral-saturated concretions were captured in the gradual concreting limestone, forming the beautiful and natural freeform sculptures.
Art stone culture; Ancient Chinese texts refer to nature concerning a life force or Qi, a belief that absorbed into the formal philosophies of Daoism and Confucianism and which permeates the Chinese intellectual psyche of today. In the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the elite and scholarly classes brought natural forms, such as rocks, into a domestic context. A golden period for the arts where nature inspired philosophy, poetry, calligraphy and painting. Rocks and roots continue to be collected today, the most prized examples having been passed down from collector to collector over many generations.
The sculptor Henry Moore owned an example, and the French Surrealists were known to have been inspired by them.
Gogottes are also on exhibit at The Smithsonian Institute in Washington, beside The Hope Diamond! They have recently termed a contemporary literati curiosity.
And of course, the most well-known gogottes are to be found in Fontainebleau, France. Favoured by Louis XIV of France (1638 -1715) who used them to decorate the gardens at Versailles, most notably l’Encelade built in 1675-8, Les Trois Fontaines in 1677-9 and La Salle de Bal in 1680-5.
And other places where they are venerated such as The Garden Gogottes located in the district of Villaroy Guyancourt in the Yvelines. Which is a work conceived in 1996 by the urban planner Jean-Noël Capart with the landscape architect Jacques Simon. The sculptor Philolaos Tloupas has inserted his Gogottes into a garden.