Metal Sculptures

18th century Italian hand-carved and painted angel wing with baroque pearls and mounted on honey calcite crystal. The hand-carved angel wing was once part of a heavenly, angelic de...

110 million years old. Cut into two pieces and placed on a custom made metal base.

Madagascar ammonites can date as far back as 110 million years. This 1.31 lb. specimen has been expertly fossil cleaned or prepped to reveal the finely formed spines and shell. Ammon...

18th century Italian gold leaf fragment with a faceted cut black crystal on a free-forming obsidian mineral with a polished face. Obsidian is naturally occurring volcanic glass prod...

18th century Italian gold leaf fragment with a black irradiated crystals on a free-forming obsidian mineral with a polished face. Obsidian is naturally occurring volcanic glass prod...

Lion of Forge, Spain, 16th century In forging, measurements: 10 x 17 x 5 cm Good condition Spanish private collection.

Genuine Spinosaurus (Dinosaur) tooth. Spinosaurus (meaning "spine lizard") is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what now is North Africa, during the upper Albian to upper T...

Spinosaurus (meaning "spine lizard") is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what now is North Africa, during the upper Albian to upper Turonian stages of the Cretaceous period...

Experience the rustic allure of this Brutalist Woodbox Door Lock Sculpture, a creation by an unknown Finnish artist. The wooden door lock is from the 1600s. Its brutalist aesthetic e...

A Cretaceous period calcite septarian nodule, from Utah, resting on custom marble & brass plated stand. Exceptional crystaline interior shapes. Mid century modern stand...

Genuine Spinosaurus (Dinosaur) tooth. Spinosaurus (meaning "spine lizard") is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what now is North Africa, during the upper Albian to upper T...

This hefty approximately over 4.5 billion year old Soledade iron meteorite slice features a prominent, unique iron nickel etching. This octahedrite was discovered in 1986 as a 68 kg ...

Imilac Meteorite End-Cut circa 4.5 Billion y/o Measures: 10 x 13 x 1 cm “This interior section of the Imilac pallasite shows a large range of olivine grain sizes there are coarse grains, grain clusters and fine-grained, crushed olivine debris. All of the olivine grains are surrounded by a matrix of metallic iron-nickel derived from the top of a molten core of a differentiated asteroid”. Dr Alan E. Rubin, PhD Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences...

In the heart of ancient China, within the resplendent Ming dynasty, a masterpiece was cast in bronze, a testament to a culture steeped in mysticism and spirituality. This Taoist bron...

Spinosaurus (meaning "spine lizard") is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what now is North Africa, during the upper Albian to upper Turonian stages of the Cretaceous period...

Set of four 17th century Venetian bronze door handles, set on ebonized wooden stands. Each handle is a original of a bronze bust of an ancient Italian man affixed to a square wooden ...

A beautifully sculpted Thai/ Siam Southeast Asian bronze Buddha head on a custom wood stand. The Buddha's eyes are closed in serene meditation. This beautiful gem has a wonderful feel and heft to it. Very well well crafted with a gorgeous natural organic patina acquired over age. This bust/fragment likely belonged to a larger Buddha statue...

French Bronze Sculpture of Youth Wrangling a Horse by Guillaume Coustou (1677-1746). Best known for his monumental statues of horses, Coustou was the royal sculptor for Louis XIV an...

Carcharodontosaurus (Dinosaur) tooth in a glass display box From Tegana Formation, North Africa. Cretaceous Age 65 million years Carcharodontosaurus is one of the longest and heavi...

A large scale natural chrysocolla malachite specimen originating from Congo. A rare find, some of the world’s finest malachite comes from Congo. This exceptional mineral has an irreg...

Auction. Carved and gilded wood. Spanish school, 17th century. Carved and gilded piece of wood probably coming from a Spanish school altarpiece decorated with deep carvings of archi...

18th Century Water Gilt sunray fragment reimagined as an objet d'art. Sunray would have been part of a full sunburst that would have been installed in a church or other holy building...

Brittle stars or ophiuroids are echinoderms in the class Ophiuroidea closely related to starfish. They crawl across the sea floor using their flexible arms for locomotion. The most f...

Authentic horse armour face mask or chanfron, dated circa late 18th-early mid-19th century from Northern Italy in wrought iron. During the late Middle Ages as armour protection for k...

This well preserved tooth is 40 to 34 million years old from the Late Eocene Period. Basilosaurus was first thought to be a reptile but was later identified as a genus of ancient cet...

This is a fine antique pair of Italian Grand Tour solid bronze busts of Dionysus and Ariadne by Clodion, and bearing his signature, dating from the l...

A beautiful, fossilized and calcified ammonite shell with an iridescent, opalized shimmer, displaying hints of vibrant red and yellow tones. This specimen displays multiple complete ammonites in a clustered form, each having a dendritic crystal pattern. This piece has been hand polished. *You will receive the exact object as in these photos. The fossilized shells...

Genuine Spinosaurus (Dinosaur) tooth. Spinosaurus (meaning "spine lizard") is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what now is North Africa, during the upper Albian to upper T...

Genuine Spinosaurus (Dinosaur) tooth. Spinosaurus (meaning "spine lizard") is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what now is North Africa, during the upper Albian to upper T...

Spinosaurus (meaning "spine lizard") is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what now is North Africa, during the upper Albian to upper Turonian stages of the Cretaceous period...

Native silver is among a handful of minerals that have been deemed inherently valuable by mankind since antiquity. In the world of mineral collecting, silver specimens and sulfosalts...

Carcharodontosaurus (Dinosaur) tooth in a glass display box From Tegana Formation, North Africa. Cretaceous Age 65 million years Carcharodontosaurus is one of the longest and heavi...

Extremely unique ammonite fossil exposing positive and negative with its original matrix. It displays a brilliant opalescence of pink and purple. This piece is from the Upper Cretace...

A rare and very fine bronze corpus of Christ after a model by Michelangelo, cast ca. 1597-1600 by Juan Bautista Franconio and painted in 1600 by Francisco Pacheco in Seville, Spain. The present corpus reproduces a model attributed to Michelangelo. The best known example, lesser in quality, is one on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET). The association of this corpus with Michelangelo was first brought to light by Manuel Gomez-Moreno (1930-33) who studied the wider circulated casts identified throughout Spain. The attribution to Michelangelo was subsequently followed by John Goldsmith-Phillips (1937) of the MET and again by Michelangelo expert, Charles de Tolnay (1960). While Michelangelo is best known for his monumental works, there are four documented crucifixes he made. The best known example is the large-scale wooden crucifix for the Church of Santa Maria del Santo Spirito in Florence, made in 1492 as a gift for the Prior, Giovanni di Lap Bicchiellini, for allowing him to study the anatomy of corpses at the hospital there. In 1562, Michelangelo wrote two letters to his nephew, Lionardo, indicating his intention to carve a wooden crucifix for him. In 1563 a letter between Lionardo and the Italian sculptor Tiberio Calcagni, mentions this same crucifix (a sketch of a corpus on the verso of a sheet depicting Michelangelo’s designs for St. Peter’s Basillica [Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille] may reproduce this). That Michelangelo was working on small corpora in the last years of his life is further evidenced by the small (26.5 cm) unfinished wooden crucifix located at the Casa Buonarroti, considered his last known sculptural undertaking. Michelangelo’s contemporary biographer, Giorgio Vasari additionally cites that Michelangelo, in his later years, made a small crucifix for his friend, Menighella, as a gift. Surviving sketches also indicate Michelangelo’s study of this subject throughout his career, most notably during the end of his life but also during the 1530s-40s as he deepened his spiritual roots. The occasional cameo of crucified Christ’s throughout his sketched oeuvre have made it challenging for scholars to link such sketches to any documented commissions of importance. All the while, in consideration that such objects were made as gifts, it is unlikely they should be linked with commissions. Nonetheless, a number of theories concerning Michelangelo’s sketches of Christ crucified have been proposed and some may regard the origin of the present sculpture. It has been suggested that the corpus could have its impetus with Michelangelo’s work on the Medici Chapel, whose exclusive design was given to the master. It is sensible smaller details, like an altar cross, could have fallen under his responsibility (see for example British Museum, Inv. 1859,0625.552). Others have noted the possibility of an unrealized large marble Crucifixion group which never came to fruition but whose marble blocks had been measured according to a sheet at the Casa Buonarroti. A unique suggestion is that Michelangelo could have made the crucifix for Vittoria Colonna, of whom he was exceedingly fond and with whom he exchanged gifts along with mutual spiritual proclivities. In particular, Vittoria had an interest in the life of St. Bridget, whose vision of Christ closely resembles our sculpture, most notably with Christ’s proper-left leg and foot crossed over his right, an iconography that is incredibly scarce for crucifixes. The suggestion could add sense to Benedetto Varchi’s comment that Michelangelo made a sculpted “nude Christ…he gave to the most divine Marchesa of Pescara (Vittoria Colonna).” Of that same period, two sketches can be visually linked to our sculpture. Tolnay relates it to a sketch of a Crucified Christ at the Teylers Museum (Inv. A034) of which Paul Joannides comments on its quality as suggestive of preparations for a sculptural work. Joannides also calls attention to a related drawing attributed to Raffaello da Montelupo copying what is believed to be a lost sketch by Michelangelo. Its relationship with our sculpture is apparent. Montelupo, a pupil of Michelangelo’s, returned to Rome to serve him in 1541, assisting with the continued work on the tomb of Pope Julius II, suggesting again an origin for the corpus ca. 1540. The earliest firm date that can be given to the present corpus is 1574 where it appears as a rather crudely conceived Crucifixion panel, flanked by two mourners in low-relief and integrally cast for use as the bronze tabernacle door to a ciborium now located at the Church of San Lorenzo in Padula. Etched in wax residue on the back of the door is the date, 27 January 1574, indicating the corpus would have at least been available as a model by late 1573. The Padula tabernacle was completed by Michelangelo’s assistant, Jacopo del Duca and likely has its origins with Michelangelo’s uncompleted tabernacle for the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Rome. The impetus for the Padula tabernacle’s Crucifixion panel begins with a series of late Crucifixion sketches by Michelangelo, depicting a scene of Christ crucified and flanked by two mourners (see British Museum Inv. 1895.0915.510; Ashmolean Museum Inv. 1846.89, KP II 343 recto; Windsor Castle RCIN 912761 recto; and Louvre Inv. 700). A faintly traced block possibly intended for sculpting the sketch of the crucified Christ on its recto was discovered by Tolnay on a version of the composition at Windsor Castle. The Windsor sketch and those related to it appear to have served as preparatory designs for what was probably intended to become the Basilica of St. Mary’s tabernacle door. Vasari documents that the project was to be designed by Michelangelo and cast by his assistant, Jacopo del Duca. Michelangelo died before the commission was complete, though on 15 March 1565, Jacopo writes to Michelangelo’s nephew stating, “I have started making the bronze tabernacle, depending on the model of his that was in Rome, already almost half complete.” Various circumstances interrupted the completion of the tabernacle, though its concept is later revitalized by Jacopo during preparations to sell a tabernacle, after Michelangelo’s designs, to Spain for Madrid’s El Escorial almost a decade later. The El Escorial tabernacle likewise encountered problems and was aborted but Jacopo successfully sold it shortly thereafter to the Carthusians of Padula. An etched date, 30 May 1572, along the base of the Padula tabernacle indicates its framework was already cast by then. A 1573 summary of the tabernacle also describes the original format for the door and relief panels, intended to be square in dimension. However, a last minute decision to heighten them was abruptly made during Jacopo’s negotiations to sell the tabernacle to King Phillip II of Spain. Shortly thereafter the commission was aborted. Philippe Malgouyres notes that the Padula tabernacle’s final state is a mixed product of the original design intended for Spain’s El Escorial, recycling various parts that had already been cast and adding new quickly finished elements for its sale to Padula, explaining its unusually discordant quality, particularly as concerns the crudeness of the door and relief panels which were clearly made later (by January 1574). Apart from his own admission in letters to Spain, it is apparent, however, that Jacopo relied upon his deceased master’s designs while hastily realizing the Padula panels. If Michelangelo had already earlier conceived a crucifix model, and Jacopo had access to that model, its logical he could have hastily employed it for incorporation on the door panel to the tabernacle. It is worth noting some modifications he made to the model, extending Christ’s arms further up in order to fit them into the scale of the panel and further lowering his chin to his chest in order to instill physiognomic congruence. A crude panel of the Deposition also follows after Michelangelo’s late sketches and is likewise known by examples thought to be modifications by Jacopo based upon Michelangelo’s initial sculptural conception (see Malgouyres: La Deposition du Christ de Jacopo del Duca, chef-d’oeuvre posthume de Michel-Ange). Jacopo’s appropriation of an original model by Michelangelo for more than one relief on the Padula tabernacle adds further indication that the crucifix was not an object unique to Jacopo’s hand, as few scholars have posited, but rather belongs to Michelangelo’s original...

Carcharodontosaurus (Dinosaur) tooth in a glass display box From Tegana Formation, North Africa. Cretaceous Age 65 million years Carcharodontosaurus is one of the longest and heavi...

Trilobites, an early arthropod relative of spiders, horseshoe crabs, and scorpions, preserved in this level of detail only occurred as a result of very sudden underwater landslides c...

Age: Cretaceous Age 67.5 - 65 Million years old From: Hell Creek Formation, Harding County, South Dakota Nanotyrannus ("dwarf tyrant") is a potentially dubious genus of tyrannosaur...

Genuine Spinosaurus (Dinosaur) tooth. Spinosaurus (meaning "spine lizard") is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what now is North Africa, during the upper Albian to upper T...

Ptychopariida is a large, heterogeneous order of trilobite containing some of the most primitive species known. The earliest species occurred in the second half of the Lower Cambrian...

Aletai Meteorite Sphere Iron - IIIE circa 4.5 Billion years old A perfect metallic sphere, extracted from the core of the famous Aletai Meteorite, di...

Mankind has loved hematite for its sleek beauty and red undertones since its first discovery. It has been utilized as a reddening pigment by the ancient Egyptians, mined by the Etrus...

Carcharodontosaurus (Dinosaur) tooth in a glass display box From Tegana Formation, North Africa. Cretaceous Age 65 million years Carcharodontosaurus is one of the longest and heavi...

Gilt bronze lion on marble base. Antique chased gilt bronze recumbent lion on rare green speckled marble base. Italy, late 17th century. Dimensions: Ov...

Spinosaurus (meaning "spine lizard") is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what now is North Africa, during the upper Albian to upper Turonian stages of the Cretaceous period...

This huge, Museum-quality Spinosaur tooth is completely in tact with no repairs. This incredible specimen includes a display box for preservation and display purposes. Spinosaurus (m...

Ptychopariida is a large, heterogeneous order of trilobite containing some of the most primitive species known. The earliest species occurred in the second half of the Lower Cambrian...

This huge, Museum-quality Spinosaur tooth is completely in tact with no repairs. This incredible specimen includes a display box for preservation and display purposes. Spinosaurus (m...

Genuine Spinosaurus (Dinosaur) tooth. Spinosaurus (meaning "spine lizard") is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what now is North Africa, during the upper Albian to upper T...

Ptychopariida is a large, heterogeneous order of trilobite containing some of the most primitive species known. The earliest species occurred in the second half of the Lower Cambrian...

Carcharodontosaurus (Dinosaur) tooth in a glass display box From Tegana Formation, North Africa. Cretaceous Age 65 million years Carcharodontosaurus is one of the longest and heavi...

Genuine Spinosaurus (Dinosaur) tooth. Spinosaurus (meaning "spine lizard") is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what now is North Africa, during the upper Albian to upper T...

Carcharodontosaurus (Dinosaur) tooth in a glass display box From Tegana Formation, North Africa. Cretaceous Age 65 million years Carcharodontosaurus is one of the longest and heavi...

Ptychopariida is a large, heterogeneous order of trilobite containing some of the most primitive species known. The earliest species occurred in the second half of the Lower Cambrian...

Here is a large vertebrae from the massive Spinosaurus maroccanus theropod dinosaur. It comes from From Baharija Formation, South of Taouz, Kem-kem Basin, Morocco. Spinosaurus (mean...

Carcharodontosaurus (Dinosaur) tooth in a glass display box From Tegana Formation, North Africa. Cretaceous Age 65 million years Carcharodontosaurus is one of the longest and heavi...

A beautifully sculpted Thai/ Siam Southeast Asian bronze Buddha head on a custom wood stand. The Buddha's eyes are closed in serene meditation. The piece has a wonderful feel and heft to it. Very well well crafted with a gorgeous natural organic patina acquired over age. This bust/fragment likely belonged to a larger Buddha statue...

Genuine Spinosaurus (Dinosaur) tooth. Spinosaurus (meaning "spine lizard") is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived in what now is North Africa, during the upper Albian to upper T...

Orthoceras ("straight horn") is a slender, elongate shells with the middle of the body chamber transversely constricted, and a subcentral orthochoanitic siphuncle. This is a very lar...