A Grand Tour carved stone vessel, Italian 19th century

Coarse-grained granite-granodiorite, probably granito di Corsica
15.5 cm. / 6 1/8 ins high, diameter 17 cm. / 6 ¾ ins

The vessel with ovoid body tapering to the wide base and rising to a short, waisted neck and broad, rounded rim. Likely carved in Italy in the nineteenth century in the manner of ancient Egyptian examples.

The stone is almost certainly granito di Corsica, a coarse-grained granite-granodiorite with large pink megacrysts, which was imported by the Florentine Medici government from the late Renaissance period for use in pietre dure work in the city. For images of this stone, see Corsi online collection, no. 841.