High-end Garden Art: Limestone Sphinx

28 Replies to “High-end Garden Art: Limestone Sphinx”

1. It’s an unusual but attractive reinterpretation of the Egyptian version.

   1. These date from the 17th C so are relative youngsters.

2. This is very interesting and photogenic.
   Anita

   1. Bodnant Garden is interesting from a garden art / architecture perspective as well as for the plant collection.

3. Ooh, I didn’t know about sphinges. How erudite you are!

   1. More of a joke – I wouldn’t venture to say it.

4. Cool…and interesting. And slightly odd.

   1. Do the wings sprout from behind the ears?

5. Impressive

   1. And famously inscrutable.

6. I really liked those sphinxes when I saw then a couple of months back, I think they look quite regal, especially the one on the right.

   1. I found an earlier b&w picture online what seems to show one of them with eyes, rather than the blank expression here.

7. Sphinges had me googling. Never saw that option for the plural before.

   1. It strikes me as the kind of word invented purely to trip people up. More charitably, the impulse could have come about because -x already has a plural sound so adding -es might have seemed too hissy.

8. A regal beauty.

   1. I can’t imagine anyone sneaking a cutting out of Bodnant with guardians like this in place.

      1. 🤣💟

9. How human it looks! It’s a bit frightening.

   1. It’s not a shape our minds can easily capture, but it looks patient to me, as if it has long been waiting.

      1. Yes. Maybe that’s why it seems frightening.

10. Quite fabulous 🙂

    1. I read that the figure and its plinth were carved out of a single block of limestone. It seems a worthy use of such ancient material.

11. Such an elegant piece of sculpture – definitely high-end!

    1. It seems to have been recently cleaned. Luckily, the National Trust have expertise in conserving and maintaining stone.

12. Sphinges like hinges on the door of the garden? Clever stuff, thank you 😊

    1. I suppose so – I’ve never heard anyone say it!

       1. Say what

          1. Sphinges

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