A Group of Four Mid-20thC French Painted Stone Garden Mushrooms c.1950-60

Origin: French
Period: Mid-20thC
Provenance: Unknown
Date: c.1950-60
Heights: 7”, 10”, 10”, 14”
Diameters: 8”, 8”, 8”, 16”

The wonderfully fun stylised and over-sized hand painted composition stone models of fly agaric mushrooms (Amanita muscaria) each in the distinctive scarlet red and white colourway with white spots, having ribbed bodies, each freestanding, surviving from the middle section of twentieth century France.

Remaining in good overall condition, each piece stands relatively soundly, the larger model is in two pieces for easier transport.

The distinctive red and white fly agaric is said to have inspired both Alice in Wonderland author Lewis Caroll's hookah-smoking caterpillar and also, the colours of Santa's suit. Fly agaric is toxic and was traditionally mixed with milk and left out in bowls to kill flies, which is where it gets its name and the 'spots' we see are actually remnants of a white veil of tissue that encloses the young mushroom, and can sometimes be washed off by the rain. This iconic mushroom was commonly found on Christmas cards in Victorian and Edwardian times as a symbol of good luck.

A quartet that is everything but toxic; a real bit of joy in a dark world.