RARE ELEPHANT BIRD EGG FOSSILISED (Aepyornis maximus), on a gilt bronze and mahogany in the Louis XVI style. Height: 30 cm - Diameter: 22 cm (Very good condition) PROVENANCE - Michel Baechler Collection Insignificant object of high curiosity, the egg of Æpyornis (also known as the elephant bird) comes from from a giant bird, now extinct, endemic to endemic to Madagascar. The Madagascan equivalent of the famous dodo of Mauritius, our rare bird rare bird belonged to the genus Aepyornis and could reach 3 metres in height and weigh up to 500 kg. Its eggs were among the largest known in the world (around 30 cm long with a volume of more than 8 litres), fascinate by their exceptional their exceptional size and rarity, bearing witness of an island fauna that disappeared at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries.