Item from Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
A seated gorilla carved in dark-veined marble, its massive hands resting on its knees, its expression one of ancient, patient intelligence.
Piranesi finds the Gorilla reassuring in a way he cannot entirely explain. It sits in its niche as though it has always been there and always will be, an anchor of patience in a world that moves to the rhythm of tides. He sometimes sits near it when he is working through a difficult problem in his journals, and he has the sense — irrational, he knows — that the Gorilla is thinking alongside him, contributing a calm he cannot generate on his own. The statue is remarkable for its emotional register. Most animal statues in the House capture movement or threat. The Gorilla captures stillness — not the stillness of something frozen but the stillness of something choosing not to move, which is a different thing entirely.
A great ape sitting in a posture of quiet authority — back straight, legs folded, hands resting palm-down on its knees. The marble is darker than most of the House's statues, shot through with veins of charcoal grey that give the gorilla's fur a silvered quality. Its face is rendered with startling emotional depth: the heavy brow ridge, the deep-set eyes, the broad nostrils — all communicating a presence that is watchful, unhurried, and profoundly calm. The musculature of its arms and shoulders is carved with anatomical precision, every ridge and hollow suggesting immense restrained power.
Also known as: The Great Ape, The Seated Gorilla