THIS CAST IRON FIREPLACE IS ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS CAST IRON MANTELS AMONG THOSE SOURCED FROM THE PARISIAN AND HIGHLY RENOWNED "LARCHER" ART FOUNDRY.
IN OUR WAREHOUSE YOU WILL PROBABLY FIND OTHER SPECIMENS OF THIS “COLLECTION” OF FIREPLACES THAT HAS MADE THIS FOUNDRY FAMOUS, AND THIS IS BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN ENAMORED WITH IT FOR PERHAPS A QUARTER OF A CENTURY, EVER SINCE, IN A CONSTRUCTION SITE IN PARIS AND IN PARTICULAR IN A LARGE WORKSHOP AND STORE OF THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY, I FOUND ABOUT TWENTY SPECIMENS ALL TRACEABLE TO LARCHER, ONE IN EACH ROOM.
THAT SHOP/WORKSHOP WAS THE FIRST PARISIAN LOCATION OF THE PERFUMER GUERLAIN.
SINCE THEN I BUY ALL THE SPECIMENS I COME ACROSS, AS LONG AS THEIR PRICE IS... “RIGHT.”
THE ERA IN WHICH THESE FIREPLACES WERE CAST IS THAT OF THE BELLE EPOQUE, AND THEIR “DESIGNER” WAS THE SON OF THE FOUNDER OF THIS FOUNDRY, A VERY YOUNG YET ALREADY FAMOUS SCULPTOR, AN ARTISTIC GENIUS WHO, HAD HE NOT LEFT US PREMATURELY, MIGHT HAVE BECOME ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS ARTISTS OF THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY.
I MANAGED TO RETRIEVE AN IMAGE OF A BUST THAT HIS ARTIST FRIENDS DEDICATED TO HIM AND I SHOW IT TO YOU (AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE FIREPLACE), SO YOU CAN LOOK INTO THE FACE OF THE PERSON WHO CONCEIVED AND MADE THE MODEL OF THIS NOW FAMOUS FIREPLACE..
IN THE LAST TWO PHOTOGRAPHS, I SHOW YOU THE BUST I SPEAK OF ABOVE AND ALSO THE SECTION OF THE SHELL “NAUTILUS”, FANTASTIC PRODUCT OF NATURE THAT INSPIRED OUR YOUNG SCULPTOR IN THE CONCEPTION OF THIS FIREPLACE.
PROVENANCE PARIS, PERFECT PRESERVATION, EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY.
