ON HOLD
You should know that we recovered this fireplace in Belgium, in the city of Oudenarde, a Flemish city that in its time was conquered by the Sun King, who fell in love with it (it is a city.... “gothic”, with a thousand buildings that look like “simil-duomo-di Milano or, if you prefer, simil-Notre Dame”, a very particular city).
And most probably this love was reciprocated so much so that the fireplace I am proposing to you here is of a Charles X stylism that, while harking back (VERY) to the Italian Renaissance, was, let's say, miniaturized (so that it could enter the homes of the bourgeoisie) and refined by the French Ateliers des Arts immediately after the Empire period.
All this “history” serves me to explain how such an “unashamedly” French stylism had been well accepted by its Flemish cousins despite centuries-old and not good kinship relations..
The fireplace presents itself through these images, which demonstrate its perfect preservation (keep in mind that this marble is practically unrestorable; eliminating a “heavy” scratch, normally easily eliminated on all other marbles, on these very fine surfaces becomes an impossible task.
Obviously some signs of time will also be there in our “Griffe” but on the whole, its vision comes across as ... heavenly.
CHARLES X PERIOD, EXCELLENT PRESERVATION, "PIECE" MORE AND MORE UNOBTAINABLE, ESPECIALLY BY VIRTUE OF ITS " MEASURINE", AT THAT TIME QUITE RARE IN FIREPLACES OF THIS STYLISTIC FAMILY (AND FOR THIS, MORE AND MORE SOUGHT AFTER).
