Notice: This fireplace mantel will be available for viewing at our premises starting from October 18, 2025.
LOUIS XIV STYLE FIREPLACE, CLAD IN EXQUISITE “BLEU FLEURI” MARBLE AND COMPLETE WITH ITS ORIGINAL “RIDEAU” (GUILLOTINE-STYLE CLOSURE).
Two features set this mantelpiece apart — and in a most positive way:
A) Its marble: a precious and extremely rare Bleu Turquin with a delicate, light-toned background and elegantly fine veining. Beyond its intrinsic beauty, the marble alone offers an undeniable rarity that makes this fireplace a true collector’s piece.
B) Its “rideau”: an original and fully functional guillotine-style shutter, incredibly useful for securing the hearth when you need to step away.
Picture this: it’s 11 PM on a Saturday night, your wife seems unusually affectionate, and you sense the perfect moment approaching — but the fireplace is still burning and you can't just leave it unattended, can you?
Now you can. Just lower the shutter, and off you go — ready to rekindle a different kind of fire…
This fireplace was born in a sculpture workshop in Provence, likely in Nice or Marseille, and almost certainly crafted by Basque stonecutters — highly skilled artisans who would cross the Pyrenees in spring and remain in the region through the summer.
A curious historical note: these skilled workers (far more talented than their French colleagues, if we’re being honest) were commonly referred to in France as “marocains” — just as in Italy, laborers from the south were (and sometimes still are) colloquially called “marocchini” regardless of their actual origin.
Estimated period: circa 1840–1860
Condition: excellent
Price: (...likely too low...) not quite a gift, but certainly an exceptional opportunity.
