LOUIS XV POMPADOUR PIED GALBE' FIREPLACE MANTEL IN CHARMING, VERY FINE AND DELICATE ITALIAN YELLOW “FIORITO" MARBLE
THIS PARTICULAR MANTEL TO AN AMATEUR AND CONNOISSEUR CAN BRING TO MIND THAT SONG BY NANNINI THAT GOES... “WONDERFUL CREATURE, YOU ARE ALONE IN THE WORLD.. ETC... ETC...”..
“WHY,” YOU WILL SAY, ”IF AFTER ALL, HER MODEL IS QUITE WIDESPREAD!?”
BUT BECAUSE, APART FROM THE FACT THAT WHILE IT IS TRUE THAT THE POMPADOUR GALBE' IS A WIDESPREAD MODEL IT IS EQUALLY TRUE THAT FINDING YELLOW ONES IS RATHER IMPROBABLE, IT'S NOT LIKE ALL FIREPLACES OF THE SAME MODEL ARE EQUAL, IS IT?
THIS SPECIFIC PIECE, IN FACT, HAS MANY FEATURES THAT WILL MAKE AN EXPERIENCED ANTIQUARIAN, AS WELL AS YOUR WIVES, SQUIRM, FEATURES THAT I WILL NOW LIST:
1) THE TONE OF ITS FLOWERY YELLOW MARBLE IS DECIDEDLY “PLACID,” ABSOLUTELY NEITHER AGGRESSIVE NOR TOO VIOLENT, AND, DULCIS IN FUNDO, VERY, VERY HOMOGENEOUS IN EACH OF ITS SLABS (WHICH IS VERY DIFFICULT IN THIS TYPE OF MARBLE ESSENCE, A FASCINATING ESSENCE, BUT VERY FICKLE IN COLOR, FRETTING OR NATURAL “STAINING”).
2) THIS FIREPLACE WAS CARVED BETWEEN 1840 AND 1850 (INNARDS DOCENT.... I STUDIED LATIN AND I HAVE TO SHOW MY MOTHER THAT HER MANY SACRIFICES TO MAKE ME STUDY WERE WORTH SOMETHING, RIGHT? SHE CARES ABOUT IT SO MUCH AND I AM A MAMA'S BOY EVEN NOW THAT I HAVE PASSED BY THAT PIECE THE MIDDLE OF THE WALK OF OUR LIVES...), SO IT IS ONE OF THE EARLIEST POMPADOURS GALBE' BUILT AND OF THIS PRIMEVAL ERA IT BEARS THE ELEGANCE, THE SLENDERNESS, THE PATINA...
3) IT IS IN VERY GOOD CONDITION, NO BROKEN PIECES ( KEEP IN MIND THAT ITS MARBLE IS A BRECCIA, AND THUS EASILY AFFECTED BY ANY BUILDING SETTLEMENT OR HUMAN NEGLECT, ALWAYS LURKING HERE, NONE OF THAT...), NOT A STAIN DUE TO THOUGHTLESS USE, ITS SURFACES BEAR ONLY SOME MINIMAL AND ANCIENT GROUTING IN THE VERY SMALL PARTS OF WHICH ITS BEING A BRECCIA HAS ALLOWED THE NATURAL DETACHMENT.
IN SHORT, THE SIGNS OF ELAPSED TIME (ALMOST TWO CENTURIES, ITALY WOULD HAVE SEEN GARIBALDI TWENTY YEARS AFTER THIS SCULPTURE WORK..) THE SIGNS OF ELAPSED TIME, I WAS SAYING, HERE PRODUCE AN EFFECT OF FASCINATION.
WELL, MAYBE I GOT CARRIED AWAY AND DIDN'T TELL YOU THINGS THAT, PERHAPS, WOULD HAVE SEEMED MORE INTERESTING TO YOU THAN THIS ELEGIAC COMMENT, SO LET'S COME BACK DOWN TO EARTH AND SAY THAT THE FIREPLACE I'M PRESENTING TO YOU WE DISASSEMBLED IN PARIS, TO BE EXACT IN THE CHALET OF ONE OF ITS MOST GRACIOUS AND ARISTOCRATIC SUBURBS CALLED MONTREUIL, THE ERA I'VE ALREADY MENTIONED (BUT I'LL REPEAT IT BECAUSE IT'S VERY IMPORTANT IN THIS KIND OF MANTEL . .) AND IT IS BETWEEN 1840 AND 1850, ITS PRESERVATION IS VERY GOOD, ITS PRICE....VERY GOOD.
