COMMENTARY PREMISE:
If you promise not to start laughing, I will make a confession.
Agreed?!
Well, if you agree then I will make a confession that I think I have never expressed until now: I am sad because, in offering you this fine fireplace, I am aware of the fact that I will never again be able to own an equivalent one, one just as fine, just as well preserved, of just as much Personality. So great is the worldwide demand for fine fireplaces carved in Black Belgium marble that when one is dismantled in Paris, Antwerp, the Côte d'Azur or Bordeaux, hundreds of proposals arrive at the owner, who, inevitably, makes a real auction of it. At that point, needless to argue, the bids skyrocket and many private individuals are willing to pay sky-high sums in order to make chimneys at this level their own. Basically, I am a little sad because I know that soon this exemplary fireplace will be sold and for me it will be like losing something, a friend I was growing fond of.
PREMISE TO COMMENT:
THE MANTEL IS NOT A MASS-PRODUCED ITEM, BUT A “UNIQUE PIECE,” AND THAT IS, MADE IN ONE PIECE AT THE REQUEST OF A SPECIFIC COMMISSION.
ACTUAL COMMENTARY:
You can enjoy the fireplace through these photographs (very well taken, moreover) but I can assure you that, admired de visu, it “strikes” much more, who knows why, since it is also very photogenic. In short, there is something extra in this specimen, something not found in its other, also beautiful, high-end brethren. Simply put, its Personality is very strong and it is impossible not to be impressed.
That premise having been made with a spirit-like flavor (and to think that I am totally realistic, materialistic, grounded, in short), let us come to examine its characteristics, general and particular.
The former consist:
A) In its fantastic preservation... If by law an antiquarian object is understood to be intact until it does not exceed deficiencies of five percent, well then we should think that our specimen was carved last night or a few days ago, because of the fact that its deficiencies are so “invisible” that they can be considered a fraction around 0,00000 and you put a random number.
B) In its, also well-maintained, polishing. Keep in mind that said operation was first performed (AT THE TIME OF ITS BIRTH) in the years between 1860 and 1880 and was, evidently and obviously, entirely done by hand by means of “soaps” (this was their form) of pumice stone having different characteristics of hardness.. One would start with the hardest “soapstone,” then continue with a medium soapstone, and finally, after days and days of sweating on those superb surfaces, one would finish with the fine soapstone.. If carving a fireplace out of Black Belgium marble required much more time and experience than “ normal” marbles (because of its glass-like consistency), polishing also took a long time, and it is estimated that polishing a fireplace out of Black Belgium took more than half the time needed to carve it. Not to be outdone by the nineteenth-century workers, we took this specimen to Valpolicella (the second area in Italy, after Lunigiana, in terms of sculptural workmanship) and had it given a “refresh” to its polish, RIGOROUSLY BY HAND, AS ONE HUNDRED OR TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO, by one of the last remaining “polishers” in the world.. In a few years, as there will be no handmade spare parts, such refinements will no longer be obtainable, even having the Berlusca's wallet.
Coming to its particulars, there are in this fireplace some traditional decorative elements, such as the leaf sculpture in the center of the front (don't tell people but know that often the sculptors of these particular decorations were inspired by heads of salad), the equally classic “small shells” at the top of the legs or the two curls (these derived from the Italian Renaissance) where the legs are in the maximum swell (on the “thigh,” in short) and other very refined as well as classic sculptural details.
But in this elegant mantel we have an entirely new feature: Along its entire leg a triple "half-towel" molding decorates the legs themselves in an extremely refined manner
NEVER SEEN, IN 45 YEARS OF WORK IN THIS SPECIFIC AND UNIQUE FIELD, A FIREPLACE WITH THIS DECORATION. It is not that this elegant workmanship is new per se, it is easily traced to the Roman column, on whose surfaces it often appeared so that said columns might not be confused with Greek ones, but NEVER had any architect(archistars were the designers of fireplaces) applied such decoration to a fireplace. It was easier and safer to “go classical,” after all, to go down a new road meant taking risks and not everyone had, precisely, the courage to take risks. I thank the Parisian architect who put in his design, in addition to his certain mastery, a fistful of noble courage.... To those who will come to enjoy in person this fantastic fireplace, I will point out (which is impossible through photography) with what refinements of detail these moldings were conceived, a fact also to be credited to the mastery of our TRUE archistar, who knew the importance of details and also the effect that these details can produce even in those who do not notice them explicitly.
PARISIAN FIND, NAPOLEON III PERIOD.
