FIRST OF ALL, I WOULD LIKE TO TELL YOU THAT THIS SPLENDID AND VERY RARE PIERRE DORÉE REGENCY MANTEL IS PRESENTED HERE IN THE STATE OF ITS DISCOVERY. IN PARTICULAR, AS YOU WILL EASILY NOTICE IN THE IMAGES PROPOSED HERE, ITS DARK LEATHER MANTEL SEEMS ALMOST OF A DIFFERENT QUALITY OF STONE AND EVEN CERTAIN PROTRUSIONS OF THE LEGS APPEAR DARKER THAN THE REST OF THE SURFACES...
LET'S CLEAR UP THESE DOUBTS RIGHT AWAY: THE DIFFERENT “NUANCES” (YOU CAN TELL I FREQUENT PARIS, EH..) ARE DUE TO A KIND OF “ABANDONMENT” THAT THIS FIREPLACE EXPERIENCED BY ITS LAST OWNERS... FOR DECADES (SEVERAL) IT WAS LEFT ALONE IN ITS LATE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY HOME, TOTALLY LACKING THE NECESSARY WEEKLY DUSTING, PARTICULARLY OF ITS SURFACES MOST EXPOSED TO RECEIVING DUST. DUST THAT ON THE FLOORBOARD AND LEG SPURS HAS SETTLED OVER TIME, AS IF IT WERE A GEOLOGICAL LAYER.
AS I WRITE THESE LINES, THE VARIOUS PARTS OF THE FIREPLACE HERE PRESENT ARE IN THE HANDS OF OUR RESTORER (MAXIMUM, IN NAME AND IN FACT) WHO, AS GENTLY AS EXPERTLY, WILL DO HIS UTMOST TO RESTORE THIS FIREPLACE TO ITS PRIMORDIAL BEAUTY WITHOUT, OF COURSE, LOSING THE PROPER PATINA OF OUR EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY AS WELL AS AWESOME MANTEL.
IT HAS NOW BEEN FULLY RESTORED (A TERM THAT IN THIS CASE HAS THE MEANING OF “SUBJECTED TO A REFINED AND ADEQUATE MAKE-UP, NOTHING MORE INVASIVE”) AND IF YOU COME TO SEE IT, IT WILL APPEAR EVEN MORE, IF POSSIBLE, FASCINATING.
I CALL THIS FIREPLACE AWESOME BECAUSE OF ITS VERY ELEGANT DESIGN, BECAUSE OF THE QUALITY OF ITS VERY TENACIOUS AND NOT AT ALL POROUS PIERRE DORE' AND BECAUSE OF THE LEVEL OF ITS CARVING, MOST LIKELY DONE BY A BASQUE SCULPTOR (THEY WERE THE BEST, THESE SPANIARDS WHO EVERY "SEASON"-WHICH RAN FROM EARLY SPRING TO EARLY FALL-CROSSED THE PYRENEES TO WORK THE STONE FROM THE QUARRIES LOCATED ON THE CÔTE D'AZUR AND IN BURGUNDY).
Once carefully cleaned, we will be able to enjoy even more the quality of this very hard as well as very precious stone, its surface fineness and, dulcis in fundo, its sinuous sculptural lines will seem even more elegant.
The flanks with which it is equipped are its originals, which makes us state, with good confidence, that its date of birth lies between the year 1790 (BEFORE THAT PERIOD, CHIMNEYS DID NOT HAVE FLUSHES, MADE OF PLASTERED MURRY) and the year 1810 (PERIOD WHEN FASHIONS CHANGED AND THE REGGENY STYLE, ERRONEOUSLY REPRESENTED, WAS PENSIONED). Which makes it one of the oldest fireplaces you can find on the market, forgers aside, of course, people at whom you may also come across fireplaces from the 700s ante Christum natum..
OF THE PRESUMABLE EPOCH I HAVE WRITTEN ABOVE, THE FIND IS NIÇOIS, THE STYLISM COMES FROM THE PENCIL OF AN ARCHITECT CERTAINLY PARISIAN (OR WHO HAD AT LEAST FREQUENTED THE ATELIERS DES ARTS OF THAT CITY), ITS PHYSICAL CONSTITUTION IS EXCELLENT.
