PREMISE TO COMMENT:
THIS FIREPLACE WAS INITIALLY PRESENTED IN THE STATE OF THE FIND, AS IT ARRIVED FROM THE CONSTRUCTION SITE, I.E., ONLY SUPERFICIALLY CLEANED....
UNPROFESSIONALISM ON OUR PART?
NO, WE LOVE OUR FIREPLACES (ACCORDING TO MY WIFE TOO MUCH) AND RESPECT THEM.
THE FACT IS THAT I HAD SO MUCH DESIRE TO SHOW IT TO YOU AND BRAG ABOUT IT THAT I COULDN'T RESIST ASSEMBLING IT AND PHOTOGRAPHING IT AS IT LOOKED, BASICALLY IT LOOKED LIKE THE UGLY DUCKLING BUT I HAD WRITTEN IN THE COMMENT THAT, AFTER THE SALE THE FIREPLACE WOULD GO INTO THE HANDS OF OUR FANTASTIC UNATTAINABLE RESTORER MASSIMO (THAT'S HIS NAME, “MASSIMO”) WHO WOULD PRODUCE THE MIRACLE AND, THROUGH THE MAGICAL TOUCH OF HIS HANDS, WOULD TRANSFORM THE UGLY DUCKLING AT THE VERY LEAST INTO PRINCE HARRY
NEVER WAS A MOVE MORE IMPROVISED!!!
IT HAPPENED THAT SEVERAL CUSTOMERS CAME TO VIEW IT, ATTRACTED BY ITS LINES, BY THE PARTICULAR “WARMTH/COLOR” OF THIS FINE FIREPLACE, ATTRACTED IN SHORT, BY ITS PERSONALITY, BUT... EACH TIME THE TENOR OF THE RESPONSE WAS THIS:
“BUT, MAURIZIO, HOW WILL IT LOOK WHEN RESTORED!”
“WILL THIS SPECK COME OFF?!”
“AND HERE, LOOKING WORN, WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH IT?!”
IN SHORT, COME ON AND ON, LIKE THE COWARD I AM, I RAISED THE WHITE FLAG AND NOW THE FIREPLACE I PRESENT TO YOU.... PERFECTLY RESTORED!!!
REAL COMMENT:
WHAT TO SAY, IN FRONT OF THE SO MUCH GRACE OF THIS MANTEL?
A FEW ADJECTIVES, NOTHING MORE:
DELIGHTFUL, MOST ELEGANT, ALMOST “SOFT” IN THAT GOLDEN FABRIC OF HIS, NOBLE OF DISTANT AND NO LONGER REPRODUCIBLE BIRTH, OF RICH LIGHTNESS.
BUT ALSO VERY NICE BECAUSE OF ITS RESTRAINED MEASUREMENTS SOUGHT BY MANY CUSTOMERS FOR OBVIOUS LOGISTICAL REASONS.
TO COME ACROSS MANTELS OF THIS PROVENÇAL FAMILY IN SUCH A SMALL SIZE IS A LITTLE LIKE WINNING THE NEW YEAR'S LOTTERY, AND PERHAPS AMONG THE LOVERS OF THESE FIREPLACES SO... “PARISIENNES” (ADJECTIVE THAT, TRANSLATED, MEANS “BELOVED BY PARISIANS”) THERE ARE PRECISELY THOSE WHO SEEK THESE DELIGHTFUL LITTLE MEASURES.
TRANSITION STYLE NOTES:
“TRANSITION” IS A TRANSITIONAL STYLE, IN WHICH LOUIS XIV ELEMENTS ARE COMBINED WITH LOUIS XV ELEMENTS. IT WILL BE MY PLEASURE TO DISCUSS THIS STYLISM WITH THE CLIENT INTERESTED IN THIS FANTASTIC MANTEL.
PARISIAN FIND, PARISIAN STYLISM AND PROVENÇAL SCULPTURE (CÔTE D'AZUR LOCATION, THAT'S WHERE BASQUE STONEMASONS CAME TO “DO THE COUNTRY,” FROM SPRING TO FALL), PERIOD FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY, EXCELLENT CONSERVATION
REFLECTIONS FOR REFLECTION
The world is on the verge of globalization which, Leghists or not, is impossible to stop, globalization which, perhaps, along with so many current negative problems will also bring greater general wealth, since the most reductive calculations tell us that in the next twenty years at least two billion people who are in poverty today will come to similar standards of living to those in Europe and thus become our good customers.
Parallel to the saturated belly also goes culture, the awareness of the beautiful and the Pleasure of being able to possess it.
And what is “the beautiful!” Well, among the many things that can be defined as beautiful, there are antique furniture, antique carpets, antique mansions (which are those built until 1940, then, the dark..) and there are also antique fireplaces, the expression of a world made of art and sweat that is liquefying at a speed far greater than that of the glaciers of the North Pole.
It is very likely then that, in twenty years or so, those few remaining antique fireplaces on the market will be in demand by a multitude of individuals, and their economic value will skyrocket.
