A few days before the Christmas holidays, I receive a call from one of our Parisian “collectors”, Ludovic…
He is completely excited. We have known each other for many years and he knows perfectly well that if he speaks too fast I understand nothing of what he is trying to tell me in his Parisian slang. He sounds almost possessed, firing sentences like machine-gun bullets… I try to stop him, but I simply cannot.
More or less, I understand that he has in his hands a large construction site near the Champs-Élysées, a site where there are some splendid fireplaces, all from the Napoleon III period, the most fertile period in terms of elegance of design and quality of sculpture.
“Louis Quinze avec rameaux d’olivier!” is the phrase that keeps recurring throughout the call.
It is precisely this excitement — quite unusual for a man whose job is to mediate antique fireplaces in the very homeland of the antique fireplace and who therefore sees beautiful examples very often — that makes me think something truly important must be at stake.
He asks me to “aller toute de suite”, to come immediately, obviously bringing “l’argent” with me, because he, as always, has no money in his pockets, not even enough to leave a deposit…
I tell him yes, that I will leave immediately with my van — and while saying so I already know that my wife will devour me alive…
AND IN FACT:
“It’s Christmas time… what are you going there for… you already have a thousand fireplaces in the warehouse, what do you need three or four more for?… Who knows what cold you’ll find in Paris and what traffic on the roads… etc., etc.”
Indeed, the traffic jams I did find (but only from my house to Mont Blanc — after that everything went smoothly; in France things work, and very well indeed!!). But… I hardly noticed. I was carried away by the excitement of discovery: what would I find in that building near the Champs-Élysées?
Well then, this splendid Louis XV fireplace is one of the fireplaces (in my opinion the most slender and elegant) that I purchased during that trip.
It is exceptional in every respect:
-
In the refinement of its sculpture, certainly produced in a thoroughly Italian artistic workshop at the foothills of the Apuan Alps;
-
In the importance of the model (rare and noble, yet without putting on airs — therefore very charming), born from the pencil of a talented architect;
-
In the fact that its White Carrara marble, quality “PURE,” is truly of good quality and was selected with great care so that the various slabs would maintain a fine homogeneity of tone;
-
In its perfect state of preservation;
-
In the fact that, the cherry on the cake (and what a cherry!), it is enriched with a (just as rare) “TCoeur” model fireback from the famous Larcher Foundry (also Parisian). There is a story behind this fascinating accessory — this “throat-tightening insert” — but space is limited, and I will tell that story to whoever comes to admire this fireplace in person.
Thank you, Ludovic, my friend, for the emotion you made me feel!
