I MUST MAKE AN IMPORTANT PREMISE, A PREMISE THAT YOU WILL HAPPEN TO READ OTHER TIMES IN THE LOUIS XVI AND EMPIRE CATEGORIES, A PREMISE THAT, HOWEVER, IS NECESSARY TO A BETTER POSSIBLE UNDERSTANDING OF THE FIREPLACE PRESENTED:
THIS MANTEL IS PUBLISHED BOTH IN THE LOUIS XVI SECTION AND IN THE EMPIRE SECTION, THIS IS BECAUSE WHILE IT IS TRUE THAT THE EMPIRE STYLISM (HERE I AM REFERRING TO THE “FIRST EMPIRE,” THAT OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE) STEMS FROM THE NEOCLASSICAL STYLISTIC MATRIX AND MORE PRECISELY LOUIS XVI, IT IS ALSO TRUE THAT IN THE NAPOLEON III PERIOD (WHO WAS EMPEROR FROM 1852-1870) THE BASIC STYLISM OF THE FIRST EMPIRE WILL LOSE CERTAIN TOO AUSTERE AND/OR SPARTAN ASPECTS AND WILL BE DECISIVELY “REFINED.”
AND ALSO, EXCUSE ME, I WOULD NOT MAKE TOO MUCH DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NAPOLEON BONAPARTE AND NAPOLEON III, THE LATTER IN FACT:
(A) WAS DESCENDED FROM THE FORMER (HE WAS HIS NEPHEW AS HIS BROTHER'S SON);
(B) HAD HIS OWN DEFECT OF WANTING TO BE EMPEROR AT ALL COSTS;
C) HE WAS A PROPONENT OF FRENCH GRANDEUR (IT WAS HE WHO BUILT, AT THE COST OF DEMOLISHING THE CENTER OF PARIS, THE CHAMPS ELYSEES) AND HE TOO;
(D) AFTER A MILITARY DEFEAT HE ENDED UP IN EXILE.
TALIS ZIUS TALIS NEPOTEM !!! (MACHERONIC LATIN BUT VERY UNDERSTANDABLE).
ALL THIS PARROT TO BE ABLE TO SAY THAT, AFTER ALL, EVEN THE SO-CALLED “SECOND EMPIRE” IS NOT AT ALL SECOND TO THE “FIRST EMPIRE.”
AND IN ANY CASE, BOTH CAN BEAR THE TITLE OF “EMPIRE.”
NOW LET'S GET TO THE ACTUAL COMMENTARY ON THE FIRE SURROUND ON THIS CARD:
VERY FINE AS WELL AS VERY SMALL NAPOLEON III PERIOD FIREPLACE, PERFECT PRESERVATION, PARISIAN PROVENANCE, CARVED IN ROSE BURGUNDY.
A “column” (in this case “half-column”..) mantelpiece is always an exceptional find for anyone doing this work, a situation in which you feel like Captain Ahab when he spots the coveted white whale.
If you then manage to load this very rare cetacean onto your Pequod (our Captain Ahab's ship, a ship that, in my case is an ancient and very noble Mercedes Sprinter van that is sailing, still with good confidence, toward 800,000 km..), well, then the return trip to our Emilian port is a happy one, made up of hours spent in the thought of being able to mount it right away to show it, with pride, to those whose qualities of this whale I can best understand..
Beyond the very clean design of its decorative details, perhaps its main characteristic lies in its, literally Lilliputian, size..
Generally speaking, in fact, fireplaces of such constructive importance also had equally important dimensions, partly because said fireplaces were mostly created for the purpose of adorning the reception hall of a wealthy mansion and constituted a kind of status symbol of the time.
A LITTLE LIKE THE CAR IN OUR DAYS:
IF YOU WANT TO “LOOK” YOU CAN'T DO IT WITH A NISSAN MICRA, CAN YOU!?
But this was in a very important Parisian Hotel (still existing, eh, they dismantled and sold some fireplaces just to enlarge their already existing SPA ZONE.. For those who are as ignorant as I am, who have until recently believed that the SPA was just a corporation, I will write that the infamous SPA is a place where you pay a lot to eat very little, the only meager consolation a few massages with hot stone endings on your back and a few soaks in the hot tub which brings no slimming whatsoever, but endless boredom). I CAN CONFIRM THIS TO YOU WITH GOOD REASON BECAUSE MY WIFE ONCE MANAGED TO DRAG ME FOR A FEW DAYS TO ONE OF THESE MODERN GALLEYS, PLACES THAT AWAKEN IN YOU MURDEROUS INSTINCTS TOWARD WHOEVER, THERE, HAS LED YOU....
But, I was saying about its very minimal size, this fireplace was placed in an important Parisian Hotel (whose name and address I will give to those who want to know everything about our fireplace...), and in Hotels the size of fireplaces is generally reduced, for reasons of space.
This may be the “technical” reason for its smallness, but... the rooms of a luxury hotel like that were not as small as those of the guesthouse “Da Marta” in Pinarella di Cervia, after all, in such environments well could have been placed even larger fireplaces... So, in the end, I think that the 19th-century architect who designed those interiors wanted, on purpose, to make that fireplace a bijou, a precious little object in place of a large and magnificent one that, often, also seems to sin in Pride....
SOME TECHNICAL-DESCRIPTIVE ELEMENTS:
The capitals (which represent the most important decorative part) are made through the classic and very fine inverted acanthus leaves whose auspicious meaning is “Ability to overcome the difficulties of life”).
The sides decorated with geometric design and the finely tapered columns complete the Beautiful Simplicity of this very pleasing artifact..
But the thing that makes this fireplace most unique is its color, a most felicitous mixture of light pinkish and lobster tones, a melange that only this splendid material, called “Burgundy Rose,” can give..
I will not dwell here on the technical characteristics of this stone material, but I will be happy, if asked, to speak at length about it to the buyer of the fireplace itself.
Personally, of the Burgundy Pink I am in love.
