THIS FIREPLACE MANTEL IS “THE FEMALE” OF A PAIR OF FIREPLACES WE DISMANTLED IN THE SAME PARISIAN DWELLING WHERE THEY WERE, LIKE PEYNET LOVERS, LOOKING AT EACH OTHER . THE OTHER, “THE MALE” IS, IF NOT SOLD IN THE MEANTIME, THE FIREPLACE CODE 214, IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THIS ONE. COMPARING OUR LITTLE BROTHERS, YOU CAN SEE HOW, WHILE IDENTICAL IN PATTERN, QUALITY OF CARVING, AND MARBLE, THE MALE IS SMALLER THAN THE FEMALE, AND THIS IS BECAUSE, AT LEAST AS A RULE, THE MALE MUST BE ABLE TO “FIT” INTO THE FEMALE.
LOUIS XVI ARRONDI MANTEL (“ARRONDI” stands for “rounded,” an adjective which, in this case, refers to the arched and projecting outward line of its front and also of the two epaulets) IN BEAUTIFUL CARRARA QUARRYED STATUARY MARBLE, IN MY OPINION THE MOST “HOT” APARTMENT OF THE NOBLE STATUARY FAMILY.
INTERESTING IS ITS PECULIAR HEIGHT, 112.5 CM, AGAINST AN AVERAGE OF ABOUT 105 CM OF ITS BRETHREN OF THE SAME PERIOD AND STYLE. THIS LATTER PECULIARITY OF HIS MAKES OUR SPECIMEN SLIMMER THAN OTHERS OF EQUAL WIDTH.
A "classic" of the Napoleon III period, clean architecture, always elegant in any context you position it, decorously provided with a few carvings such as the pair of roses on either side of the front...
I present it with its load of “construction site” dust (it's not that we are “soppy,” eh, it's just that I like you to see it exactly as we found it.. Who knows, maybe you too might feel the same excitement as I did at the time I discovered it..), I was saying, I present it laden with dust, but underneath it is in very good condition..
Provenance Paris, 1860-80s period, Italian sculpture.
