LOUUIS XVI “CANNELURE” FIREPLACE MANTEL IN DUQUESA PINK MARBLE.
The marble is as written above, but.. of what splendor, what clarity and vividness of tone !!!
In short, all women are beautiful, but some are more so than others, no?!
The mantelpiece is in PERFECT CONDITION OF CONSERVATION AND PROVIDED WITH A ENVIABLE PATINA, A SIGN OF GOOD CONSTRUCTION.
WE ARE IN PARIS, AROUND 1870.
GENERAL NOTES ON THE STATE OF ANTIQUE FIREPLACES:
MORE AND MORE FREQUENTLY LADIES INTERESTED IN BUYING AN ANTIQUE FIREPLACE COME TO MY WAREHOUSE.. MAYBE, FIRST THEY CALL, INQUIRE ABOUT THIS AND THAT FIREPLACE SEEN ON THE SITE, THEY ARE WELL AWARE, THEREFORE, OF THE FACT THAT THEY ARE ABOUT TO BUY AN ARTIFACT THAT HAS CENTURIES OF LIFE AND VICISSITUDES... I PRESENT THEM WITH HUNDREDS OF ANTIQUE FIREPLACES IN THE STATE OF THEIR FIND, AND THAT IS, DUSTY, PERHAPS WITH A FEW DENTS IN A SLAB, AND SOME INEVITABLE FASCINATING STAINS ON THEIR SURFACES BROUGHT ON BY TIME.. THE FACT IS THAT WHEN THESE LADIES (IT'S ALWAYS THE WOMEN, EH, THE LITTLE MEN, WHEN THEY'RE AROUND, ARE ALWAYS DEFILADED AND SHY..) HAVE SPOTTED THE FIREPLACE THEY'D LIKE, THEY START LOOKING AT IT WITH A MICROSCOPE AND THEN BLURT OUT PHRASES LIKE, “BUT, BUT… MAURIZIO, THIS STAIN COMES OUT, HUH?!”....... ”BUT... THEN IT COMES OUT SHINIER, DOESN'T IT!? AND HOW MUCH SHINIER!?” ..... ‘BUT ALL THESE LITTLE CHIPPINGS SHE THEN GROUTS THEM, HUH?!’.... ”BUT... WILL IT COME WHITER, THEN, MAURIZIO, AFTER RESTORATION!?”... ”UHMMM... THIS PLATE SEEMS TO ME ONE TONE DARKER THAN THE OTHER, HOW COME, MAURIZIO!?” AND SO ON AND SO FORTH... SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE ANSWERING... “BUT MA'AM, I CAN'T WASH IT WITH AVA, DO I LOOK LIKE THE DUTCH GIRL!?”
IN SHORT, UNLIKE A FEW DECADES AGO, A TIME WHEN BUYERS OF ANTIQUE FIREPLACES WERE VERY FEW AND MOSTLY TRUE LOVERS OF ANTIQUES, TODAY A LOT OF PEOPLE APPROACH THE ANTIQUE FIREPLACE, BUT MANY OF THESE PEOPLE, THEIR ANTIQUE FIREPLACE WOULD LIKE IT ... NEW!!!
HERE, WITH THIS OUTBURST OF MINE I WOULD LIKE TO POINT OUT TO THOSE WHO READ ME THAT OUR FIREPLACES ARE QUITE DIFFERENT FROM THE ONES FOR SALE AT AIAZZONE, OURS ARE LESS POLISHED (THEY WERE POLISHED WITH PUMICE STONE CLENCHED IN THE FIST, NOT WITH AN INDUSTRIAL MACHINE..), ALWAYS AT LEAST A LITTLE IMPERFECT (THEY WERE MADE BY HAND, BURIN AND SWEAT, NOT SPIT OUT BY A CNC MACHINE!!), ALWAYS WITH SOME SIGNS OF TIME (SCRATCHES, WAX DRIPPINGS, SMALL ABRASIONS ETC..).
ANTIQUE FIREPLACES ARE WORKS OF HIGH CRAFTSMANSHIP, NEW ONES ARE INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS, I REALLY BELIEVE THAT THIS STARK DIFFERENCE MAY WELL PAY OFF FOR THOSE WHO DECIDE TO PUT ONE OF OUR FIREPLACES IN THEIR HOMES, PERHAPS PUTTING UP WITH THEIR, WONDERFUL, IMPERFECTIONS.
SIMPLY PUT (AND PARDON MY BRUTALITY): WHOEVER WANTS A FIREPLACE THAT IS ALL PERFECT AND SHINY, THAT MAYBE EVEN SMELLS LIKE THE PLASTIC OF A PACKAGE, DON'T COME HERE TO US, YOU WON'T FIND IT EVEN IF YOU PAY THROUGH THE NOSE FOR IT!
