ANTIQUE LOUIS XVI FIREPLACE MANTEL IN WHITE CARRARA MARBLE.
WHILE IN A WORKSHOP IN PIETRASANTA (ITALY), A MASTER STONEMASON (WHO TODAY, IF HE WERE STILL IN THE WORLD, WOULD BE AN ACCLAIMED SCULPTOR..) WAS CASTING HIS MASTERY AND SWEAT OVER THESE BLOCKS OF NOBLE AMIATA MARBLE, IN VERSAILLES, LOUIS XVI OF BOURBON, THE LAST RULER OF THE DYNASTY OF UGO CAPETO, WAS PLAYING CHESS WITH HIS WIFE MARIA ANTONIETTA (AND LOSING, THE KING. HE ALWAYS LOST BECAUSE, IF HE EVER EVEN HAD THE GAME IN HIS HAND FOR ONCE, HE MADE SURE HE LOST IT SO AS NOT TO UPSET HIS WIFE, WHOSE SUCCUBUS HE WAS).
HERE, I THUS BEGIN THE PRESENTATION OF THIS VERY IMPORTANT (PLEASE DON'T LOOK AT ITS LOW PRICE, IT'S NOT FROM THERE THAT ONE JUDGES THE VALUE, HISTORICAL AND ARTISTIC, OF SUCH AN ARTIFACT.. UNFORTUNATELY, TODAY THE VALUES OF OBJECTS COME AND GO ACCORDING TO FASHIONS, CERTAINLY NOT BY HOW MUCH INTRINSIC VALUE THEY HAVE IN THEMSELVES. PLEASURE). I SAY. I BEGIN FROM THIS LITTLE HISTORICAL PICTURE THE PRESENTATION OF THIS FIREPLACE AS I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE CLEAR TO THOSE WHO HAVE THE MISFORTUNE TO READ THESE LINES WHAT IS THE PERIOD IN WHICH THIS FIREPLACE WAS BORN.
1780? YES, MORE OR LESS WE ARE IN THOSE YEARS?
WITH CERTAINTY I CAN SAY THAT WE ARE IN A PERIOD BEFORE 1790....
HOW CAN I BE SO CONFIDENT? WELL, I CAN'T WRITE THAT HERE, WHERE EVERYONE MIGHT STEAL A SECRET FROM ME THAT IS PROFESSIONAL, BUT I WILL BE A JALISSIAN RIVER OF WORDS FOR THOSE WHO WOULD COME TO APPRECIATE THIS FIREPLACE AT MY WAREHOUSE.
IT WAS THE TIME OF ROYAL POMP, SLAVES AND PAGEANTRY, SERFS AND ERMINE STOLES, THE BASTILLE HAD YET TO COME, IT WAS A TIMELESS TIME, AT LEAST FOR US WHO ARE SO FAR REMOVED FROM IT
THE MANTEL, ALTHOUGH PRESENTED IN THE STATE OF THE FIND, IS OF GOOD WORKMANSHIP AND VERY PARTICULAR DESIGN, WHICH IS NOT EASY TO FIND IN FIREPLACES OF THIS ERA.
THESE ARE THINGS THAT TELL US THAT THIS FIREPLACE DID NOT BELONG TO A BOURGEOIS (UNLESS IT WAS A BERLUSCONI OF THE TIME...), TO A BOURGEOIS, IN FACT, AT LEAST IN THAT ERA, CERTAIN REFINEMENTS WERE FORBIDDEN.
IN THE CENTER OF HIS FRIEZE WE FIND A ROMAN CUIRASS FROM THE HEAD OF WHICH PROTRUDES A PERFECT ROMAN BEAM, THE CUIRASS IS RESTING ON TWO CANNON BARRELS...
THESE FORMALLY WARLIKE IMAGES WERE IN ESSENCE A WISH FOR INNER RATHER THAN PHYSICAL STRENGTH, TEMPERANCE, RESISTANCE TO TEMPTATION, AND SO ON...
A PERPETUAL WISH SENT TO THE FAMILY GATHERED AT THAT HEARTH.
ITS PRICE IS ONE TO LAUGH AT, ESPECIALLY WHEN COMPARED TO THE COST OF MODERN SLANT-EYED FIREPLACES. HERE, IN FACT, WE ARE IN FRONT OF A VERY NOBLE PIECE OF ART HISTORY, NOT IN FRONT OF A POLISHED MARBLE LOG SPAT OUT BY A CHINESE MACHINE !!!
DISCOVERY MADE IN BURGUNDY, OF THE PERIOD WE HAVE SPOKEN ABOVE, EXCELLENT PRESERVATION OF THE WHOLE, AMATEUR PATINA, SIZE PARTICULARLY SUITABLE EVEN FOR OUR MODERN HOMES (I HAD FORGOTTEN ABOVE TO WRITE THAT IN THE LOUIS XVI ERA, FIREPLACES OF THIS “MISURINA” WERE MOUNTED EXCLUSIVELY IN BEDROOMS AND THEREFORE WERE IN SMALL SIZE, JUST THE RIGHT SIZE FOR OUR “THIRD MILLENNIUM” ROOMS).
