In the world there are those who are unlucky like Donald Duck and those who, like their cousin Gastone, are born with a silver spoon in their mouth....
The antique fireplace that I am presenting here must be related to the mythical Gastone, since it counts in itself all the fortunes possible to him, none excluded...
As soon as I saw it, this “Trois Fleurs” mantel raised this thought in me: “This is, of its illustrious category, certainly the first in its class!”
Let us see together, if you have the will and patience, the many enviable peculiarities of this mantel:
1) the choice of marble slabs with which to build it was really well done.. And by the way, “it was,” you must in fact consider (and to those who come to my warehouse I will visually demonstrate how this fact was usual in nineteenth-century sculpture workshops..) you must in fact, I was saying, consider that usually, once Carrara slabs were selected with which to carve “the front” of the fireplace, slabs of lesser quality (and cost..) were used for the sides and the floor. Here, however, we have great and effective homogeneity of tones of “Carrara Gioia” marble used throughout.
2) Said fireplace is equipped with its original cast iron art insert, something that happens very few times.. Usually, in fact, those few cast iron inserts on the market are displaced from the fireplaces that contained them, and sold separately, galloping the fashion that the cast iron insert itself becomes the mantel of the fireplace. In essence, the accessory becomes fireplace itself!!! And so it almost always happens that the customer who asks for a cast iron insert is offered an adaptation of a cast iron insert that was originally contained in another fireplace.. Since it is therefore an “adaptation,” you will understand that it will be necessary, precisely, to adapt to the fact that the two “married by force” do not perfectly match... Here, however, EVERYTHING COLLIMATES perfectly, everything is just right, everything is perfect artistic balance, and that is no small thing..
3) All “Trois Fleurs” fireplaces look alike, and to the layman it is often not easy to tell which is better carved and which is not.. Here, on the other hand, anyone can see (it jumps to the eye !!) how good the hand of the master sculptor who made said fireplace was. The carvings are definitely raised, the leaves are fine that you want to touch them, in short, the quality of sculpture is all there and it is indisputable..
4) Finally, it must be said that this fireplace has a few more gears than most of its “Trois Fleurs” siblings even when it comes to beautiful decorative richness... ONE IN A THOUSAND MAKES IT TO DECORATE WITH A VERY LONG PEARL NECKLACE, AND OURS IS ONE OF THEM. You will easily fall in love with this necklace that, on the front, surrounds the oval flower sculpture. But that's not the end of it: Scroll through the photographs until you find the detail of the sides: See how the side itself is “designed” with elegant squares carved in marble? Well, very few fireplaces have this additional and very rare decoration.
Last “practical” note:
It would be a crime to separate this fireplace from its cast iron insert, but I would understand the customer who wished to have the hearth of his fireplace as open as possible, and that is, without the narrowing that the cast iron insert itself forcibly creates, which is why we have divided the two prices.
LOUIS XVI "TROIS FLEURS PERLÉ " FIREPLACE IN WHITE CARRARA MARBLE QUARRY JOY, NAPOLEON III ERA (1860-80), PROVENANCE PARIS, PERFECT PRESERVATION AND ENCHANTING PATINA.
