The origins of the “Tournesol” fireplace mantel (French name for sunflower) date back to the year 1774, when Louis XVI decided to accede to the requests of his wife Marie Antoinette of Austria, who was fed up with living in her consort's country house(that was Versailles, eh, not a condominium in the suburbs.. ), too many cicisbei, too many formalities, too many false smiles.. She loved the countryside and Louis XVI pleased her, giving her a chateau in the park of the palace of Versailles, the famous Petit Trianon...
But ... even there our Mariuccia had some problems. The biggest problem consisted in the fact that the Petit Trianon had been built by Louis XVI's father, the mythical Louis XV under the pretext of needing a“Hunting Lodge.” Indeed that chateau was a Casino, but ... not really a hunting one. After all, come to think of it, Louis XV had a point; hiding an army of lovers from his wife in a situation like Versailles, which hosted hundreds of counts and countesses every day who had nothing to do but speak ill of those present, was objectively always more difficult.
Marie Antoinette, however, did not like the thought of all the “erotic misdeeds” that her father-in-law had committed within those walls, and so she decided to “clean up” and threw out of the salon where she and her ladies-in-waiting spent their time, all the existing furniture and furnishings, and finally demolished the mantelpiece located there. When the whole thing was rebuilt, she decided to have a fireplace carved (later made by a Tuscan sculptor whose name I can no longer remember today..) in the Louis XVI style (it was the least, since her husband, indeed, Louis XVI, always took out her purse).
The whole front of the fireplace had it carved with a row of sunflower flowers, this because the open corolla of this beautiful flower meant (and still means today) SUN AND LIFE, that is, what our Antoinette wanted more than anything else.
What I have told you above was a gossip that made the rounds of all the courts of Europe, thus giving publicity to this new model of fireplace of which our Mariuccia is, by all rights, the mother.
The Parisian architects (the European elite of beautiful design) didn't seem to mind inaugurating a series of fireplaces with sculptures representing this great flower.
Obviously, the mantel we propose in this file is not the same as the one in the Petit Trianon salon, its flowers are only two and moreover small, however, this graceful model, of its progenitor has the Spirit, the Heart and it too, therefore, with its two corollas, invites us to enjoy THE SUN AND LIFE.
LOUIS XVI STYLE, ITALIAN SCULPTURAL WORK (LUNIGIANA DOCET) WHITE MARBLE FROM CARRARA “P”, NOWADAYS CALLED “JOY” AFTER THE NAME OF THE LAST REMAINING ACTIVE QUARRY OF THIS MARBLE, VERY GOOD CONDITION, LATE 19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY PERIOD, PROVENANCE CÔTE D'AZUR.
