ANTIQUE LOUIS XVI FIREPLACE, LATE 18TH/EARLY 19TH CENTURY, CARVED IN PIERRE DORE' DU BEAUJOLAIS, PROVENANCE BURGUNDY.
It is, this mantel, a rather interesting fireplace in that:
A) It is dressed in a soft and warm stone, most pleasant to enjoy.
B) It is in size, if not small, certainly not even large, many rooms will accommodate it
C) It has a lot of decorative load, unusual are its leafy frieze and the cuspal notches on the legs
D) It is priced too low, and this can be a problem, there are people who judge an object by its price, you wouldn't be one of them, would you!
The paltry price of this fireplace depends on two factors happily (or not, depending on your point of view) met: An exceptional bargain at the time of purchase and an inauspicious restoration to its right leg (clearly visible in these pictures), a restoration that I would like not to do.. Not because it's not possible (no one like our restorer-I know I'm being presumptuous, but I think it's true what I'm about to say-can do this restoration better), but because it's only fair that a fireplace with a foot in the eighteenth century some wrinkles should have it.
WELL, I WOULD LIKE TO SELL THIS FIREPLACE TO THOSE WHO POSSESS THE KNOWLEDGE THAT ANTIQUE CANNOT, AND ESPECIALLY SHOULD NOT, BE NEW.
