IMPORTANT LOUIS XVI OAK ESSENCE COLUMN FIREPLACE, PROVENANCE PARIS, GREAT CABINETMAKING QUALITY, EXCELLENT PRESERVATION, MID 19TH CENTURY PERIOD (EARLY NAPOLEON III ERA).
WARNING: THERE IS NO PLASTER HERE, ALL YOU SEE IS THE WORK, SWEAT AND CRAFTSMANSHIP OF A SCULPTOR.
WE HAVE ONLY CLEANED IT UP (AND NOT EVEN THAT MUCH..) FROM PAINTING AFTER IT WAS MADE (AT THAT TIME WOMEN WENT CRAZY FOR WHITE AND POOR HUSBANDS WERE ALL FORCED TO WHITEWASH ANYTHING IN THEIR HOUSE THAT WAS NOT WHITE IN COLOR...).
THIS FIREPLACE IS, WITHOUT A DOUBT, AN AMATEUR'S “PIECE,” WHILE ITS COST IS TO BE CONSIDERED PALTRY AND INSULTING TO THE SCULPTOR WHO SAID WORK WAS MADE...
BUT THAT'S THE WAY THE WORLD GOES, TODAY MANY CUSTOMERS, LACKING IN HISTORICAL/AESTHETIC CULTURE OR MISGUIDEDLY ADVISED BY ARCHITECTS IN A FRENZY FOR MODERNISM AT ALL COSTS, PREFER TO BUY NEWLY PRODUCED AND PERHAPS STELLAR COST FIREPLACES WHILE TRUE WORKS OF ART (OR IF YOU PREFER “HIGH CRAFTSMANSHIP”) SUCH AS THIS ARE SNUBBED.
SO, LET'S CLARIFY, SNUBBED BECAUSE YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND.
THOUGHTS ON THE ALL-ITALIAN HABIT OF PREFERRING THE NEW TO THE OLD:
PYTHAGORAS WAS THE FIRST THINKER TO UNDERSTAND AND WRITE ABOUT THE FACT THAT THE UNIVERSE HAD IN ITSELF A RATIONALITY OF ITS OWN, THAT IS, THAT EVERYTHING (MEN AND THINGS) HAD TO MOVE ACCORDING TO CRITERIA OF REASONABLENESS, CRITERIA IN SOME WAY REGULATED BY MATHEMATICS, AN INFALLIBLE SUBJECT IN WHICH OUR MAN WAS QUITE “STRONG.”
MOVING FROM PYTHAGORAS AND WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THAT IMPORTANT PART OF THE WORLD THAT IS MEN, ARISTOTLE CALLED THIS REASONABLENESS BY THE TERM “INTELLIGENCE.”
PLATO, ON THE OTHER HAND, MORE OF A PHILOSOPHER THAN A MATHEMATICIAN, MORE POETICALLY CALLED THIS SAME PYTHAGOREAN REASONABLENESS THE “SOUL OF THE WORLD.”...
WELL, IN MY OPINION, IF THESE EXALTED THINKERS WOULD GO BACK TO THE WORLD AND SEE WHICH FIREPLACES ARE IN VOGUE TODAY (I.E., THE NEW ONES, OF EVERY CONCEIVABLE MATERIAL AND FACTURE, ALMOST ALL MADE IN CHINA..), THEY WOULD IMMEDIATELY REALIZE THAT THEY HAVE EXPRESSED TOO OPTIMISTIC THOUGHTS ABOUT REASONABLENESS, INTELLIGENCE AND THE SOUL OF HUMAN BEINGS.
FOR HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT ONE CAN CALL “INTELLIGENT” OR “REASONABLE” AN INDIVIDUAL WHO PREFERS TO SPEND HIS SESTERTII OR DRACHMAS ON A FIREPLACE MADE TONIGHT IN CHINA OR INDIA (FOR THAT IS WHERE, MIND YOU) ALMOST ALL NEW FIREPLACES ARE "BUILT ”) INSTEAD OF IN AN ANCIENT FIREPLACE, THE RESULT OF EUROPEAN ART, CULTURE AND INGENUITY?
COST LESS FOR A NEW FIREPLACE THAN AN OLD ONE, THEN I COULD ALSO UNDERSTAND (BUT NOT FORGIVE, MIND YOU), BUT ... TAKE A LITTLE WALK AROUND MY SITE AND YOU WILL REALIZE, IF ANYTHING, THE OPPOSITE....
THE FIREPLACE I PRESENT HERE NOW IS ONE OF THE ABSOLUTE "MOST IMPORTANT" IN MY WAREHOUSE, YET IT COSTS MUCH LESS THAN ONE OF THE "TOP" FIREPLACES IN TODAY'S CATALOGS... BUT THIS IS A PIECE OF ART HISTORY, WHILE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ALMOND-EYED FIREPLACE IS NOTHING MORE THAN AN INDUSTRIAL PRODUCT...
