ANTIQUE LOUIS XVI STYLE FIREPLACE SURROUND IN VEINED STATUARY MARBLE

French, mid to late nineteenth century,

the generous shaped and moulded shelf above bow-front fluted frieze with foliate carved central plaque and foliate paterae to each flank, all raised on stop-fluted volute jambs and block feet, in superb quality lightly veined Statuary marble. 

£16,500

AW001

  • Between 1853 and 1870, under the direction of Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann, Prefect of the Seine, Paris underwent one of the most ambitious urban transformations in (its) history. The construction of elegant new boulevards and residential apartment buildings created an unprecedented demand for architectural ornament, with almost every apartment requiring at least one fireplace. 

    This remarkable programme of redevelopment explains the abundance of nineteenth-century French fireplaces found today. Although produced during the Second Empire, many were deliberately crafted in the earlier Louis XV and Louis XVI styles, reflecting the enduring appeal of eighteenth-century French design. This elegant cheminée is a fine example, combining nineteenth-century craftsmanship with the refined proportions and decorative vocabulary of the Louis XVI tradition 

    Architectural historian Alec Clifton-Taylor famously observed that “when it is a delicate honey-colour turning to gold in the sun, Bath stone can give exquisite pleasure.” This luminous warmth, combined with its refined texture and exceptional workability, has made Bath stone the material of choice for some of England’s most celebrated historic buildings and a defining feature of the architecture of Bath itself. 

  • Width 46” / 117cm  

    Height 62” / 157.5m  

    Depth 15” / 38cm  

    Opening height 35” / 89cm  

    Opening width 41” / 104cm