LOUIS XVI STYLE CARRARA MARBLE FIREPLACE SURROUND
French, c.1860
An elegant and petite mid nineteenth-century French Carrara marble fireplace surround in the Louis XVI style, with rope-twist carving to the centre of the panelled frieze, the flower-carved corner-blocks above fluted jambs. The jamb returns panelled.
A small but beautifully conceived French fireplace with exquisitely executed carved flower-heads (possibly ornamental poppies), an unusual and more naturalistic rendering of the foliate form than that seen in similar surrounds.
£5,750
AW009
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In the nineteenth century, import of foreign marble to France became more widespread. The French mining infrastructure required costly maintenance which the government was unwilling to fund; private businesses couldn’t afford and were unwilling to foot the bill. The Decorative Architecture market (including fireplace sculptors) had no choice but to turn to Italy, particularly Tuscany, explaining the vast amount of French nineteenth-century chimneypieces in revival styles carved from Carrara marble.
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Width 53⅜” / 135.5cm
Height 42¼” / 107.5cm
Depth 14” / 35.5cm
Opening height 35⅜” / 89cm
Opening width 41⅝” / 105.5cm
Width at base