Antique Mediterranean Limestone Fireplace

An antique stone fireplace mantel from the Mediterranean with a gently arched lintel on swept, tapering legs and a curved projecting shelf that follows the line of the frieze below. The limestone is a pale layered cream and light gray, with darker ash tones settled in the block seams. A large scallop shell in deep relief sits at the center of the frieze, balanced by two smaller shells at the top of each leg. Minor chips, visible block joints and a dry coarse texture mark the surface.

It measures 60 1/2 inches wide, 21 1/4 inches deep and 44 3/4 inches high, with an opening of 51 1/4 by 37 inches. It was reclaimed whole, jambs, lintel and shelf, from a Mediterranean house. The scale is moderate and the profile slender, so it framed a hearth without taking the wall.

It suited a bedroom suite, a narrow gallery or a formal sitting room, around a working firebox or as a dry surround, with dark iron tools and smooth plaster that let the shadows in the shells read. This antique limestone fireplace is sold. We usually have similar shell-fronted Mediterranean mantels in the yard or on the water from Europe; ask us and we will send what is current, with photographs of each stone fireplace mantel.