French Antique 19th Century Limestone Fireplace

A French antique stone fireplace mantel from the 19th century, reclaimed from a house in Burgundy. The profile is a heavy frame: wide rectangular legs under a deep header. Each jamb carries three deeply recessed channels of fluting, and the center of the header holds a rectangular cartouche with an interlaced guilloche pattern. The limestone is ash gray and pale sand, with the two tones moving across a textured surface. Natural pitting, surface mottling and blunted, eased edges along the stepped shelf show its age.

It measures 56 3/4 inches wide, 23 1/4 inches deep and 43 1/4 inches high. The opening is 48 3/4 inches wide and 37 3/4 inches high, and the returns are about 14 1/2 inches deep. The fluting and the guilloche are crisp for a piece of this age; the wear is concentrated on the shelf edge and the lower legs, where it should be.

This antique limestone fireplace suits a formal house or a small hotel, where the shelf can carry a heavy sculpture or a large painting and the firelight can catch the irregular face of the stone. The stone fireplace mantel can be seen by appointment in Marina Del Rey, or we will send more photographs and a quote.