Antique Limestone de Besancon Fireplace Mantel Campagnarde Style

An antique limestone fireplace mantel in the campagnarde style, a simple heavy surround cut from solid Besançon limestone and taken from a farmhouse in the Besançon region of eastern France. It was intended for daily use in a rural kitchen or hearth room, and its effect comes from mass and proportion rather than ornament. The stone is a cool dove gray with chalk-white wear and scattered dark mineral freckling. Smoke has colored the inner edges a deep shadow tone, and softly worn corners, small surface marks and natural color variation break up the flat heavy planes.

It measures 53 1/2 inches wide, 18 1/2 inches deep and 41 1/2 inches high, with an opening of 42 1/2 by 35 1/2 inches and a jamb depth of 15 inches. It was reclaimed whole, jambs, lintel and shelf.

It suited a kitchen, a hospitality space or a renovation where unpolished stone is part of the language, against lime plaster where the matte gray catches light softly, beside oak, worn terracotta or brick floors. This mantel has sold. We usually have similar country mantels from the Besançon area in the yard or on the water; ask us and we will send what is current. If a limestone fireplace mantel of this size is the aim, say so and we will watch for one.