Belgian Antique Petit Granite Bluestone Slab

A Belgian antique limestone slab in Petit Granit, the dense dark stone of Belgium that is sold as Belgian bluestone and is in fact a limestone. The top has been honed to a smooth matte surface, deep smoky blue gray with thin white quartz veins and small mineral deposits scattered through the grain. In the center a circular channel has been cut around a square opening that passes right through the stone. The sides were never dressed: deep ridges, split faces and natural fractures show the coarse body of the rock.

It measures 29 1/2 inches square and 6 3/4 inches high. The square opening in the center is about 8 inches across, and the stone is about 5 inches thick where the channel has been cut down from the honed top. It is heavy for its size and sits flat on a floor without fixing.

Use it as a low plinth for a bronze or a big ceramic in an entry hall, as a base for a glass vessel so the cut geometry stays visible, or on a covered terrace against rough lime plaster, white oak or blackened iron. The limestone slab is in our yard in Marina Del Rey; see it in daylight, or ask for photographs of the top and sides and a quote.