French Antique Limestone Aqueduct

A French antique limestone aqueduct, a long, low stone shaped around a deep U-shaped channel, one of the architectural elements that only makes sense once you know water ran through it. The outside is heavily weathered: dark gray pitting, jagged broken edges, rough faces. Inside the channel the stone changes completely, smoother and lighter, warm bone and sand where the water polished it. That contrast between rough outside and worn inside is the whole character of the piece.

It measures 59 inches long, 13 3/4 inches deep and 6 1/2 inches high, a strong horizontal line without any height. The walls are thick and the stone is heavy for its size; two people can shift it but it travels better on a pallet. The broken edges are old and stable.

In a garden, set it on a low wall as a rill with a trickle of water, lay it along a border filled with moss or succulents, or let it stay dry as an edge to a gravel path. Indoors it sits on a console with small objects in the runnel. Of all the architectural elements we have for water, this is the quietest. The channel is in our yard in Marina Del Rey; come and run a hand along it, or ask us for photographs and a quote.