French Antique Foundation Slab

One of the thicker French antique limestone blocks we have had: a foundation slab nearly 15 inches high, in a palette of sun-dried wheat and ash gray with patches of burnt-umber lichen across the face. Coarse grain and small craters pock the surface, the record of a life spent as a threshold under feet and weather. The edges are blunt and worn down like an old coin, smoothed by centuries of traffic and seasons.

It measures 43 1/4 inches long, 24 3/4 inches deep and 14 3/4 inches high. The lichen is on the stone and will fade indoors; outdoors in shade it will keep going. The block is sound and very heavy, set by machine onto a prepared base.

At this height it is a low table in an open room without any frame at all, a raised platform for a group of large ceramic vessels, or a single monumental step up to a terrace. In a spa or wet room it serves as a plain bench. Charred cedar, raw copper and polished concrete make good neighbors. This antique limestone slab has sold. We usually have similar limestone blocks and thick slabs in the yard or on the water; ask and we will send what is current.