French Antique Limestone Slab

A French antique limestone slab, a single dense block of pale stone whose color shifts between warm gray and soft taupe, freckled with rust-colored iron spots and here and there a faint blush of pink. The top is flat and matte, pocked with deep pinholes and a fossil-like speckling across the whole face. Around the perimeter the stone has been split rather than sawn, with the edges slightly undercut and the corners blunted, so the raw inner grain shows along every side.

It measures 50 inches wide, 35 1/4 inches deep and 4 3/4 inches high. The thickness is right for a hearth or a threshold, and the split edges mean it reads as a found block rather than a cut tile. It came from France and has been outdoors a long time; the iron freckling and the open pores are part of that history and we would not fill them.

Under a firebox it makes a broad, heat-tolerant hearth. Inside an entry door it is a threshold that will take daily traffic for another century. On a plain steel base it becomes a low stone table, and outdoors it will carry a large planted vessel. This limestone slab has sold, but we usually have similar slabs in the yard or on the water from France; ask and we will send what is current.