French Antique 19th Century Limestone Trough

A French antique limestone trough from the 19th century, long and low, with a wide, blocky rim and an exterior gone deeply pitted from a hundred years outdoors. The stone underneath is a cool gray, but the surface has taken on a warm patina: ochre on the sunward faces, moss green in the shade. Inside the basin the rhythmic marks of the tools that shaped it are still plain, and a drain hole passes through the basin wall where the farm once let the water out.

It measures 85 inches long, 32 inches deep and 15 inches high. Condition is as found: the pitting and the moss are the point, and the drain hole is open and usable for plumbing or runoff.

A limestone trough this long wants a line to follow: the edge of a terrace, the foot of a garden wall, the side of a gravel walk, where it marks a boundary without blocking the view beyond it. Planted with herbs or low grasses it gives a new garden the overgrown look of an old one. It is in our yard in Marina Del Rey; come and see it, or ask for photographs and a delivered price.