Antique French Limestone Trough

An unusual antique French limestone trough with a channeled rim: a raised inner lip separates the main basin from a shallow groove that runs around the top edge, and angled spillways are cut straight through the lip so water can pass from one to the other. The outer walls carry heavy diagonal striations across the whole block and have weathered to ash and slate gray. Inside, the basin is smoother and paler, chalky white and dusty beige. Several drainage holes pierce the front face, and the upper ledge is chipped and broken in places.

It measures 93 inches wide, 41 inches deep and 21 inches high, a long low block that reads as a bench-height plinth from across a garden. A French piece; by its shape it is 18th or 19th century work. The broken sections of the ledge are old and weathered to the same tone as the rest; they are part of how the piece reads and we would not restore them.

Fed from a wide brass weir, the two-level rim makes a small cascade in itself. Sunk flush into a lawn it is a quiet reflecting pool; set beneath an outdoor garden shower it is a catchment with built-in overflow. Dark basalt gravel beneath draws out the pale interior of this limestone trough. The piece has sold; troughs with channeled rims are rare but do come through, so ask and we will send what is current.