Marble Fireplaces and Mantels

Large 19th Century Console in Carved Painted Wood and Marble

Early 19th century, Italian neoclassical console table with veneered verde antique top, the base having original faux painted verde ...

Very beautiful fireplace of white Carrara marble from the 19th century. Carrara marble originally comes from Italy, from the town of Carrara. This city is also called the city of mar...

Antique fireplace in white Carrara marble, sculpted with a simple geometric shape but of great elegance as it was used at the time, built completely by hand in the mid-19th century for a palace in Italy (precisely Liguria) complete with original marble threshold (Black cast iron chest...

Expertly crafted from French Red Griotte marble, this 1870s mantel features intricate style carvings and rich veining that add a touch of elegance to any space. Made in France, this ...

A very large antique carved oak and grey Bardiglio marble mantelpiece. This is an extremely well carved English Palladian style oak fireplace of g...

Beautiful chic antique mantelpiece of Carrara marble from the 19th century. This mantelpiece is in the style of Louis XV and has a beautiful ornament in the middle of the front part....

20th Century Georgian Style Hand-Carved White Marble Fireplace Mantelpiece This unique fireplace made to order and produced under license from Kenwood House Hampstead, London. Finely...

A unique set of two identical Carrara marble fireplaces! These two mantelpieces are in Pompadour style, characterized by the round ornament in the center of the front part. A very ra...

This French Grand Mix Campan Marble Mantel is a stunning and historical addition to any home. Handcrafted from a blend of Grand mix and Ribboned Campan m...

A large and grand antique Statuary marble fireplace dating to the 1850’s. Each pilaster with two full rounded and free standing Corinthian columns th...

A large and imposing English William IV fireplace in pencil vein Carrara marble, with paneled pilaster jambs with twin corbel brackets supporting a long wide and generous mantel. Som...

An English moulded bolection fireplace in Calacatta Verde marble. A scaled down version of a chimneypiece originally housed in the Officer's mess at Ch...

A late 18th century Georgian English neoclassical chimneypiece, with a wide breakfront shelf. The centre tablet carved in high relief of a classical female figure in a garden. Flanke...

White Carrara Marble Louis XVI Mantel circa 1880

American brass and polished steel fire tools resting on a turned urn finial marble stand. Set consist of poker, tong and shovel, Early 19th Century.

Rare 18th century antique French Louis XVI fireplace mantel. Hand-carved in desirable St Anne's marble. Delicately carved recessed Jambs and Frieze; with elegantly carved centre shel...

Neoclassical White Carrara Marble Mantel Circa 1930 Fireplace dimensions: 89 x 81cm

A distinguished English neoclassical fireplace mantel exquisitely carved in luminous Statuario marble and inlaid with striking panels of richly veined Brocatello marble. The composit...

An English bolection fireplace in Italian Arabescato marble. The jambs and frieze with moulding throughout, surmounted by moulded shelf. Unusually deep design for the style adding th...

Very beautiful and exclusive antique fireplace of Saint Remy marble from Belgium. This type of marble has a warm color nuance and the beautiful chiseled ornaments give this fireplace...

A very impressive French Rococo fireplace carved in statuary marble. The panelled frieze and bracketed jambs delicately carved with trailing fl...

Louis XV Style Fireplace In White Carrara Marble Circa 1880 Dimensions of the hearth 85.5 x 87.5 cm

Elevate your interior with this magnificent 19th-century Dutch Rococo / Louis XV fireplace mantel, masterfully carved from luxuriously rich white marble. This exceptional piece showc...

Art Deco fireplace in beige onyx, circa 1920 Dimensions of the fireplace: 62 x 54cm

This beautifully crafted antique marble fireplace dates from the Baroque era. Baroque time is characterized by an abundance of form and decorations. Especially decorations such as cu...

Louis XIV Style Yellow Marble Mantel Trets Circa 1880 Fireplace dimensions: 104 x 106 cm

Very nice and exclusive marble fireplace in the style of Louis XV. The kind of marble is Griotte Rouge from Belgium.

A bolection fireplace in Italian Breche Violiette marble. The creamy white background marble with striking purple and violet veining throughout. Moulded frieze and jambs, with plain ...

Magnificent French marble fireplace with gilded bronze. Multiple and elegantly curved white marble with black mottle. Tall and very elegant structure in classic French style, adorne...

Louis XVI style fireplace in Carrara marble, circa 1880 fireplace dimensions: 92 x 126 cm et 70 x 68cm

A good quality 19th century French Louis XV Carrara fireplace. The panelled frieze with heavily carved leafwork and foliage throughout. The ...

19th Century Louis Marble Fireplace Mantlepiece 19th Century Statuary White Marble Fireplace ThIs Victorian Louis XV Style Marble Fireplace Is Hand Carv...

An antique Victorian breccia marble fireplace. Showcasing style and stature, this fireplace would make an impressive feature for the main room of any period property looking to add c...

Beautiful late 18th century Louis XV Parisian rouge marble fireplace mantelpiece and cast-iron interior. This French fireplace mantel boas...

This Antique French style marble fireplace features elegant stop-fluted console jambs and delicate button detailing. The Breche marble displays a rich array of hues, creating a strik...

A Large Italian 19th century neoclassical Revival style carved Carrara marble figural wall console table. The rectangular marble top supported by twin Roman carved marble monopodiums...

Beautiful compact and antique fireplace of Carrara marble from Italy! This fireplace is in the style of Louis XV and has 'trois coquilles', a large shell in the middle of the front p...

Important and massive arabescato marble Louis XV fireplace model. With serpentine-shaped shelf and bowed frieze, decorated by spring flowers in the center of the frieze and on both ...

This exceptional Regency style fireplace model was made for the "Salon d'Hercule " in the Versailles palace . The center of the frieze is ornated by a Hercules' head wearing the skin...

Regency style white marble fireplace, modern,with stepped rectangular shelf above a frieze adorned with trails of vine leaves and grapes wrapped round a Thyrsus, all emblematic of th...

Large and spectacular antique French mantelpiece of white Carrara marble, statuary quality. From the Belle Époque period in Classical Art No...

A spectacular and most impressive French 19th century Louis XIV st. Brèche Violette marble fireplace mantel with all original ormolu mounts. This fireplace mantel is made in the mann...

This stunning Art Deco fireplace, crafted in the 1920s, features a captivating blend of pink, yellow, gray, and white marble hues. The piece is in excellent condition, showcasing the...

Nice marble fireplace mantel from the 19th Century to place around the chimney.

Provenance: Stair & Company, Inc. New York, NY, private collection, gifted to Telfair Museums, c. 1977. The elegant moulded breakfront shelf with an egg and dart and a beaded motifs...

Superb quality Irish George III neoclassical marble fireplace. Made from pure white Italian statuary Carrara marble, inlaid with richly c...

The Antique French Grey Marble Mantel is a beautifully crafted piece that adds a touch of sophistication and elegance to any fireplace. Made from high-quality marble, this mantel exu...

Important and precious antique mantel fireplace, richly hand-carved in white Carrara marble, The precious white Carrara marble is known throughout the world for its uniform pure whit...

An English bolection fireplace with moulded shelf above. Shown in Italian Arabescato marble, could be made in other marbles or limestones if required. English, modern. N.B. May be su...

A magnificent polished Belgium Black and Rosso Levanto marble chimneypiece in the Renaissance manner. The moulded shelf set over a panelled frieze, supported...

This beautifully ornate fireplace, hand-carved in the Louis XV style, is made from semi-polished White Carrara marble. It features delicately-carved floral details on both the lintel...

A mid-19th century French Louis XVI style fireplace in Breche Violette marble. The shaped, stop-fluted jambs surmounted by carved square paterae...

An antique bolection marble fire surround. This striking Belgian black marble fireplace was reclaimed from a large house in North London. The marble...

19th century Beligan Louis Phillippe period fireplace surround (mantel) in dark grey Saint Anne marble. Additional measurements: EW 49.25" EH 39.75" IW 38.2" IH 34.6".   

Made from veined Carrara marble and white statuary marble. The centre plaque with a well carved mask of Apollo surrounded by a sunburst. The console jambs are under fluted corbels...

An antique late 18th/ early 19th century Italian Statuary marble mantlepiece of fine quality Small in scale and beautifully made in Italy around the year 1800. The exquisitely carve...

A Stylish & Elegant English Queen Anne Style Bolection Fireplace Surround in Nicely Veined Italian Arabescato Marble, with a Deep Shelf. External Width: 57 3/4″ – 147 cm Depth: 7″ –...

A finely carved Italian limestone fireplace with female caryatid figures and shaped frieze with elegant acanthus leaves decoration.  

A Highly Important Empire Period Rosso Antico Chimneypiece Inset with Specimen Marble Portrait Reliefs of Roman Emperors The carved and veneered surround comprising a moulded shelf supported by a bold dentil cornice, above an inverted breakfront frieze carved with a central triglyph panel, flanked by a pair of rosettes carved in shallow relief, the frieze mounted with six carved hardstone profile portrait medallions of Roman Emperors, the stop-fluted jambs raised on moulded footblocks; in excellent condition with small restorations commensurate with age and use; the pale inclusions in the stone naturally formed. This spectacular neoclassical marble chimneypiece is carved from Rosso antico, the frieze inset with six portrait reliefs of Roman Emperors, each carved in marmo giallo on a bardiglio background, five variously incised: VESPASIANUS, TIBERIVS, OTHO, JULIUS CAESAR, TITUS. Rosso antico (marmor taenarium) is first recorded as being quarried in 1700 BC at Akra Tainaron (Cape Matapan), Greece.¹ The majority of this stone, however, was extracted throughout the Roman period, when it was one of the most coveted materials for carving due to its rich red colouring and association with highly prized Egyptian ‘Imperial’ Porphyry.² Rosso antico was chosen in antiquity for portrait busts, notably depicting Bacchic subjects such as Dionysus and satyrs due to its rich red wine colour which symbolised conviviality whilst conveying the education and cultivated taste of the owner.³ In the Renaissance, Rosso antico was also used for architectural detail on important buildings, such as the steps leading up to the choir in the medieval church of S. Prassede, and the large columns at the entrance to the Camera dell'Aurora.⁴ In 121 AD, G. Suetonius Tranquillus, secretary to Emperor Hadrian, wrote a biographical history of the first twelve emperors of Rome entitled De vita Caesarum (The Twelve Caesars). A Renaissance edition of Tranquillus’ work was published in 1470, followed by further reprints and translations into all the main European languages. Many of these were illustrated with prints of emperors taken from coins and statues, or imagined by the artist based on Tranquillus’ accounts. These interpretations were copied, in turn, by Renaissance designers for medals, Limoges enamels, and busts, as well as paintings such as the Eleven Caesars, a series of eleven half-length portraits of Roman emperors made by Titian in 1536–40 for Federico II, Duke of Mantua.⁵ These paintings were later given to King Charles I, before being passed in the Commonwealth to the Kings of Spain. Unfortunately, the series was destroyed in the catastrophic fire of 1734 at the Royal Alcazar of Madrid, and is now only known through copies and engravings.⁶ From the middle of the 17th century until the end of the 18th century, there was an insatiable demand for marble carvings, often sold as Roman or assembled from ancient fragments, thus perpetuating the reverence for antiquity that was the quintessence of the Grand Tour. Rosso antico was in extremely short supply, even after the ancient quarries at Skutari were rediscovered in 1830, and remained one of the most highly valued of all stones. Described in 1776 as ‘dark red; scarce and dear’, it was mostly used for small objects such as Grand Tour desk ornaments, inevitably using material re-cut from classical fragments, due to its rarity, as was the case with porphyry.⁷ The portrait roundels on this chimneypiece are typical of those produced in Rome and Florence in hardstones, semi-precious stones, gold, silver, bronze, and mother-of-pearl, which, being easily transportable, would be taken home from the Grand Tour to be mounted within wooden, gilded or brass frames, as fashion dictated.⁸ A group of gold portraits of Caesars, dating from around 1660, are in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence. Images of Roman emperors were not limited to Italy, England and France, however, as examples executed in Deshima for the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) show. Medallions depicting Roman emperors, invariably made of black and gold Japanese hiramakie or takamakie lacquer on copper, were produced for the Dutch market at the end of the 18th century. Examples can be found in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.⁹ There are two possible sources for the Imperial profiles on the chimneypiece: the engravings of The Twelve Caesars by Marcantonio Raimondi, or the Imperatorum Imagines by Hubert Golz.¹⁰ The portrait medallions also bear remarkable resemblance to a set of eighteen carved portrait reliefs of Roman Emperors, also of marmo giallo, almost certainly bought by David Ker (1742–1811) of Portavo, Co. Down, on his Grand Tour between 1792–4 in either Florence or Rome. Ker’s diary entry for 17th October 1793 is interesting as it reveals that he was offering his brother a choice of chimneypiece designs, which further supports a Roman origin for the offered example.¹¹ Indeed, fire surrounds incorporating antique fragments had been promoted from the late 1760s by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–78), encouraged by Rome-trained architects including Robert Adam (d.1792). One such example, inset with mythological tablets carved from Rosso antico, was acquired by the 9th Earl of Exeter from Piranesi himself for Burghley House.¹² Another can be found at Islington House, Dorset.¹³ A third, inset with giallo antico and Rosso antico, follows Piranesi’s engraved design dated 1769 for a fire surround mounted with three marble portrait reliefs.¹⁴ It should be re-emphasised that Rosso antico was so precious that it was only ever used for small tablets or details rather than an entire chimneypiece, as with the offered example; likewise, while portrait reliefs are occasionally seen on the jambs of Italian surrounds, it is exceptionally rare to see the frieze mounted with a group, especially of this scale: the combination indicates an architectural commission by an extremely wealthy patron. The sophisticated lines of this chimneypiece epitomise the French Empire influence on the Italian states at the turn of the 18th century. This idiosyncratic ‘Roman’ taste is encapsulated by that of Napoleon, who identified with Rome’s Imperial past. Napoleon’s desire to establish a visual link between himself and Roman emperors is demonstrated by the portraits of his court painter, Jacques-Louis David, inspired by portraits of Emperor Augustus. This Imperial taste extended to architecture, furniture and porcelain, the latter two of which are combined in a group of magnificent ormolu-mounted guéridons commissioned in Sèvres between 1803–11, made to immortalise Napoleon’s reign.¹⁵ The second guéridon in the series, the Table des Grands Capitaines (Table of the Great Commanders of Antiquity), commissioned in 1806, is made almost entirely of hard-paste Sèvres porcelain. The top, painted in imitation of sardonyx, is centred by a portrait cameo of Alexander the Great, surrounded by twelve smaller heads of commanders and philosophers from antiquity: Pericles, Scipio Africanus, Pompey, Augustus, Septimus Severus, Constantine, Trajan, Caesar, Mithridates, Hannibal, Themistocles and Miltiades.¹⁶ Louis XVIII presented the table to the Prince Regent (later King George IV) in 1817 as a token of appreciation for Napoleon’s defeat two years earlier, and George IV treasured it so highly that it became part of the ceremonial backdrop for all his state portraits. The table remains in the Royal Collection.¹⁷ This chimneypiece remained, until recently, in the possession of a noble Dutch family, who acquired it from the owners of a bombed Knightsbridge house in the 1940s; unfortunately, its provenance prior to this has been lost. The use of Rosso antico on this scale, inset with these splendid Imperial profile medallions, appears unparalleled. 1. J. B. Grossman, 'Looking at Greek and Roman Sculpture in Stone' (Los Angeles, 2003). Grossman states that this material was ‘...quarried in three places during antiquity: on Cape Tainaron present day Matapan on the Peloponnese of Greece; on Crete; and at the site of Iasos in Asia Minor. 2. L. Lazzarini, ‘Rosso antico and other red marbles used in antiquity: a characterization study’, Marble, Art Historical and Scientific Perspectives on Ancient Sculpture’ (1990), 237–252. C. Gorgoni, L. Lazzarini, P. Pallante, ‘New archaeometric data on Rosso antico and other red marbles used in antiquity, ASMOSIA VI, Interdisciplinary Studies on Ancient Stone’ (2002), pp. 199–206. J. Deér, trans. G.A. Gilhoff, The Dynastic Porphyry Tombs of the Norman Period in Sicily (Cambridge, 1959), p. 144. R. Gnoli, Marmora Romana (Rome, 1988), pp. 187–191. 3. A notable example is a satyr from the Emperor Hadrian's villa at Tivoli, now in the Capitoline Museum, Rome. Another is the head of a satyr in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, accession no. 2006.110. See T. Opper, Hadrian. Empire and Conflict (London, 2008), p. 165, fig. 149. 4. De Luca, Marmi antichi (Rome, 1998), p. 126. Faustino Corsi, Catalogo ragionato d’una collezione di pietre di decorazione (Rome, 1833), p. 93. 5. For related Limoges medallions, see set of ten circular Limoges enamel medallions depicting Roman emperors, en grisaille with gilding, from the workshop of Jacques I Laudin, sold Christie’s London, Fine Renaissance Bronzes and Works of Art, 19 December, 1977, lot 95. 6. See set of drawings sold Sotheby’s London, Of Royal and Noble Descent, 24 February, 2015, lot 184. 7. J. J. Ferber, Raspe’s Travels through Italy in the Years 1771–1772 (London, 1776), p. 218. 8. See Sotheby’s London, Pelham, the Public and the Private, 8 March 2016, lot 75: ‘A set of twelve mother-of-pearl cameos of Roman Emperors, Southern Italian, early 19th century’ 9. Oliver Impey, Christiaan J.A. Jörg, Cynthia Viallé, Japanese Export Lacquer 1580–1850 (Amsterdam, 2005) pp. 48–57, no. 56 & 57. 10. For a further reference, see the candlesticks by Jacques I Laudin in the Waters Art Gallery, illustrated in P. Verdier, Catalogue of the Painted Enamels of the Renaissance (Baltimore, 1967), p. 389, nos. 207 & 208. 11. John Ingamells, A Dictionary of British and Irish travellers in Italy 1701–1800 (London, 1997), pp. 572–3. 12. Oliver Impey, Four Centuries of Decorative Arts from Burghley House (Virginia, 1998), p. 53, fig. 23. 13. Country Life, 12 June, 1997, p. 162, figs. 9–11. 14. A. González-Palacios, Il Tempio del Gusto, Roma e il Regno delle due Sicilie, Vol. II (Milan, 1984), pp. 592–93, p. 260. 15. S. Grandjean, 'Napoleonic Tables...