Stone Fireplaces and Mantels

This French hard limestone fireplace surround is truly an exquisite piece of craftsmanship. It boasts royal proportions and features a grand central carving, making it a unique decor...

This fireplace is made in the rare marble 'Breche du Nord" wich has arich brown/grey base color with white and dark red veigns and beautiful fossils. This authentic and complete fireplace...

This rare, large 18th century Louis XIV mantelpiece from Leuven (Belgium) is realized in three different types of marble: Noir de Mazy - The black marble from Belgium. Rouge Roya...

A striking mid-19th century fireplace mantel crafted from fine black Belgian marble, dating to the 1840s. This elegant architectural piece showcases classic proportions and intricate...

Rustic French fireplace surround from the 18th century period in beige granite with original wear from Normandy. A manor fireplace that instantly brings the French feeling to the roo...

Beautiful unique fireplace of Portoro marble. Portoro marble has its origin in Italy and is a very nice warm marble of dark brown/black with beautiful flam...

French antique fireplace surround. This exceptional decorative element is a unique piece to create an authentic interior. It has the original patina and fine carving details dating...

On offer on this occasion is one of the most stunning and rare, two toned faux marble fiteplace you could hope to find. In original and unfinished condition. Outstanding design is ex...

The pictures speaks for themselves. The fireplace designed by nature color is very wide. The material is a Burgundy hard stone which, due to the hardness of the stone, reflects the light in the room. A great focal point for a bespoke interior design, Timeless French classic or Modern chique. More pictures are available. This is the kind of mantel one find in a French wine region...

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...

Timeless hard limestone French fireplace surround with beautiful hammered surface. The hard stone is reflecting the light in the room. Rustic elegant home decor object to personalise...

An unusual and charming 19th century Regency style Lumacella di San Vitale marble fireplace surround, a deep square splayed shelf sits above a frieze of carved reeding with a central...

A solid limestone fireplace of fashionable design, produced from three single blocks of stone. The 'Naples Bolection' is a stylishly simple and robust example of a bolection moulding fireplace...

This stylish and fine Italian antique fireplace mantle was built in Arabesk white marble. Very nice movement and detailed carving. Can be u...

Antique french decorative regency period fireplace mantel. The fireplace mantel is carved in stone and exudes a vintage charm with its weathered look. The central portion of the mant...

This is a French Country side LXIII period limestone antique fireplace mantel. This piece was standing against a doorway on the right side. Shelf can be added on demand. It still ha...

Exceptional Post-War vintage art-deco fireplace surround in a exquisite Breche Quality marble with terrazzo look. Rich in color and pure minima...

Nice sized and decorative Dutch mantel. The deep polished black "Noir de Mazy" marble combined with striking red "Griotte" marble makes this stylish mantel really stand out. This could work really well in a modern, contemporary and a Classic interior. Prefect usable dimensions. Great original condition, can be sold with black marble flooring...

A very well proportioned 19th Century manner lightly veined Statuary marble bullseye fireplace surround. A reeded top self sits directly ab...

Brutalist minimal bicolor limestone fireplace surround. Brute surface for timeless slow-living home decor. Measurements: 129 cm Exterior Width 50,79 ...

A very fine statuary white marble fireplace in the Italian Renaissance manner. The carved jambs featuring classical amphorae surmounted by fruit, acorns, ribbons and foliage topped w...

This original fine Italian antique fireplace mantel has perfect measures to fit apartments and small rooms. The patina on the piece reflects...

Beautiful antique fireplace mantelpiece made of Carrara marble from the 19th century in the style of Louis XV. Equipped with a beautiful ornament in the middle and also beautiful orn...

This Louis XV style paneled room was made in the early 20th century. The Louis XV era stone fireplace was made in the 18th century. The woodwork may be likened to the work of Jansen....

A Superb Late 18th to Early 19th Century Statuary Marble Chimneypiece Carved in High Relief A neoclassical fireplace produced in Italy most probably for the English Market, in the m...

Louis XVI style turquin blue marble fireplace Fireplace dimensions: 92.5cm x 90cm

Beautiful marble Louis XVI fireplace 19th century to place around the chimney. It is made out of Gris D’Ardenne Marble.

A large Georgian style antique 19th century fireplace mantel of simple yet elegant design in Antico Verde and Pencil Vein Carrara marble. The jambs in Carrara with Pilaster Antico ve...

This classic straight fireplace surround in bicolor grey hard stone from the Burgundy region with star as a central motive has a country, rustic influence. Measures: 155.5 cm EW 61...

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...

An antique French marble and gilt bronze mantelpiece of exceptional quality and large scale. After a design by François Antoine Vassé (1681-1736) for the Salon d'Hercule of the Palace of Versailles, France.  Made from the finest and richest coloured Breccia Violleta marble with superbly cast 24-carat gold gilt bronze mounts. The solid marble jambs with gilt-bronze Nemean Lion masks at the top, these are under an arched frieze with a gilt-bronze centre cartouche depicting the mask of Hercules wearing the Nemean lion pelt. Flanking Hercules are extremely well sculpted and flamboyant gilt-bronze cornucopias, also called 'the horn of plenty', a symbol of abundance and nourishment. Salon d'Hercule Beginning in 1724, work on the Salon d’Hercule recommenced. Louis XIV commissioned architect Jacques Gabriel...

17th Century Large Mantle Louis XIII Chateau Hand Carved Stone Antique Fireplace. Rare and unique French antique castle fireplace King Louis XIII period Limestone Chimney , Regal Ch...

Fireplace Surround in Italian Brescia Violette Marble Regency William IV An attractive Fireplace Surround in beautiful Italian Brescia Violette marble in the Regency William IV styl...

Beautiful antique French Louis XV fireplace mantel executed in limestone. Nice soft tones and fine carvings. Nice original condition. Sold by Schermerhorn Antique Fireplaces.

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...

This elegant French Carrara Marble Mantel is crafted from high-quality white Carrara marble renowned for its durability and timeless beauty. Boas...

This antique mantelpiece from the 19th century is made of French limestone and executed in Louis XVI style. The sleek, straight design with fine vertical lines gives a calm, classic ...

Crafted in France during the 1890s, this French African Breccia Marble Mantel boasts intricate carvings throughout the piece. Made from stunning African Breccia stone, this mantel is...

This bicolor burgundy limestone or hard-stone antique fireplace mantel is tailler and hammered. The small restorations on the jambs fits perfect for a French country style interior d...

A nice carrara marble firplace mantel from the 19th Century with a marble floor plate. To place in front of the chimney.

French castle fireplace surround in colourful hard-stone. This kind of stone was also used in the hotel Château de Gilly, near Dijon. Elegant and original French decorative object fo...

Louis XVI period limestone fireplace surround from France. Straight lines with a nice surface and feeling. French 18th century for timeless living with a French touch. Exceptional ca...

21st Century Nero Potoro Marble Fireplace Mantlepiece. This Luxury Marble Fireplace Mantlepiece Is Hand Carved From Natural Nero Portoro Marble. It Has B...

A very elegant and versatile Scottish (Edinburgh) 19th Century early Victorian pencil veined Carrara marble fireplace surround. A substantial square edged top shelf sits directly abo...

French limestone fireplace surround in limestone for contemporary living. This is a grand and elegant fireplace element in great condition. Measurements: 184 cm Exterior Width 72,44 ...

This mantel is a new production combining components of solid wood with laminates. As with most everything done at the Waldorf Astoria, the quality of the craftsmanship is outstandin...

Petite French stone fireplace surround with elegant jambs. The bleu-grey stone gives it an extra dimension in the room. This French rec...

Material and Patina : This antique fireplace mantel is crafted from Burgundy hard stone, a dense and durable French limestone historically quarried in the Burgundy region. Its bicolo...

Napoleon III fireplace in turquin blue marble circa 1880 hearth dimensions 88 x 103 cm

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...

Beautiful antique fireplace of Arabescato marble from the 19th century in style of Louis XVI. This fireplace has a beautiful ornament in the middle of the front part and at the top o...

Beautiful exclusive mantelpiece made of the serene marble Carrara from Italy. This 19th century fireplace in Louis XV style is a real eye-catcher. With graceful lines and detailed fi...

Beautiful antique fireplace set consisting of a clock and a pair of cassolettes. The black marble clock rests on lions' feet and is surmounted by a bronze engraved Medici vase with eight faces of Greek...

This vintage fireplace surround is made of grey-blue bicolor Burgundy hard stone. It bears a flower motif on the fronton. A great mantel (fireplace), one in his kind. Measures: 157...

Very fine and decorative Rococo fireplace from Holland. Beautiful decorative piece, nice proportioned with serpentine breakfront shelf above a very decorative and swooping freeze ...

A large period Louis XV fireplace executed in superior quality Breche Violette marble. The jambs with deep side returns retaining their original brass vents, the front panels canter...

This stunning fireplace mantel serves as a testament to the enduring beauty of French craftsmanship. The limestone construction not only ensures durability but also adds a touch of n...

A very large and unusual Gothic Revival period stone chimneypiece. Wide cantered jambs, supporting gently arched spandrels with carved grotesques and beasts. The carved inner rope tw...

A large period Louis XV fireplace executed in superior quality Breche Violette marble. The jambs with deep side returns retaining their original brass vents, the front panels cantere...

A large and imposing 18th century Georgian fireplace. The bulbous column jambs, stood on square foot blocks and socles, topped with ca...