British Fireplaces and Mantels

An early Victorian carved stone fireplace in the Gothic style. The arched frieze with carved spandrels featuring fruit and foliage. Heavily moul...

A versatile and pretty 19th century Victorian Scottish lightly veined Carrara marble fireplace surround. A square shelf with rounded corners-sits above a plain frieze, flanked by tal...

A refined and well proportioned mid Georgian style fireplace in white marble. The barrel frieze with panelled centre, and elegant moulded jambs and shelf. A copy of an 18th century d...

21st Century Black Marble Fireplace Mantlepiece. Made From Nero Marquina Marble. Hand Carved And Lightly Polished. Simple Georgian Classic Desi...

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...

An antique Arts & Crafts style dark oak fireplace dating to the late 19th century. This handsome fireplace displays striking handcarved panels showcasing stylised designs of flowers...

A Breccia Viola marble fireplace of stylish architectural design. The aperture surrounded by a wide frame stepped moulding. The plain and squat ...

A larger than normal 19th Century Georgian manner polished steel fireplace insert. A generous polished outer plate with an applied raised lambs tongue moulding, encompassing a centra...

A white marble fireplace in the late Georgian style. The frieze with carved centre blocking featuring quiver, torch and tied ribbon, with carved lyres to end blocks. Panelled frieze ...

An elegant neoclassical style limestone fireplace, reflecting the designs of the late 18th century. The fluted frieze with plain centre and side blockings. The inner moulding of carv...

An elegant late 18th century style white marble fireplace, with fluted frieze and panelled jambs. The side blockings beautifully carved with delicate flowers. Attractive moulding ben...

A stylish English moulded bolection fireplace in a dark brown Marquina marble. A good quality copy of the Queen Anne design from the early 18th century. Could be made to any size and...

A rare and beautiful Coadestone fireplace, circa 1790 from Capesthorne in Cheshire. After a fire and rebuilding, the fireplace was taken there in the 1860s from the family's house in...

A rare antique Victorian Scottish Carron of Falkirk cast iron fireplace insert set with Minton tiles from the Shakespeare series. A generous polished outer plate, set with different ...

A vibrant Edwardian cast iron insert with original attractive side tiles, complete with a polished raised border and adjustable polished hood. Scottish, 1909.

Sn4798 Arts & Crafts figured walnut and brass-mounted purdonium of pyramid outline, having decorative handle, hinged cover with brass corners, shovel and original liner, all in fanta...

A substantial 19th Century Victorian manner polished brass fireplace insert. A fully polished brass outer frame displaying high relief horizontal tendrils set within a raised border....

An Art Deco inspired fireplace surround made in stunning and semi-precious Nero Portoro marble by Ryan and Smith. With vibrant markings that flow in the direction of the fireplace o...

Unique and elegant fireplace fender or surround beautifully crafted from metal and brass with tapering drip pans and encased brass floral themes in fine scrolling detail. A one of a ...

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 Regency style fireplace from the mid 19th century executed in Italian Statuary white and Siena marbles. The jambs with inset Siena panels supported on foot blocks, terminating with...

A carved giltwood and marble chimneypiece in the style of Thomas Johnson (1714–1778), an English designer and master carver. With foliate c-scrolls, lozenges and a scored ground, the...

Carved from Carrara marble, this attractive fireplace surround exhibits expert craftsmanship. The design elegantly incorporates charming siena marble buttons beneath the shelf, sea...

A stylish and fashionable fireplace design produced in white statuary marble. The fireplace has a moulded bolection frame on plain plinths, with a stepped cornice shelf...

Late 19th-Century Hand-Forged Victorian Gothic Revival Fire Screen – Exquisite Craftsmanship --- Discover the exquisite craftsmanship of our late 19th-century hand-forged and fire...

19th century cast iron polished fireplace mantlepiece. This English Made Art Nouveau Fireplace, dated circa 1890 - 1910 is typically characterized by its detailed long sinuous organ...

A super quality Gothic Revival oak, leaded and painted high fired glass three-fold fire screen, in the style of AWN Pugin, with roundel and mistletoe decorat...

An exceptional pair of 18th century English Rococo gilt bronze andirons or fire dogs. The bold shape of these andirons relate to designs of Thomas Johnson (1714–1778), one of London's pioneers of the 'Modern' or French style, later known as Rococo. In the 1750s he published several books of designs which were widely used for things like ceiling moulding. These books include 12 Girandoles in 1755, The Book of the Carver in 1758 and monthly between 1755 and 1758, 150 New Designs. He also had a great influence on Ince and Mayhew's book, The Universal System...

A large antique Victorian mahogany fireplace reclaimed from a large country house in Yorkshire. Dating to circa 1890, the substantial jamb...

English brass footman with hinged top, pinwheel piercing, scalloped skirt, and terminating on stylized Queen Anne feet. Early 19th Century

Beautiful 19th century English Victorian period fireplace grate made of cast iron, wrought iron and brass. The engraved fret with eagle and foliage surmounted by curved front bars. T...

A large and impressive 19th century style Statuary marble corbel fireplace surround. A deep shelf with ovolo edge moulding rests above a recessed cushion panelled frieze, flanked by ...

Barnard, Bishop, and Barnard & Dr C Dresser, with the original B, B, & B paper label to the back. A rare Aesthetic Movement walnut fire surround, inset with four Linthorpe pottery c...

A simple and versatile Victorian period style cast. iron fire grate with a generous burning area. Repeating. acanthus leaves form a border supported. by cabriole legs, complete with its original ash pan...

An attractive and richly coloured antique Victorian period fireplace made from very desirable Portoro Nero marble The arched panels with raised and fielded panels are centred by a ke...

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...

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...

This is a Georgian revival marble fireplace. An English, fire surround with mantelpiece in the classical taste by Dominic Hurley, dat...

A good quality period Victorian fireplace in Statuary white marble. The jambs with corbels featuring acanthus leaves with decorative panels below. The frieze with centre panel carved...

A large and substantial cast iron Victorian manner horseshoe shaped insert. A generous back plate supporting a high relief decorative frame, the scallop shaped fire back with scallop...

A large and elegant -Scottish (Edinburgh’s New Town) 19th Century Georgian carved pine and lime wood fireplace surround. A break front top shelf with a carved repeating rope cornice...

A large scale antique pine fireplace mantel finished in primer, formerly used as a kitchen fire surround. Though this reclaimed fireplace dates from the late 19th century, its simple...

A charming 19th Century manner cast iron fire grate basket. A high shaped back with curved sides, the four barred fire front, with shaped legs adorned with brass finials. This piece...

A classic 19th Century Victorian Scottish carrera marble fireplace surround. A generous scalloped top shelf rests above an unadorned ...

A stylish architectural fireplace, a copy of an original by Sir Edwin Lutyens. The ogee and bolection detailing of the frieze and jambs respectively gives an elegant yet simple feel....

A simple and elegant Georgian farmhouse style pine fire surround circa 1800 with a stripped finish; ready for painting, staining or waxing as desired. Though over 220 years old, this...

Thomas Elsley attributed. A rare Aesthetic Movement brass fire insert with an upper central peacock and Japanese basket weave decoration around it. Each side is designed to display t...

An antique bolection oak Edwardian fireplace. Dating to circa 1900, this fireplace is in a handsome Bolection form accompanied by a charming shelf. ...

A simple and handsome early 20th century reclaimed Edwardian oak fire mantel. This beautiful solid oak fire surround has an understated design with a sma...

A Rare English Gothic Style Highly Carved Walnut & Polychromed Fire-Place Carved with precision by the most gifted carpenters in the 19th century. This fire place was made for the ...

In original cast iron antique Georgian Hob Grate insert, with lion masks to the capitols and a central stylised flower, English, circa 1830.

An English stone fireplace in the Gothic manner. The moulded, arched frieze with carved spandrels surmounted by carved grapes, foliage and cen...

A large antique Georgian style painted pine fire surround by Well Fire Co. Left in its original distressed paint finish, this fireplace could be stripped and refinished as desired. ...

21st Century Black Marble Mantlepiece. This English Made Unique Fireplace Mantelpiece Is Made From Deep Italian Nero Marquino Marble With a Polished Finish. The Design Is Based On A ...

This is a large monumental fireplace. An English, Blanco marble fire surround with neoclassical taste by the renowned Devonshire sculptural artist...

A Fine English 19th Century Victorian Ebonized Wood and Edged Bone-Inlaid Summer Fireplace Screen. The ornately decorated screen centered with a needlepoint tapestry of a Tarot card ...

An antique arts and crafts style English solid oak fireplace. Dating to circa 1900, this antique oak fireplace is a beautiful piece still displays a rich mid oak finish that has sto...

A late 19th Century, Scottish, wrought iron fire grate in the Lorimer arts & crafts manner. A centralised single thistle with leaves standing proud. The shaped fire back, with a thre...