Napoleon III antique breccia marble mantle

This beautiful 19th century, Napoleon III style marble mantle was carved and had-sculpted in a beautiful pink marble richly veined with white and grey. It features all the characteristics of this "Second Empire" style which could be summed up in one word: richness.

Indeed, the Napoleon III style (also called "Second Empire style") is characterized in general by an exuberance of forms and a profusion of decorative motifs.

This mantle has a pair of carved modillions featuring molded finger flutes that highlight the lintel on which rests a thin molded shelf. The lintel rests on straight jambs, each delimited by a thin piece in relief and a plinth. This mantle has a streamlined throat.

The nineteenth century was also the period of the transformation of Paris under the impulse of Baron Haussmann. With the proliferation of Haussmannian apartments, marble mantles also become the main pieces of furniture!

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