19th Century St Annes Marble Arched Fireplace Surround

A large and masculine 19th century arched fireplace surround carved in rich vareated Verde Antico marble, a generous double thick bullnose shelf rests above a stepped and moulded under cornice, supported by a raised scalloped fluted keystone, and flanked by a pair of large spandrels each carved with relief shaped fielded panels and moulding. Quarter round side returns connect to deep revels, all resting on large shaped foot blocks with Belgian Black Marble insert cappings, a splendid and exceptional example shown with its original highlighted arch cast iron insert. Scottish, circa 1895 Arch opening size: 908mm high x 1033mm wide. Overall base block width: 1828mm Marble notes: Verde Antico marble is a breccia of serpentinite, schistose calc-silicate and crystallite marble clasps in a lime-green serpentine matrix, from Larissa, Thessaly, Greece, the quarries were re-opened sometime between 1895- 1905, for the first time since the reign of the Emperor Justinian (483-565) A similar type marble has been obtained in later years from Northern Italy that was both cheaper and faster to extract. Examples of this can be found all over the world, circa 1930 Cartier...

A well proportioned Scottish 19th Century mid Victorian lightly veined marble fireplace surround. A generous top shelf sits directly above an unadorned frieze, flanked by wide jambs...