Carved Building and Garden Elements

Royal House Antiques Royal House Antiques is delighted to offer for sale this super rare, highly collectible, fully restored, circa 1920’s Robert Mouseman Thompson front or back doo...

This 18th century architectural object, hand-carved out of a single block of white marble, is intricately finished with an all-over celestial cloud motif—an ancient and auspicious Bu...

Fabulous hand carved stone figure of a woman with an urn on her shoulder. She is smiling and looking quite pleasant. All work is hand chilseled. In excellent antique condition with m...

Antique Louis Xv pompadour fireplace surround, circa 1870 Measures: External width 53? – 134.6 cm External height 43” – 109.2 cm Depth 15? – 38...

This English Regency style mantel is carved from white marble with graceful white veining. A curved groove frame runs across the apron and down each leg, and circular medallions feat...

Matched pair of Salish Native American totem poles. Both identical. Carved as a thunderbird with spread rings separately carved and attached perched on the head of a human over a sea...

Primitive storage barrel made from a Carpathian tree trunk, used for storing grain, etc. The trunk is hollowed out by hand. A beautiful object suitable for use as a large planter. Ma...

This country fireplace mantel (fireplace) is quite large and high. It is a Louis XIII fireplace in limestone with graffiti remains on the front and remains of the original patina. T...

UMO, a volcanic stone fire pit/sculpture created by expert craftspeople, armed by chisel and hammer, chipping away to create symmetry, balance, function...

This extraordinary Régence-style woodwork was designed by René Gaillard and Aimé Octobre, and is dated 1919. It comes from a room that would have measured...

This fireplace surround has very fine details. Its marble is a Belgian marble from the Ardennes; the details are made out of statuary marble. The front has been very nicely carved. A...

A large and monumental Italian carved Carrara marble mascaron of Poseidon or Neptune after the late 16th century ‘Fontana del Mascherone’ by Bartolomeo Bassi. At more than 90cm tall ...

This refined Louis XVI period antique fireplace mantle from the Burgundy region has been built in hard stone with Brêche Violet marble inlay. Measurements: 145 cm EW 57.08", 105 ...

This exclusive and rich colourful marble fireplace surround is a prefect match for a contemporary eclectic chic interior design concept. The Louis XVI style is classic and high in qu...

This fine Pompadour style vintage fireplace mantle has been made out of brown Belgian marble. It is from the 19th century and was installed in...

A unusual small original antique French country hard limestone LXIII style fireplace surround. Perfect for a small space. Measures: 100 cm EW 39.37" 128 cm EH 50.39" 73 cm IW 28....

A small and fine burgundy bicolor hard stone vintage fireplace surround. The surface is hammered and tailler. It was built in the Louis XIII period, 17th century. Measures: 130,5 cm ...

This Louis XIV style fireplace surround, in colored marble is a pre-Art Deco style. The straight line and round corner are typical of that period. Works...

Set of three Mid-Century large alabaster wall lamps, 1970s. An ideal collection of three alabaster wall lamps. perfect for an interior design project seeking timeless elegance and ...

One of a kind Italian antique fireplace surround with statuary and Brocatelle marble inlay. This is a statement piece! Great for a country l...

A large and attractive late 19th century Pine & Gesso fireplace surround complete with its original over mantel mirror. The triple bevelled mirror sits within separate frames featuri...

A fine French rustic fireplace surround with remaining patina. Its Louis Philippe period style of the 19th century and condition is suitable for a French country living interior desi...

The Thinker Mid-Century Modern, sandstone sculpture depicting a seated man, artist unknown This Mid-Century Modern interpretation of The Thinker interprets the pain, release and liberation associated with free-thinking. The man conveys vulnerability, tenderness and acceptance, his body yielding into the support of the chair creating a sense of rest and peace. Provenance: Private Collection acquired from The Hidden Gallery, Scotland Measures: Height 50cm.,20" Length 33cm., 15" Depth 22cm., 81/2" The Thinker - Auguste Rodin (1840 -1917). Cast made by Fonderie Alexis Rudier in 1904. Transfered to the musée Rodin in 1922. When conceived in 1880 in its original size (approx. 70 cm) as the crowning element of The Gates of Hell, seated on the tympanum, The Thinker was entitled The Poet. He represented Dante, author of the Divine Comedy which had inspired The Gates, leaning forward to observe the circles of Hell, while meditating on his work. The Thinker was therefore initially both a being with a tortured body, almost a damned soul, and a free-thinking man, determined to transcend his suffering through poetry. The pose of this figure owes much to Carpeaux’s Ugolino (1861) and to the seated portrait of Lorenzo de’ Medici carved by Michelangelo (1526-31). While remaining in place on the monumental Gates...

A simple period limestone fireplace surround. Consisting of a lintel and two supporting jambs, all resting on plain foot blocks. This typ...

A Georgian style carved pine fireplace, a moulded shelf sits above a frieze with reeded panels and a central tablet with a carved acanthus decoration, flanked by capitols featuring f...

Just shy of 5 foot, this carved wood room dentil fragment is matte gilt and water gilt. Probably salvaged from a paneled room boiserie in very good physical condition. Presents very ...

Small French Louis Phillipe demi-lune antique fireplace surround from the 19th century. A honey color hard limestone which reflects the light of the room and brings authenticity in t...

Hand-carved from Italian limestone, this pair of ball finials on pedestals measure over four feet tall. Both balls are roughly 15 inches in diameter and sit atop a square plinth. Ben...

Often when centuries-old trunks did not survive the passage of time, 19th-century menuisiers (French woodworkers) would salvage the surviving wood and carve new furniture such as desks and similar trunks. The facade was typically the most ornate section of these antique trunks, making intact frontages highly valued antiques. Hand-carved from oak in Picardie, France, circa 1550, this period Gothic architectural is a beautiful example of an antique trunk facade that was not incorporated into a more recent furnishing. Picardie is a former administrative region in northern France that is home to many Gothic cathedrals. The Amiens Cathedral (mid-13th century) is the largest standing cathedral in Europe and is truly a masterpiece of Gothic architecture. Our trunk frontage has five vertically oriented inset panels embellished with various forms of Gothic tracery, including high-arching niches...

Pair of Roman, elaborately hand-carved, Carrara marble, Corinthian capitals. Sold separately.

This is a red toned Burgundy hard limestone fireplace surround. It is simple, plain, yet elegant. It is in 3 solid blocks. Works perfect with modern and contemporary art work. Measu...

This original Burgundy hard stone antique fireplace surround is of a high quality and was installed in a panelled room. Measures; 179 cm EW 70,47" 116 cm EH 45,67" 146 cm IW 5...

Ancient antique vintage column, cylindrical statue holder, carved in Verde Alpi marble, from Italy, original from the 19th century, ideal as a support base for statues, objects, pock...

Sea monster Carrara marble mouth fountain Italy, late 16th century It measures 13.8 x 31.5 x 18.9 in (35 x 80 x 48 cm) State of conservation: some small evident gaps and widespread signs of wear due to outdoor exposure. The gray marks crossing it do not come from restoration, but are rather the natural veins of the marble. This work has some morphological characteristics typically associated with the iconography of the sea monster: an elongated muzzle, sharp teeth, protruding eyes, elongated ears, and a coiled serpent's tail. An in-depth series of studies on artistic depictions of the sea monster attempted to verify how this symbol evolved in antiquity in the European and Mediterranean contexts and how it gradually changed its image and function over time. The iconography itself is mutable and imaginative and its history is rich with cultural and artistic exchange, as well as the overlapping of ideas. This occurred so much that it is difficult to accurately pinpoint the "types" that satisfactorily represent its various developments. However, we can try to summarize the main figures, starting from the biblical Leviathan and the marine creature that swallowed Jonah (in the Christian version, this figure was to become a whale or a "big fish", the “ketos mega”, translation of the Hebrew “dag gadol”). Other specimens ranged from the dragons mentioned in the Iliad (which were winged and had legs) to "ketos” (also from Greek mythology), the terrifying being from whose Latinized name (“cetus”) derives the word "cetacean". See J. Boardman, “Very Like a Whale” - Classical Sea Monsters, in Monsters and Demons in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds, in Papers presented in Honor of Edith Porada, Mainz am Rhein 1987, pp. 73-84). In Italy the monster underwent yet further variations: it can be found in Etruscan art on the front of some sarcophagi representing the companion of souls, while among the Romans we find the “Pistrice” (cited by Plinio in Naturalis Historia PLIN., Nat., II 9, 8 and by Virgilio in Eneide: VERG., Aen., III, 427), which appeared in the shape of a stylized hippocampus or a very large monstrous cetacean and evolved into a hideous being with a dragon's head and long webbed fins. During the Middle Ages, the sea monster was the object of new transformations: at this time, it is often winged, the head is stretched like a crocodile, the front legs are often very sharp fins - sometimes real paws - until the image merges with dragons, the typical figures of medieval visionary spirituality widely found throughout Europe (on this topic and much more, see: Baltrušaitis, J., Il Medioevo fantastico. Antichità ed esotismi nell’arte gotica, Gli Adelphi 1997). In Italy during the 15th and 16th centuries, the revival of classicism - representative of the humanistic and Renaissance periods - led to a different reading of these "creatures". Indeed, the sea monster was also to find widespread use as an isolated decorative motif, especially in numerous fountains and sculptures where dolphins or sea monsters were used as a characterizing element linked to water (on this theme see: Chet Van Duzer, Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps, London, The British library, 2013). From the morphological point of view, the "sea monsters" of this period are mostly depicted as hybrid figures, in which the body of a mythological or real being (a hippocampus, a sea snake, a dolphin), is joined to a head with a rather indistinct appearance. It was usually characterized by large upright ears, an elongated snout, sharp teeth and globular, protruding eyes; a complex and indefinite figure, both from the symbolic point of view and from that of its genesis. The work we are examining is placed as a cross between the medieval sea serpent and the Renaissance dolphin, with stylistic features which recall the snake as often used in heraldry (such as the "snake" depicted in the coat of arms of the Visconti - the lords and then dukes of Milan between 1277 and 1447 - and which, for some, may be derived from the representations of the “Pistrice” that swallowed Jonah). In the search for sources, Renaissance cartography and in particular woodcuts should not be neglected. See for example the monsters of Olaus Magnus, from the editions of the “Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus” (“History of the peoples of the north”) and the natural histories of Conrad Gesner, Ulisse...

This vintage antique chimney piece in white Carrara marble is a Louis XVI style from the 19th century. It was installed in a library in a Parisian apartment. Measurements: 150 cm Ext...

One of a kind. Fabulous fireplace surround in bicolor hard stone from the wine region of France. The details of the carving on the jambs and front are very Fine and unusual. Watch c...

Very nice antique reclaimed fireplace surround with straight lines from the Beaujolais region. Coming from the town Buxy. The Buxy stone w...

Antique set of 2 entrance doors, main door in precious walnut wood, richly carved, with rich carved panels with leafy curl decorations, with columns in the lower part. They can also ...

More information coming soon… A large granite trough, hand-carved in Brittany, France, during the 1800s. The stone has inherent contour to the sides and a unique patination consisti...

A large and highly carved antique oak fireplace surround, made in the Jacobean style. Produced in England during the 19th century incorp...

This is a 18th century original antique fireplace surround made out of a blue-grey Burgundy hard stone. It was built in the Louis XVI period. It consists of three solid blocks of sto...

Original antique fireplace mantle in a Belgian brown color marble with brass bijouterie. A little jewel of its time period. The fronton is coming into the room. Perfect for a small F...

A pair of fine carved teak garden or hall benches in the manner of William Kent. Panelled backs and seats with scallop shell crests above Vitruvian scroll frieze, acanthus scroll arm...

Beautiful small Baroque marble holy water font or stoup, Unique and original period piece. Italy, circa 1750. Weathered condition. H:6cm W:17cm D:12-17cm

An exquisite example of early 19th-century English craftsmanship, this Neoclassical marble Fireplace mantel combines stately proportions with refined decorative details. Crafted from...

Once a common sight in courtyards throughout rural China, this textured stone vessel was used as a grain or water trough for chickens and other barnyard fowl. Chiseled from a block o...

Large Double-Slip Georgian Style Fireplace Surround in finest quality Italian Violette Brescia Marble. Measures: Depth: 8” – 20.3 cm External Height...

This magnificent chimneypiece is carved from fine statuary marble with contrasting inlaid thumbnails of dark Rosso Lavanto across the frieze. The signature motifs, expert craftsmans...

Farm Sink Hand Carved stone container Jardinière Trough Basin Planter Antique LA . 18th Century water fountain Basin Of Hand Carved Stone container . beautiful Color and patina keeps changing with the light and the seasons . Weight approximately 373 Lbs. This trough could be installed with a simple bronze metal spout or a carved stone fountain head , we have many options of them , in order to create a charming garden water fountain for your pets or to have it as a dog bowl . A nice size stone trough from Provence . The centuries left its marks on this container and a very nice patina . Installed will be the focal point of any landscape design laid on gravel or mounted as a kitchen Farm sink...

An 18th century French Caen Stone Provincial Fireplace. The cantered jambs with stop fluted front panels and carved raised panels. The frieze serpentine in design with raised panelle...

The Tailor Collection boasts a unique assortment of elements that draw inspiration from the world of tailoring. Expertly crafted by the talented Pibamarmi Style Office, these pieces ...

Phenomenal fireplace surround from the free mason compagnon in bicolor burgundy hard stone. The carving is very fine and very unusual. Measures: 142.5 cm EW 56.10", 112 cm EH...

An elegant pair of carved, gilded, and polychrome wood wall niches with a central shelf and interior pictorial decoration featuring floral and landscape motifs. The pieces retain the...

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...

Many of Carlo Bugatti's superior pieces were commissioned by a number of the Royal Houses of Europe, some of the Great Estates of America and Europe and some of the most successful families from around the world. including such amazing one of a kind example such as this important and rare majestic Carlo Bugatti Keyhole Mirror...

The bicolor hard limestone for this antique fireplace surround is a Burgundy Corton stone flecked with violet colored veins. We call it designed by nature for a rustic, French country room. We can provide the hearth in original antique Burgundy dalles with original ancient surfaces...

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 pair of antique Classical pedestals offer onyx construction in Grecian form with square display platforms over banded bases with octagonal...

Antique wall-mounted, placard, single-door closet front, with beautiful carved diamond-pointed panels, walnut wood, smooth back as it stood inside the wall. Original from the 1700s E...

This rustic burgundy hard stone fireplace surround has been boucharder and tailer. The original remains of the paint is an nice extra. Perfect for a country style interior. Measures...