Getty Museum

Mantelpiece

Date

about 1690–1700

Medium

Rosso Levanto and an unidentified Breccia

Culture

French

Department

Decorative Arts

Institution

Getty Museum

For many centuries, since the chimneypiece surrounded the main source of heat and light in a room, it was an extremely significant architectural feature. Compared to many early pieces covered with sculptural ornament, this mantelpiece, which dates from the end of the 1600s, is a simple structure. One architect commented on the new style in a publication written in 1683: "formerly one spent much on the building and decoration of chimneypieces, which were excessively loaded with ornament; but today they are far less massive and, with their simple lines, seem more graceful." By the 1690s, fashionable Parisians hung large plates of mirror glass above the mantelpiece and used the surface of the mantel to display decorative objects.

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