Maison & Maison gives you the option to create your own mantle out of luxurious marbles such as Sarrancolin. We have two choices of Sarrancolin, Sarrancolin Ilhet and Sarrancollin Fantastico. Our custom made mantels are customised according to your choice of marble.
Many antique mantels were made out of Sarrancolin marble, especially during the reign of Louis XIV. The Versailles palace offers two beautiful examples of Sarrancolin mantels one in the Room of the Bull's eye, the other in the Hercules Drawing room - an impressive Regence style mantel decorated with bronze. Our "Noailles" Maison & Maison mantel is quite similar in design and ornamentation.
Another famous example of the use of this marble, is the mantel in the reception room of the King’s apartments in the Ecouen castle. This antique mantel is inlaid with Grand Antique marble, another variety which we offer.
The Sarrancolin marble quarries are near the towns of Sarrancolin, Ilhet and Beyrede-Jumet in the Hautes-Pyrénées, in southwestern France. It is a mixture of yellow, pink, grey, greenish and cream colored fragments. Red veins and white calcite add character to the marble. The stone was extracted in a primitive manner by Romans and the quarries were opened and closed several times throughout history. The Ilhet quarry was reopened in the 16th century, the Beyrède in the 17th. From April 1686 to September 1689, huge blocks of Sarrancolin arrived in Paris for the Royal building projects of Louis XIV. In 1692, by decree the quarries became “Royal”, reserved for the use of the King.
In the 19th century, this marble continued to be used, most remarkably for the thirty monolithic columns of the Garnier Opera House, built in 1887. It is also present in the Louvre and the Senat. There is a beautiful Framboisé (raspberry colored) Sarrancolin marble stored in the Louvres museum that comes from the Reception room of the Abondant castle. This Louis XV lushly carved mantel is similar to the "Prince de Soubise" mantel that Maison & Maison offers to create on request.
All throughout history, Sarrancolin marbles have been used to cover walls, floors, create mantels and furniture.
