Maison & Maison allows you to design your own custom-made mantel out of luxury marbles such as Blue Turquin Bardiglio marble.
Several custom-made models can been made out of Blue Turquin marble such as the “Prince de Soubise” and “Vendome”.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many mantels were carved in Blue Turquin Bardiglio marble. One of the finest examples is the Louis XVI style mantel made for the dining room of the Petit Trianon in Versailles. There are also beautiful antique Blue Turquin Bardiglio marble mantels in the Hotel de la Marine in Paris, especially in the Red Room and in the bedroom made for Marie-Antoinette. The fireplace in the Red Room is adorned with chiseled brass sconces, a common practice at the time. In the same style, the fireplace in the Salon des Fleurs of the Château de Compiègne, is also made of Blue Turquin and adorned with bronze.
« Bardiglio » is the name traditionally used to speak of the gray marbles found in several quarries of the Apian Alps. In English speaking countries, they are called “Dove marbles” because of their bluish gray hues similar to those of the birds.
Bardiglio marbles were widely used during Roman times, probably as early as the first century BC. They were popular for making baths and floors.
After a long period of inactivity, the quarries were reopened in the eighteenth century. Since then, the Blue Turquin Bardiglio has been regularly used in architecture and for mantels. Many Louis XVI, Directoire and Empire style furniture pieces have inlays of Blue Turquin marble. It was particularly popular during the Louis XVI and Napoleon I periods.
Blue Turquin Bardiglio marble is a light variety of Bardiglio Capella from the quarry in Serravezza on the massif of Carrara in Italy.