REF 1917
A set of six Bianco Nero marble columns and six pilasters
made from ‘ Grand Antique ‘marble; one of the rarest and most highly prized of the ancient marbles; valued for its rarity and strong markings. Due to scarcity and value it is seldom seen on this scale, more usually used in the mounting of valuable objects, pietra dura and table tops.
This marble has a background of an intense and shiny black, with big irregular and angular marks and white veins.
This marble, whose name has often taken the Roman marble masons, certifies the excellence of the black and white marble. It has been related by various academics with the ‘Celtic' or ‘d'Aquitania' and it has been also named ‘Grand Antique' or ‘Grand Deuil'. The mines excavated are situated near Aubert, in the French Pyreneans.
It is not possible to give a precise date regarding the use of the Grand Antique during the Romana period. It has appeared in monuments of the Justinian era and it is quoted in later documents. Therefore, it is possible that its extraction had already started by the 4th century.
Paolo Silenziario has mentioned that this marble, between others, was used for the decoration of Aghia Sofia in Constantinople. We find it mostly for the making of columns on different sizes. Given the difficulty to recuperate it from antique monuments, after 700 it was scarcely used. In Rome, one can admire some monuments, like Santa Cecilia, Santa Maria Maggiore Palazzo Barberini, that have been decorated with black and white columns.
Dimensions :
Column height : 2960mm
Height of bases : 230mm
Price: £260,000
