Table Tops
San Francesco Art Gallery is proud to present its production of antique marble tabletops. First, it is important to explain the expression "antique marble": You will then fully appreciate our care in choosing materials. Indeed, "antique marble" refers exclusively to marble extracted in the period included between the Roman Age and the XVII century. Marble extraction is rooted in the past: It is known that the expansion of the Roman Empire led to the discovery of numerous deposits of marble. Marble was first used to decorate patricians' houses, and later chosen to build monuments and embellish churches. The extraction of marble was connected to a quest for luxury and beauty, as well as to a desire to show prestige and social power.
At that time, all the Mediterranean basin was a mine of precious materials: just to name a few examples, Carrara and Palomino marbles from Italy, Luculleo from Turkey, Broccatello from Spain, and others, such as the yellow marble from Numidia, the red porphyry from Egypt, Serpentino from Greece and the valuable "blue stone", the lapis lazuli. The materials that we use do not come from quarries still working today: Our choice limits exclusively to marble extracted in the abovementioned period: These marbles alone were thought to suit the splendor and taste of the aristocracy of that time. Thus, we need to look for these precious blocks in auctions and in private collections, or in quarries that have been abandoned for centuries, but still retain the remains of their ancient glory.
Time has spared parts of floors and wall decorations adorning rich Romans' houses and elegant Medieval and Renaissance palaces. This has allowed us to study the patterns that characterized architecture from the III to the XVI century. On our tabletops, we accurately reproduce the same motifs, so that our respect for historical truth witnesses our faithfulness to the original models. Similarly, we follow the ancient techniques for cutting and inlaying different pieces of marble in order to attain the same, unique results as in the original works.
Our marble works can also be used in floors. Every single action in the production of our tabletops is hand-made, from the cutting of the marble into pieces and their positioning in the chosen pattern, to the assembling of the tabletop together with the table structure. This precious care explains the limited number of tabletops we produce, being bound to work slowly to attain the absolute precision and the beauty we look for.
Every object is made to measure. Since no industrial mechanization is involved in the making of the table, we are able to offer any kind of personal solution to serve you best, from the choice of the motif to that of the shape and dimensions of the table top.
We can also provide bases for the top in many materials: hand-wrought iron, stone, marble or steel.
We are proud to state that our products are strictly made in Italy.