Pair of Pink Marble Pedestals

Pair of pedestals in “marbre rose des Pyrénées” and white “Saint-Béat” marble.
“Marbre rose des Pyrénées”, white “Saint-Béat” marble.
France.
131 x 38 x 23 cm (51.6 x 15 x 9 in).

The shafts of these tall pedestals were carved from a single block of “marbre rose des Pyrénées”. They are therefore not veneered. The capital and the plinth, meanwhile, were carved from a block of white “Saint-Béat” marble.

The Saint-Béat quarry in the Pyrenees, the source of this marble, was already “known to the Romans [...] and enjoyed all the favor and attention it was given, in the hope that it might replace Carrara statuary marble. (Mouquin, 2018)” According to Félibien, it was meant to be used per angusta ad augusta: “[it] is difficult to use for sculpture, but the figures made from it would be of greater beauty than those made from the marble that comes from Genoa.”

The difficulty of using this marble in statuary explains why it fell into disuse in the 18th century, despite numerous mercantile attempts to use it as a replacement for Carrara white, and a brief revival of interest in the 19th century.

Sources

Sophie Mouquin, Versailles et ses marbres, Paris, 2018.