Fleur de Pêcher
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Fleur de Pêcher marble is a historic marble, used a lot during the 19th century to make exceptional works of art. For example the extraordinary fireplace in main hall of the Napoleon III appartments at the Louvre museum, decorated with babies in bronze that catch the light.
An antique fireplace made out of Fleur de Pêcher marble is found in The Marble House, in Newport, in United States, and was made by Jules Allard.
The original quarry, opened during the 17th century, is found in Serravezza, in the Carrara region in Italy. Its variety is thus called “Fior di Pesco Apuano” (Fleur de Pêcher Apuane) in order to distinguish it from its greek homonym, originally from Eretria. This marble is a breche marble made up of irregular shades of purple, red and pink. During the 17th century, it was used a lot for religious decoration. It was also used a lot under the Second Empire, for example to decorate the opera house in Paris (Palais Garnier). During the 20th century, quarries that produced this marble were found in Versilia and Garfagnana, and more recently in Renana, Forno and Massa. Today, this marble is rarely extracted and is thus becoming more and more rare.
Bibliography
J. Dubarry de Lasalle, Identification des marbres, Ed. H. Vial, Dourdan, 2000
J. Dubarry de Lasalle, Utilisation des marbres, Ed. H. Vial, Dourdan, 2005
P. Julien, Marbres, de carrières en palais, ed. Le Bec en l'air, Manosque, 2006
Marmi antichi, ouvrage collectif, ed. De Luca, Rome, 1998
