US$1,673.69 This is an attractive pair of French green 'verde antico' marble urns with lids. The vases are adorned with ormolu mounts and putti. The pair is very decorative and would enhance with beauty any space in your house. Condition: In excellent condition, please see photos for confirmation. Dimensions in cm: Height 34 x Width 14 x Depth 12 Dimensions in inches: Height 1 foot, 1 inch x Width 5 inches x Depth 5 inches Verde antique (from Italian, verde antico, "ancient green"), or verde antique, is a serpentinite breccia, popular since ancient times as a decorative facing stone. It is a dark, dull green, white-mottled (or white-veined) serpentine, mixed with calcite, dolomite, or magnesite, which takes a high polish. It is sometimes classed, erroneously, as a variety of marble. Ormolu (from French 'or moulu', signifying ground or pounded gold) is an 18th-century English term for applying finely ground, high-carat gold in a mercury amalgam to an object of bronze.The mercury is driven off in a kiln leaving behind a gold-coloured veneer known as 'gilt bronze'. The manufacture of true ormolu employs a process known as mercury-gilding or fire-gilding, in which a solution of nitrate of mercury is applied to a piece of copper, brass, or bronze, followed by the application of an amalgam of gold and mercury. The item was then exposed to extreme heat until the mercury burned off and the gold remained, adhered to the metal object. No true ormolu was produced in France after around 1830 because legislation had outlawed the use of mercury. Therefore, other techniques were used instead but nothing surpasses the original mercury-firing ormolu method for sheer beauty and richness of colour. Electroplating is the most common modern technique. Ormolu techniques are essentially the same as those used on silver, to produce silver-gilt...