Used since Antiquity for the most solemn and sumptuous monuments, such as the Mosaula of Hadrian, or later the Pasteur Institute in 1887, the Paonazzo marble is extracted in Italy in the quarries of Carrara and Calacatta.
Of a white or cream background, it is distinguished by lightning-like veins, lined with yellow and purple.
Often selected by the World's Fairs attendants to compete in sumptuousness, it is in this marble that Ruhlmann realizes the Art Deco bathroom of his famous Pavilion of the Collector, at the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts of 1925.
