Firebacks

Description: Arched shape; cavetto moulded edging; shield, crown, tassels and ribbons, of the combined kingdom of Castille, Aragon, Leon and Sicily.

Notes: Probably the arms of King Charles V of Spain; quarterly (1 & 4) Castille and Leon, (2 & 3) Aragon and Aragon-Sicily.

Inscription: 15 [?]0

Arms: Royal House of Trastámara (Spain)

Description: Rectangular; cavetto-moulded edging with an astragal inside; baroque-style shield of Montagu impaling Wriothesley.

Notes: Ralph Montagu (1638-1709), afterwards Earl of Montagu and later Duke, married Elizabeth Percy, née Wriothesley, daughter of the 4th Earl of Southampton, in 1673. She died in 1690; thus the fireback dates to between 1673 and 1690; Blazon: (Montagu) Argent, three lozenges conjoined in fess gules, a border sable; (Wriothesley) Azure, a cross or between four falcons close argent.

Arms: Montagu impaling Wriothesley

Description: Quasi-arched rectangular shape; twisted rope edging on top and sides of rectangle, and separately around arch; the rope ends extend beyond both ends of the top edge; vertical rope lengths, to full height, inside left and right edges; rope crosses in arch and in upper centre of rectangle.

Notes: Probably an early vernacular example of a design mimicking the ‘Palladian’ style. The crosses suggest Christian significance.

Description: Arched rectangular shape with rounded corners; ovolo within fillet moulding all round; oval Tudor royal shield with garter surrounding, topped with a royal crown; dragon and greyhound supporters; initials split by crown; inscription on a fillet between legs of supporters, behind garter finial; motto on an Ionic plinth at bottom.

Notes: The supporters are those of Henry VII or Henry VIII, but the initials suggest the fireback dates from the reign of Edward VI (1547-53). John Harvo (d. c1565) was a gunfounder who has been identified as occupying Pounsley furnace, Framfield, Sussex, possibly from as early as 1547. This fireback is also seen with a variety of rectangular, rope-edged side panels bearing stamps or letters, some of which link the source of this and other groups of firebacks. The pattern or model for this fireback may have been made during the reign of Henry VIII (1509-47), with the initials added to an early casting using the original pattern. The protuberance on the bottom of the plate may be the remains of the runner from a pouring basin or overflow channel used during casting. Formerly part of the Ade Collection (from Grove Hill, Hellingly, Sussex).

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: E R / HONY SOYT QVE MAL Y PAVNCE / Made in Sussex by John Harvo / DV ET MOVN DRO

Arms: Tudor royal (Edward VI)

Description: Arched; fillet edging; Tudor royal shield, garter, crown and supporters (dragon and greyhound); top left, crowned Tudor rose; top right, crowned portcullis (grid of 6).

Notes: There are several firebacks with the Tudor royal arms that were probably produced in the Spanish Netherlands, perhaps illustrating the association between England and Spain through the marriage of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon. The firebacks differ in several small details, such as the form and rotation of the Garter motto, the style of the crown, the positioning of the supporters in relation to the Garter, and the form and size of the crowned rose and portcullis.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: HONI SOIT QVI MAL I PENSE

Arms: Tudor royal

Description: Rectangular with fillet sides and bottom; scrolled foliage on outside edges; date in narrow rectangular panel at bottom; central pictorial representation of four historical figures (see below), three male in mid-17th century armour, and one female; tripple arched top formed of rococo scrolls, a putto forming the middle arch.

Notes: The inscription may relate to the defeat of the Spanish at s'Hertogenbosch (den Bosch - ENDE BUSH) in 1629, and Wesel. von den Driesch states that the figures, from left to right, are: Prinz Fredrik Henrik of Oranje, his daughter, Luise Henriette, Prince Maurice of Nassau, and the Elector Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg, who married Luise Henriette. Foreign craftsmanship may account for the incorrect spelling of Dutch names.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: PRESNTZI VAN WESEL ENDE BVSH / 1667

Description: Arched rectangular shaped central panel, bead-and-pellet edging, narrow-necked, two-handled urn with flowers and wheat ears issuing therefrom, the vase resting on a wall with stone courses, against which are two small flowers in pots with a stool between; arched rectangular shaped border with fillet edging and symmetrical floral tendrils, a looped 'W' in each shoulder; on top, mirrored leaves, tendrils and wheat ears; inscription along bottom of border.

Notes: The largest of six flower vase designs in this series. All incorporate the looped 'W' motif which may be intended to identify the pattern maker. The casting is an amalgamation of parts of two firebacks of the same design, the bottom portion from an earlier casting than the top (reduction 2%). The inscription translates as 'God is our strength'.

Inscription: 17 DVW Ydyw Ein Cadernid 24

Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); top row, two square-within-a-square arrangements of twisted rope between three stamps formed of Gothic tracery cresting; 2nd row, two more tracery cresting stamps between two crowned, star-embossed butter mould stamps with a crowned rose-en-soleil stamp in the middle; 3rd row, three star-embossed butter mould stamps with two pairs of fleurs-de-lys between them; bottom row, seven fleurs-de-lys; plus intersepersed fragments of cresting and short rope lengths, a vertical arrangement of cresting fragments down the right side and a vertical, zig-zag arrangement of rope lengths on the left side.

Notes: The rose-en-soleil was the badge of King Edward IV and, thus, a Yorkist symbol. Many of the stamps employed on this fireback are seen, with other stamps, on a wide variety of firebacks, suggesting a common source; similar gothic tracery cresting can be seen as pierced cresting on a rare late-Medieval, wooden Easter sepulchre at the redundant church of St Michael at Cowthorpe, North Yorkshire. A similar fireback is at Anne of Cleves House, Lewes (no. 371). Christie's auction, 24 May 2001.

Copies of this fireback are known.