Firebacks

745mm wide

  1. 1112

    crowborough,_luxford house 03.jpg
    745 x 535 mm

    Description: Canted rectangular shape; individual moulded edging; centre, initials WB, above date.

    Notes: The text appears to have been imprinted into a mould formed from a base panel.

    Inscription: WB / 1697

    Manufactured: in 1697 possibly in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, Crowborough, East Sussex, England.

  2. 280

    ellesborough,_chequers 06.jpg
    745 x 660 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shaped central panel, bead edging (top and sides), pedestal bearing a supine male figure with headband being trampled by a horse, facing left, mounted by a rider with long hair, facing to the front; on each side of the plinth is a seated figure wearing a hat, with a basket of fruit; above the rider are crescent lines representative of clouds; the inscription is split either side of the horse; the date (‘7’ rotated and, with ‘4’, reversed) is on the die of the pedestal; arched rectangular shaped border, fillet edging, on each side a Solomonic column with vine decoration; in the arch, symmetrical parallel curved lines with a central oval cartouche beneath a crown; on top of each shoulder of the plate a figure in repose.

    Notes: The equestrian figure is derived from the statue of Charles II erected in Stocks Market, London, in 1672. Originally to be of Jan Sobieski, later king of Poland, riding down a Tatar, it was altered to represent Charles, and the Tatar’s face was changed to that of Oliver Cromwell; the statue attracted a fair degree of derision. The statue is now at Newby Hall, near Ripon, North Yorkshire. Another version (no. 464) omits a date and has altered initials.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: C R / 1674

    Manufactured: in 1674 in England.

    Current location: Chequers, Ellesborough, Buckinghamshire, England.

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2010, British Cast-Iron Firebacks of the 16th to Mid-18th Centuries (Crawley, Hodgers Books).

    Citation: Lloyd, N., 1925, 'Domestic Ironwork I', Architectural Review, 58, pp. 58-67.

  3. 1053

    lh000.954.jpg
    745 x 390 mm

    Description: Rectangular; cyma curve and fillet edging; crowned Tudor rose within a pediment resting on Tuscan pilasters and pedestals; faint impression of a shield bearing a lion rampant repeated in each top corner.

    Notes: The width of this fireback may indicate that another fireback in this series was used as its pattern and the shields added before casting.

    Manufactured: in the mid to late 16th century in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Anne of Cleves House, Southover High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, England.

    Museum number: LH000.954 (part of the Sussex Archaeological Society museum group)

  4. 618

    ripley_031.jpg
    745 x 590 mm

    Description: Canted rectangle; twisted rope edging (top and sides); top centre, initials in triad between split date.

    Notes: A late date for a very simple design.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: 17 T M M 48

    Manufactured: in 1748 possibly in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Mark Ripley Forge & Fireplaces, Northbridge Street, Robertsbridge, East Sussex, England.