Firebacks

All of them

1090 results

  1. 1232

    hook_1040x570.jpg
    1040 x 570 mm

    Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging on top and sides; date placed slightly right of centre near top.

    Notes: A similar fireback with slightly different proportions has the same date using the same numerals.

    Inscription: 1679

    Manufactured: in 1679 in the Weald area of England.

    Current location:, not known.

  2. 1233

    hook_915x605.jpg
    915 x 605 mm

    Description: Rectangular shape; no edging; upper centre, initials 'HI'; lower centre, date '1795'.

    Notes: Simple design with bold, well-carved characters.

    Inscription: H I / 1795

    Manufactured: in 1795 in England.

    Current location: not known.

  3. 324

    horne,_chithurst farm (dbrg).jpg
    ~700 x ~600 mm

    Description: Rectangular with two-stepped top; undefined edging; in arch, stamp formed of a talbot statant guardant upon a wreath; date below crest; vertical carved billet stamped three times, the centre one higher than the other two, between the initials, below each pair of which is a cross stamp.

    Notes: The talbot crest is seen on other firebacks indicating a common source; from a drawing in report 2553 of the Domestic Buildings Research Group (Surrey). The fireback is obscured behind a stove.

    Inscription: 16 30 / IM EM

    Manufactured: in 1630 in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, Horne, Surrey, England.

  4. 1003

    horsham,_11 causeway.jpg
    1540 x 1480 mm

    Description: Large plain arched rectangular fireback with astragal edging on the top and sides.

    Notes: Exceptionally large fireback, finely cast.

    Manufactured: in the late 18th to early 19th century in England.

    Current location: in private hands, Horsham, West Sussex, England.

  5. 327

    horsham_museum 05.jpg
    560 x 810 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shaped central panel with open-bud edging; pictorial: Venus in her chariot drawn by doves, with her child, Cupid; a heron flies away to the left; above are swagged curtains and a pair of tassels, below is a landscape; arched rectangular shaped border with fillet edging, a scallop shell top centre with symmetrical arrangement of vine and acanthus leaves and tendrils; the monogram, SHR, bottom centre; above is a symmetrical design of scrolled floral tendrils.

    Notes: The design is derived from a personification of the planet Venus in 'Planetarum effectus et eorum in signis zodiaci', by Marten de Vos (1585); the flying heron has been copied from a print by Wenceslaus Hollar c.1658. The theft, in 1699, from a Thames-side warehouse of several firebacks, included '6 of Venus in a Chariot with Doves', which is likely to refer to this type (Post Boy 11-14 Nov. 1699).

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: SHR

    Manufactured: in the late 17th century in England.

    Current location: Horsham Museum, Causeway, Horsham, West Sussex, England.

    (part of the Horsham Museum museum group)

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

  6. 328

    horsham_museum 06.jpg
    450 x 700 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular central panel with bead edging; pictorial scene of a figure in Roman dress, holding a large sword, and holding the head of a bearded man in his left hand; below to the left, a naked, decapitated body; above the winged face of a putto between mirrored, scrolled foliage; arched rectangular border with fillet edging; flowers in chain under the arch and down the sides; at the bottom, swirled foliage; on top, a crown between fruit triads.

    Notes: Perseus holding the severed head of the Medusa; possibly adapted from a drawing by Crispijn de Passe the elder (1564-1637). Similarities in the design and execution of the pattern suggest a common source with contemporary English firebacks.

    Manufactured: in the early 18th century in England.

    Current location: Horsham Museum, Causeway, Horsham, West Sussex, England.

    (part of the Horsham Museum museum group)

  7. 329

    horsham_museum 07.jpg
    731 x 483 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; simulated twisted rope edging (top & sides); central, symmetrical arrangement of a fleur-de-lys between two diamond stamps with two small cross-cut squares below, and a triad of dots outside; above, a haphazard arrangement of date, at top, above the initials, with a rose and crown to the left, and another fleur to the right.

    Notes: Almost certainly an altered copy of a similar fireback dated 1613, some of the features of which have remained.

    Inscription: 1637 / ILE

    Manufactured: in 1637 in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Horsham Museum, Causeway, Horsham, West Sussex, England.

    (part of the Horsham Museum museum group)

  8. 330

    horsham_museum 08.jpg
    920 x 610 mm

    Description: Rectangular; plain edge; top centre, ring between repeated lion's head between repeated narrow human figure with folded arms standing on a bracket; below each figure, a small bracket.

    Notes: The figures are indistinct and are disproportionately small for the size of the firebacks; from Isfield Place 1921.

    Manufactured: in the late 19th to early 20th century in England.

    Current location: Horsham Museum, Causeway, Horsham, West Sussex, England.

    (part of the Horsham Museum museum group)

  9. 331

    horsham_museum 09.jpg
    1052 x 588 mm

    Description: Rectangular; no edging; inscription evenly spaced along top, sans serif lettering.

    Inscription: IS D T IS

    Manufactured: in the late 19th to early 20th century in England.

    Current location: Horsham Museum, Causeway, Horsham, West Sussex, England.

    (part of the Horsham Museum museum group)

  10. 332

    horsham_museum 10.jpg
    1075 x 764 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto moulded edging; top centre within arch, initials above date.

    Notes: Plain elegant fireback from a late series, probably cast in the south east of England. The crack emanating from the top right corner of the fireback seems to be a weakness on all the recorded examples, and may have caused by thinness of the base board at that point.

    Inscription: TW / 1852

    Manufactured: in 1852 in England.

    Current location: Horsham Museum, Causeway, Horsham, West Sussex, England.

    (part of the Horsham Museum museum group)