Firebacks

All of them

1090 results

  1. 1080

    boston,_museum of fine arts.jpg
    686 x 641 mm

    Description: Cast-iron fireback consisting of a panel with an arched top and scrolled ears. Decorated with reliefs, foliate borders at the sides, and in the centre with a coat of arms consisting of a shield, three castles separated by a chevron with an open compass, and with crest of a bird with a leafed branch in its beak, all elaborated with foliage. Motto along arched crest; motto in scroll below arms; maker’s name along bottom.

    Notes: The arms are essentially those of the Premier Grand Lodge of England, granted in 1717, differenced by the motto; the Massachusetts Lodge was founded in 1733; the blazon is an adaptation of the arms of the Worshipful Company of Masons. Joseph Webb was a Boston ironmonger and chandler; his 1765 trade card was designed by fellow Freemason Paul Revere, who may also have cast the fireback.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: THE • FREE • MASONS • ARMS / FOLLOW • REASON / SOLD • BY • JOSEPH • WEBB • BOSTON

    Arms: Massachusetts Grand Lodge of Freemasons

    Manufactured: in the mid to late 18th century probably at North End Ironworks, Boston in the Massachusetts area of United States of America.

    Current location: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.

    Museum number: 1982.618 (part of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts museum group)

  2. 1208

    bowness,_blackwell_house_01.jpg
    910 x 720 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape with a fleur-de-lys springing from each shoulder; cyma recta-moulded edging; quartered shield of the Stuart royal arms of England with surrounding Garter, surmounted by a crown and supported by a crowned lion and unicorn; indistinct motto cartouche along the bottom.

    Notes: A poorly-modelled and much-worn fireback. The fleur extensions to the top of the edging are an unusual feature

    Arms: English Stuart royal

    Manufactured: in the 17th century in England.

    Current location: Blackwell House, Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria, England.

  3. 1209

    bowness,_blackwell_house_02.jpg
    1130 x 1285 mm

    Description: Individually designed quasi-arched rectangular shape; astragal edging; central portico with framed doorway and sloping roof, in which stands a male figure dressed in contemporary style; above the roof, the date, and above that, the initials R R separated by a flower head, this inscription enclosed within a five-sided ribbon compartment held at the top corners by a pair of mirrored dancing cherubs each of which holds in their outer hand a wand surmounted by a fleur-de-lys; below them are mirrored vine designs terminating in a grape bunch, and below each of them a mirrored swirled snake, its head reversed; towards the outer side of these snakes are a pair of mirrored birds within a curved cartouche of slightly raised relief that is associated with a swirl on each side of the fireback that terminates the astragal edging on each side and which ascends via a step surmounted by a miniature urn on each shoulder of the back to the top which is surmounted by an acorn shape; above the ribbons held by the cherubs, is a stylised crown between the initials GR; the above features are limited by a horizontal astragal, though the portico descends below it, and which is supported at each end by a simple Doric column enclosing the bottom panel which is otherwise plain.

    Notes: The initials GR are of Georgius Rex - King George I. Finely cast but of naïve design, another fireback of the same design but with different inscriptions and dated 1714 is at Low Graythwaite in Hawkshead parish, which was home to the Rawlinson family who, in 1711, built the first blast furnace in what was then the northern part of Lancashire.

    Inscription: G R / R R / 1723

    Manufactured: in 1723 possibly at Backbarrow Furnace in the Furness area of England.

    Current location: Blackwell House, Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria, England.

    Citation: Cowper, H. S., 1899, Hawkshead: its History, Archaeology, Industries, Folklore, Dialect, etc., etc. (London, Bemrose).

  4. 1062

    bradford-on-avon,_westwood manor 02.jpg
    ?550 x ?600 mm

    Description: Rectangular with ogee arch; ovolo, egg and dart edging; shield, garter, helm, mantling, crest and motto of the English House of Stuart; date split either side of garter buckle.

    Notes: One of several firebacks, all of the same date, but varying in size, framing style and moulding; all have stylistic features in common and will have been the work of the same pattern maker, who was also responsible for carving royal coats of arms in three West Country churches.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE / 16 18 / DIEV ET MON DROIT

    Arms: English Stuart royal (James I)

    Manufactured: in 1618 possibly in the Forest of Dean area of England.

    Current location: Westwood Manor, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, England.

    Museum number: 222503.1 (part of the National Trust museum group)

  5. 876

    bradford-on-avon,_westwood manor 03.jpg
    730 x 530 mm

    Description: Canted rectangle; complex moulded edging (top and sides); rectangular incised initial stamp repeated ten times 3-4-3.

    Notes: The use of an incised stamp is uncommon.

    Inscription: RTI [repeated 10 times]

    Manufactured: in the 17th century in England.

    Current location: Westwood Manor, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, England.

    Museum number: 222509.1 (part of the National Trust museum group)

  6. 875

    bradford-on-avon,_westwood manor 04a.jpg
    1300 x 760 mm

    Description: Canted rectangle; double fillet edging (top and sides); repeated 'X' stamp parallel to edging, horizontally across centre, and in two parallel lines from top to centre, dividing top half of plate into three sections; 'daisy' stamp approximately in middle of top left and right sections, repeated four times in triad in top middle section, and thrice along top of bottom section; small roundel stamp repeated 3-3-1 in top left section, and 3-1-3-1 in top right section; date split between top left and right sections; initials split in top centre section.

    Notes: An arrangement with several elements likely to have been repeated on other firebacks.

    Inscription: 16 D[reversed] B 81

    Manufactured: in 1681 in the Forest of Dean area of England.

    Current location: Westwood Manor, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, England.

    Museum number: 222490 (part of the National Trust museum group)

  7. 993

    bradford-on-avon,_westwood manor 05.jpg
    ?713 x ?630 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shaped; ovolo-moulded edging (top and sides); central stamp of a carved bracket figure of a bearded man in a loincloth and cap; rhyme in capitals across rectangular plate, letters carved on strips, split by figure.

    Notes: The twin miseries of a smoky house and a scolding wife are mentioned several times in literature. The dress of the figure suggests work as a miner, possibly linking this back with the Forest of Dean. Variants with initials and dates are also known.

    Inscription: FROM ·A·-·SMOKY ·LIFE·/ AND·A SCOVL DING·WIFE·/ALL MEN THAT-DOE·ME·SE/ TAKE·PETIE- AND·DELIVER ME

    Manufactured: in the mid 17th century possibly at Tintern Furnace in the Forest of Dean area of Wales.

    Current location: Westwood Manor, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, England.

    Museum number: 222507 (part of the National Trust museum group)

    Citation: Chambers, L. H., 26 Sep 1912, 'Fireback: Relic of 1660', Notes and Queries, 11th series, 6, p. 230.

  8. 1269

    bradford_on_tone,_raflees_reclamation_585x585.jpg
    585 x 585 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; fillet edging; central male figure clothed in 17th century style, facing to the left, holding a mallet in his raised right hand and holding a board with rectangular detailing in relief in his left hand; vertical boards in relief behind; below to the left, a smaller figure holding a long pole diagonally with other detailing in relief behind; to the lower right, a female figure, contemporaneously clothed, a scroll feature to her right; behind, an archtectural grille with scrolled detailing; above, swagged drapery with three descending tasselled ropes.

    Notes: A pastiche of a 17th century fireback, perhaps inspired by the Lenard fireback of 1636 (see no. 429). The scene appears to be of a carpenter's workshop but some of the detail in the lower parts of the fireback is indistinct owing to corrosion. The drapery was probably inspired by a similar feature on several late-17th or early-18th century English, 'Dutch'-style fireback designs. The reverse (upcast) side of the fireback is very smooth indicating a modern date for the casting.

    Manufactured: in the 20th century in England.

    Current location: Raflees Reclamation Ltd, Trefusis Lodge, Tone Green, Bradford-on-Tone, Somerset, England.

  9. 206

    bramber,_st marys 01a.jpg
    695 x 600 mm

    Description: Rectangular with two-stepped top; double astragal edging on sides; top centre, stamp formed of a talbot statant guardant upon a wreath; date split either side of crest; initials below date, ‘+’ below letters.

    Notes: The talbot crest is seen on other firebacks indicating a common source.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: 16 22 / I + H

    Manufactured: in 1622 in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: St Mary's House, Bramber, West Sussex, England.

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

  10. 22

    bramber,_st marys 02.jpg
    455 x 565 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shaped; fillet edging; a lion rampant

    Notes: Whole pattern. A modern design of fireback

    Copies of this fireback are known.

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

    Current location: St Mary's House, Bramber, West Sussex, England.