Firebacks

Description: Upon a moulded base plinth, wide scrolled side double fillets with foliage about the scrolls and suspended bell flowers in chain above; central foliate cartouche behind an oval shield surmounted by a viscomte's coronet; on top, an arch rising from horizontal moulding on each side.

Notes: Blazon: Azure, a chevron Argent between three estoiles Or, all surmounted by a bar of the second; characteristic of designs illustrated by architects such as Daniel Marot; the texturing on the shield indicates the azure tincture. See Carpentier p. 234, fig. 644.

Arms: Besset de la Chapelle

Description: Arched rectangular shape with demi-bullnose edging (top and sides); 'AD' curved in arch, with straight date below; central letter 'H' in the form of a horse's bit, with initials 'F' and 'J' respectively above and below; two lengths of rope with tasselled ends looped and tied symmetrically around the 'H' and on each side.

Notes: A finely moulded personal fireback with an equestrian connection.

Inscription: AD / 1909 / HFJ

Description: Arched shape; cavetto-moulded edge; Tudor royal shield, crown, garter (with inscription anti-clockwise) and supporters (dragon and greyhound); crowned rose on left, and crowned portcullis on right side of crown; the supporters stand on a horizontal fillet, to the bottom right of which is the end of an illegible inscription.

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.

Inscription: HONI SOIT QVI MAL I PENSE / [illeg.]

Arms: Tudor royal

Description: Arched rectangular central panel with additional arch above; bead and fillet edging; pictorial scene of, on the left, a tree next to a female and, in the centre, a male figure, both in eastern dress, a page behind holding a train, and to the right a short obelisk surmounted by a crescent, behind which is the head of a figure with a camel; behind is a small building also surmounted by a crescent, with clouds above; the word, ASIA, is centre bottom; identical shaped border with cavetto-moulded edging; a pomegranate on top with descending swags of drapery; at the sides, overlapping bunches of foliage suspended from ribbon bows; at the bottom, a central cartouche between fruit bunches; on top, a pomegranate with a descending serpent on each side, and a pomegranate on each shoulder of the plate.

Notes: A pastiche of the EUROPA design based on an engraving c.1642 of Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg, and his wife, Luise Henriette of Oranje-Nassau, by Mathias Czwiczek, with the figures adopting very similar poses in an oriental setting; one of series depicting allegories of the four continents, in this instance Asia. A recasting.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: ASIA / MB

Description: Arched rectangular central panel with beaded edging, containing an image of a semi-naked adult male with feathered headdress and 'grass' skirt and holding a club in his left hand; beside hima an adult female also wearing a 'grass' skirt and with a bird perched on her left hand, while holding with her right hand a standing child; within an arched rectangular border with fillet edging, descending from draped foliage on each side, swags or what appear to be coconuts or gourds, and at the bottom a cartouche between swirled foliage; on top, the mask of a putto with dolphins descending on each side.

Notes: One of a series portraying allegories of the four known continents - Europe, Asia, Africa and America; each comprises a pair of adults and a child dressed stereotypically, in this case representative of America. The images were derived from other media, such as paintings or engravings. Copake Auction, New York, 1 Jan 2011, lot 511 ($2,100).

Copies of this fireback are known.

Description: Complex quasi-arched rectangular shape with fillet edging; bell flowers descending from the top of the arch; double fillet scrolls at the side with cockerel terminals; under the arch, a royal crown surmounting a counter-posed double 'L' monogram enclosing a human mask with a sunburst; below, a table draped with a cloth bearing a circular royal shield of France within palm leaves.

Notes: A very elaborate and symbolic design alluding to the Sun King, Louis XIV.

Description: Arched rectangular shape with fillet edging; within an arched rectangular border alternating repeated acanthus leaves, and a floral cartouche, a heart-shaped shield of the royal arms of France, surmounted by a royal crown and within splayed olive branches.

Arms: France Royal

Description: Complex quasi-arched rectangular shape with astragal and fillet edging; within a parallel border and a rococo cartouche an oval shield (argent, a lion rampant sable, crowned, armed and langued gules), surmounted by a ducal coronet, and a bishop's mitre and crozier; above, a bishop's hat with trailing tassels; below, a compartment semie with diamond shapes.

Notes: Henri-Louis-René de Nos (1717-93) was abbot of Saint-Sauveur de Redon in 1747 and later, successively, Bishop of Rennes and of Verdun.

Arms: Henri-Louis-René de Nos

Description: Arched rectangular central panel with 'nutshell' over fillet edging; pictorial image of a partially clothed female figure, holding an upraised wreath in her left hand, standing on a ground, with a gadrooned vase containing flowers and leaves to the right, and above swagged drapery and sun rays; arched rectangular fillet border with descending leaves and flowers suspended from a wreath, top centre, and a wreath in each top corner; on top, mirrored sea monsters; bottom centre, initial N in a cartouche between swirling fronds.

Notes: The figure is an allegorical representation of Agriculture, one of the Iconologia originally published by Cesare Ripa in 1613.

Inscription: N

Description: Arched rectangular shaped central panel with hollow bead edging; to the right, a seated male figure beside a wellhead, pointing towards a standing female resting a ewer on the wellhead over which a rope hangs, and behind the male figure is a tree, and above, swagged drapery; arched rectangular shaped border with fillet edging; swirled flowers and tendrils symmetrically arranged, with SHR monogram at centre bottom; two mirrored stylised sea serpents on top; to each side a vertical extension with bead edging, of the same decoration as the side borders.

Notes: The frame of the central panel and the enclosing border are identical to those noted on another fireback displaying a figure of Pluto (see fireback no. 164), while the pictorial scene, of Jesus and the Woman of Samaria (St John 4: 5-28) is more typical of continental firebacks and stoveplates. This may be an example of an image from one casting being superimposed within the frame of an earlier fireback. The central image is sharper than the surrounding border.

Inscription: SHR