Firebacks

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: 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 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

Description: Arched rectangular central panel with fillet edging; central seated female with an infant in her arms, a swan at her feet and a standing child on each side, the one to her left facing the front and holding aloft a flaming heart, its foot on a ball; the child to her right facing the woman, holding aloft a branch in its left hand, all on a ground with an overhanging tree to the right; arched rectangular border with fillet edging with descending festoons of acanthus flowers on each side, the date and initials at the bottom and, at the top on each side, a pair of acanthus flowers descending from a heart-shaped terminal of a strapwork frame; above, mirrored swirls of foliage.

Notes: The central pictorial scene is a crude pastiche of a panel portraying an allegory of Charity frequently used on firebacks produced in the Siegerland of north-west Germany for the Dutch market in the second half of the seventeenth century. The swirled foliage on the top is typical of English 'Dutch' style firebacks of the early-eighteenth century and the numerals are also more typically English in style.

Inscription: 17 . IAK[?] 31

Description: Arched rectangular shaped central panel with hollow bead edging; draped male figure standing on undulating ground with two small trees, holding a bar, flaming furnaces behind, drapery suspended from above; Arched rectangular shaped border with fillet edging; swirled flowers and tendrils symmetrically arranged, with monogram at centre bottom; symmetrical arrangement of foliage on top.

Notes: The figure is of Pluto, one of a set of 'Eight Deities' engraved by Hendrick Goltzius (1592), after Polidoro da Caravaggio; a recasting, there is a larger (420mm x 640mm) but more corroded version in Hastings Museum. The faint initials SHR are probably those of the pattern-maker. The image is of a copy; original castings are fractionally larger.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: SHR

Description: Arched rectangular central panel with bead on broad fillet edging; pictorial scene of a figure in a chariot on left, drawn across clouds by two peacocks; above, a putto and a bird flying in clouds; to the right, a tree; arched rectangular border with fillet edging; symmetrical undulating oak fronds descending from a loop; at the bottom, the letter W in a cartouche between swirled foliage; on top, mirrored swirled foliage descending from a loop.

Notes: The figure is likely to be that of Hera/Juno, who is traditionally associated with peacocks. The initial 'W' probably identifies the pattern maker; a single vertical line right of centre indicates the join between two boards that formed the pattern. The 'W' initial probably denotes the pattern maker.

Inscription: W