Firebacks

Description: Arched rectangular shape; fillet edging; top centre, stamp formed of a carved domestic scene of a family around a table; in top corners, repeated small stamp of St George and the Dragon; below, repeated stamp of a pineapple in a pot; centre; small stamp of the royal arms of the United Kingdom 1801-37.

Notes: The domestic group has been formed from a decorative iron mantelpiece ornament portraying the tale of the goose that laid golden eggs. Having killed the goose, the family are lamenting the loss of their bounty (see Ames, 1980, p.94). The same mantelpiece group and pineapple stamp can be seen as decoration on the kitchen spit assemblage at Petworth House, West Sussex, which was cast at Robert Chorley's foundry at Cocking, south of Midhurst. Evidently this and another fireback bearing the same ornament stamp were among items from the Cowdray estate sold in 1898.

Description: Arched rectangle with crude scalloping around the edges; elaborate, symmetrical strapwork frame with scrolls top left and right, and below, a bunch of grapes hanging from the top, and the head and forelegs of a goat climbing through; inside each upper scroll, a small astragel edged oval.

Notes: The strapwork, a distinctive feature of Elizabethan design, was probably derived from redundant furniture. Marks round the edge of this fireback suggest that it may have been reduced from a larger size.

Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto edging; Stuart royal arms of England (quarterly, 1st and 4th, France and England, 2nd Scotland and 3rd Ireland) with garter, crown, motto and supporters; initials either side of crown base.

Notes: As in others of this series the design overlaps the edging.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: C R / ...SOIT QVI MAL Y ...

Arms: English Stuart royal

Description: Rectangular; cavetto-moulded edging; shield, helm, crest, supporters, mantling and motto of the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers: Sable a chevron ermine between in chief two Havettes Argent and in base a Teazel Cob Or; crest: on a Mount vert a Ram statant Or; supporters: two Griffins Or pellettée.

Notes: The arms as displayed were granted in 1587; the same fireback was also used as a stamp for a large fireback of 1659 in Haslemere Museum (no. 108).

Arms: Worshipful Company of Clothworkers

Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto-moulded edging; figure in mid-17th century armour, sword in belt, riding a prancing horse; initials split, below corners of arch, in front of horse’s head and behind rider’s back.

Notes: Probably intended to represent Charles I in memoriam, as other firebacks in this style date from the end of the Commonwealth period.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: [C missing] R

Description: Arched rectangular shaped with narrow shoulders; fillet edging; date in individual numerals across arch.

Notes: A smaller version is different in the spacing of the numerals and the proportions of the plate.

Inscription: 1658

Description: Arch-shaped, with rounded-arched extension at top; cavetto moulded edge all round; five vertical planklines; arms of the Francis (or Franceis) family of Derbyshire: Argent a Chevron gules between three Eagles displayed of the same; Crest: an eagle displayed on a crowned knight’s helm; initials in bottom corners; date below shield.

Notes: Probably the arms of Sir Edward Francis, who was Seneschal of the Petworth House estate and took overall charge in 1606 when the 9th Earl of Northumberland was committed to the Tower of London for his alledged involvement in the Gunpowder Plot.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: E 1606 F

Arms: Sir Edward Francis

Description: Of unique design; quasi-arched rectangular shape; ribbon border, curled on each side of the neck. Symmetrical arrangement of plant tendrils with acorns, oak leaves, pomegranates and other leaves across the rectangular base; above and centrally placed are the date, over which are the initials either side of a crescent moon, surmounted by an earl’s coronet.

Notes: The initials, H N, are thought to refer to Henry, 9th Earl of Northumberland, and the date to his release from the Tower of London following his 17 years’ imprisonment for alleged involvement in the Gunpowder Plot.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: H N / 1622

Description: Central arched rectangular shape formed of fluted Ionic pilasters supporting a rounded arch, with fillet edging, bearing the date between two flower heads; beneath is a fouled anchor within a circlet of rope gathered into eight loops; a phoenix, its wings displayed and inverted, rises from the flames above the rope; mirrored outside each pilaster, a crouching, naked faun, facing inwards, disgorges a vine with bunches of grapes; above each faun a volute forms the top corner of the plate.

Notes: The decorative elements of this fireback have yet to be fully interpreted; the vines disgorged from the mouths of the fauns are related to the 'green man' tradition associated with woodland spirits and symbolising resurrection, the latter echoed by the phoenix, though in the form in which they appear on this fireback they may be a purely decorative device. By contrast, the cabled anchor is the badge of the Lord High Admiral who, in 1608, was Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham (previously Lord Howard of Effingham). A pastiche of this fireback, dated 1633, is also known (no. 1064).

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: 1608

Description: Canted rectangle; elaborate cavetto moulded edging (top and sides); strapwork shield with a demi-flower at each side, between initials; arms quarterly of six, 1st Or two chevronels Gules, on a canton of the last a mullet of the first (Pope); 2nd Argent three bars Gules, on a canton ermine a bend of lozenges of the second (Walshe); 3rd Sable three laurel leaves in bend Or between two bendlets Argent (Waller); 4th Azure a chevron between three crosses Moline Argent (Lansdale); 5th Ermine on a bend Gules three lions' heads erased Or (Weston); 6th Azure a lion rampant Or supporting a cross pat?e fitch?e of the second (Pichingham).

Notes: The lower part of the shield is revealed more clearly in another casting. The date above the shield has been inserted before casting and differs slightly from another example of the same back.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: 1625 / S P

Arms: Pope (Sackevile Pope (b. 1589) of Hendall, in Buxted, Sussex)