Firebacks

Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto edging; armorial; Stuart English royal arms within a circular garter; crown, motto and supporters (crowned lion and unicorn); initials separated by crown.

Notes: An early casting of a widely copied fireback. A later copy with an inserted, probably spurious, date is no. 1303.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: C R / HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE / DIEU ET MON DROIT

Arms: English Stuart royal

Description: Canted rectangle; plain edges; broad horizontal fillet dividing the plate in two just above the side angles, with vertical fillets to top corners enclosing date and initials.

Notes: Uncharacteristically crude for the period.

Inscription: IS / 16 60

Description: Arched rectangle; arch with egg and dart, ovolo edging, resting on rectangle shoulders and sides with triple fillet edging, a single fillet edged panel beneath; bottom panel, guilloche pattern of 12; main panel: shield, helm, crest, coronet and mantling of the Wynter/Wintour family of Lydney, Gloucestershire; the initials above the date, both split by the helm and coronet; on either side of the shield, Ionic pilasters; above the rectangle shoulders, a scrolled bracket each side, supporting the arch.

Notes: Wynter: Sable, a fess ermine, in chief a crescent for difference; crest: out of a ducal coronet, or, a cubit arm in armour erect, proper, garnished of the first, in the gauntlet three ostrich-feathers. The arms are likely to be those of Sir John Wynter, who owned several furnaces in the Forest of Dean. Formerly at Watts House, Bishop's Lydeard, Somerset, and before that at The Priory, Taunton.

Inscription: I W / 16 30

Arms: Winter/Wintour of Lydney, Gloucestershire

Description: Rectangular with inclined sides, joined by scrolls to a pedimented top; twisted rope edging (top and sides); Garter enclosing the Tudor royal arms, with crowned lion and dragon supporters, crowned helm, and lion crest with mantling; rectangular date compartment at base; initials either side of crest.

Notes: The detached pediment is stylistically typical of the late-16th and early-17th centuries.

Inscription: E R; Garter motto; 160[?0]

Arms: Tudor royal - Elizabeth I

Description: Canted rectangle; twisted rope edging (top and sides); a shield repeated five times, each bearing three arrows palewise, points down, with a molet (star) above the middle arrow, two over three.

Notes: Three arrows form the arms of several families, so identification of the arms is not possible without the associated colouring. The star is likely to be a mark of cadency, granted to a third son. Four rivets along the base may relate to earlier repair. The fireback was formerly at Chisenbury Priory, Wiltshire. A variant with three shields (W 740mm x H 480mm) was lot 530 at Brettells auction, Newport, Salop, 1 March 2022 and again as lot 457 on 2 May 2023.

Arms: Not known

Description: Canted rectangle; embattled, cavetto moulded edging; central tree with fruit and leaves, a snake, facing right, with a human face in profile entwined, in ‘S’ shape, around the trunk and lower branches; to the left, a naked, bearded male figure holding an apple in his left hand and a branch in his right for modesty; to the right a naked female figure with apple and branch also; the date split either side of the snake and tree trunk.

Notes: Similarities with an armorial in the date, numerals and edging suggest a common pattern-maker.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: 16 19

Description: Arched rectangular shaped, topped with a triangle; twisted rope edging (top and sides only); inverted Tudor royal shield and Garter, crown above, greyhound and lion supporters (see example at Alfriston Clergy House). Two horizontal planklines.

Notes: A uniquely shaped fireback, the inverted shield and Garter indicate that they formed a separate stamp from the crown; other firebacks with these stamps have the shield and Garter the correct way round. A frequently copied fireback; a larger version has a bottom extension.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: HONE SOVT QUEY MAL Y PENSE

Arms: Tudor royal (prob.Henry VIII)

Description: Cavetto-canted rectangle with central pediment; cyma-reversa moulded edging; central pedimented panel, fillet edged, with shield, helm, crest and mantling of the May family; on either side, an incised floral pattern of a stem and six branches, rising from a rectangular, low-relief panel of two images of horsemen; above, the inscription in low relief.

Notes: The arms of May: Gules, a fess between eight billets Or; crest: Out of a ducal coronet Or, a lion’s head gules bezanty; the same armorial stamp appears to have been used on an unnamed iron graveslab in Ticehurst church. The initials are probably those of Susanna May (c1653-1718), heir to Pashley, in Ticehurst, who had married her distant cousin, Sir Robert May, in 1686. The May family had been involved in the iron industry in the 16th and early 17th centuries, but were no longer active a century later. Incised decoration on firebacks is uncommon, the decoration probably having been incised into the pattern board.

Inscription: 17S M02

Arms: May of Pashley, Ticehurst

Description: Arched rectangular central panel, with bead edging; pictorial, two men in 17th century dress, on a ground, carrying a huge bunch of grapes slung from a pole between them, behind are vine leaves; the initials located below the top corners; arched rectangular border, fillet edging, containing vine leaves and grapes; above, symmetrical swirling foliage.

Notes: The scene, drawn from the Old Testament, represents Joshua and Caleb carrying the bunch of grapes from the valley of Eshcol in the land of Canaan, back to Moses and the children of Israel (Numbers 13: 23-4); a small number of firebacks bear the initials, GK; it is not known to whom they refer, but dated examples are of 1700.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: G K

Description: Composite; Arched rectangular shaped, armorial fireback, cavetto edging, with Stuart Royal arms, garter, supporters, crown and motto, and 1662 date above crown; this overlies a rectangular plate, with rope-effect, fillet edging; a pattern of four rosettes surrounding a fleur-de-lys, its stem terminating in a small buckle, is repeated on each side of the central armorial fireback, with the initials above; each rosette is stamped separately.

Notes: A variant, bearing the same date, but the initials, A B, and without the rosettes, is at Norton Manor, Malmesbury, Wiltshire.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: 16 62 / C P / HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE / DIEV·ET·MON DROIT

Arms: English Stuart royal