Firebacks

Description: Rectangular; top panel with bearded face between symmetrical horizontal scrolls, and faces at either end; scrolls are repeated below, on either side of the date, all above a horizontal double fillet; below, a pair of arches with guilloche decoration between fillets, and toothed on the underside, are supported on each side by Tuscan columns, also with guilloche decoration; this is repeated in symmetrical rectangular panels on either side; at the centre base a bulbous nozzle protrudes.

Notes: This is a smith's forge fireback, the nozzle being the tuyere directing the air into the fire from bellows behind. Stylistically similar to the Lenard and other firebacks of the same period, the carved elements above the nozzle may have been cast from a pattern inspired by the back of a joined 'wainscot' chair, with the date inserted. The back may have been used for forging non-ferrous metals as there was a trade in pot-founding in bronze as well as iron at some ironworks in the Weald. Formerly part of the Ade Collection (from Grove Hill, Hellingly, Sussex).

Inscription: 1655

Description: Canted rectangle; twisted rope edging (top and sides); date stamp top centre; arched rectangular style fireback with cavetto-moulded edge and fructed ‘vine’ plant design, impressed twice; vertical twisted rope length between. Damage to bottom corners.

Notes: A composite fireback using the impressions of another fireback repeated for a symmetrical design. Formerly part of the Ade Collection (from Grove Hill, Hellingly, Sussex).

Inscription: 1673

Description: Arched rectangular shaped central panel with bead on fillet edging; helmeted figure of Mars holding a cutlass in his right hand, standing on a field of flags, spears and cannon; 'Palladian' shaped border with fillet edging enclosing a repeated scrollwork pattern with floral arrangement at base; on top, symmetrical arrangement of scallop shell between two sea serpents and plant fronds.

Notes: Although in the 'Dutch'; style, an absence of this type in continental collections suggests an British source. Formerly part of the Ade Collection (from Grove Hill, Hellingly, Sussex).

Copies of this fireback are known.

Description: Rectangular with lifting handles; twisted rope edging (top and sides); elaborate central rope design of concentric squares with eight symmetrical arms each with six branches; two crowned rose en soleil stamps left and right centre; three roses across the bottom interspersed with two fleurs de lys; in top corners, two carved furniture-derived stamps. The width of the main plate is 876mm.

Notes: The rose-en-soleil was the badge of King Edward IV and, thus, a Yorkist symbol. The individual stamps are to be seen, separately or together, on other firebacks, indicating a common source; lifting handles are infrequently encountered on firebacks. The elaborate central rope array may be an interpretation of the escarbuncle, which was the principal heraldic charge on the arms of the Duchy of Cleves (1515-57), possibly associating this fireback with the brief marriage of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves. Formerly part of the Ade Collection (from Grove Hill, Hellingly, Sussex).

Description: Arched rectangular shape; ovolo moulded edging; central oval shield of the arms of Penkhurst with fillet edge; date arranged in four corners.

Notes: The arms of Penkhurst: Argent, a fess ermines between six mullets sable. Probably the arms of Ferdinando Penkhurst, of Buxted Park, Sussex, who died in 1708. Formerly part of the Ade Collection (from Grove Hill, Hellingly, Sussex).

Inscription: 1707

Arms: Penkhurst, of Mayfield

Description: Arched rectangular shaped; cavetto moulded edging (top and sides); a cabled anchor palewise, behind it the inscription on a scroll parallel with the anchor flukes.

Notes: The inscription is a quotation from Psalms 139: 1: 'Domine, probasti me et cognovisti me' - Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me. Another version of the same design may come from the same source. Formerly part of the Ade Collection (from Grove Hill, Hellingly, Sussex).

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: PROBASTI ME [Thou hast searched me]

Description: Central panel of arched rectangular shape with cavetto canted corners and bead edging; crowned female figure holding a sceptre in her right hand, seated in a chariot drawn by two caparisoned ponies, a cornucopia at their feet; below, sloping ground with plants, clouds with rain above; identically shaped border with fillet edging and symmetrical swags of flowers and drapery suspended from ribbons; at the base two symmetrical palm fronds tied with a ribbon.

Notes: The figure may represent Ceres, goddess of plenty. The fireback is one of a series designed and made in England, copying the prevailing 'Dutch' style. Its style echoes that of a fireback pattern preserved at Rottingdean Grange, Sussex. Formerly part of the Ade Collection (from Grove Hill, Hellingly, Sussex).

Copies of this fireback are known.

Description: Quasi-arched rectangular shaped with cyma recta curved shoulders and 'pinnacles'; ovolo moulded edging with a deep base panel; shield, helm, crest and mantling of the Maynard family; plain motto scroll below.

Notes: The arms, which are those of an esquire, can be identified from the first four quarters on the memorial to Raffe Maynard, d.1613, in St Albans Cathedral, son of John Maynard (d.1556); quarterly, 1, Maynard: argent, a chevron azure between three sinister hands couped at the wrist gules; 2, Filleigh: gules, a fess vairy between six crosses formy or; 3, Hewis: gules fretty argent a canton of the second; 4, Lyons: argent a chevron sable between three lions dormant coward gules; the crest, a stag statant, is of Maynard. Contemporaneously, there were Maynards who operated ironworks in the Rotherfield area in Sussex, with whom this fireback may be connected. Significantly the motto scroll is blank, suggesting that the wooden pattern for the fireback had been originally intended as a decorative panel with the motto painted rather than carved in relief. The top right corner of the shield was evidently broken on the original pattern prior to being impressed into the casting sand to form the mould. A smaller casting with the same arms is also known (no. 667). Formerly part of the Ade Collection (from Grove Hill, Hellingly, Sussex).

Copies of this fireback are known.

Arms: Maynard family

Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto moulded edging; shield, helm, crest, supporters, mantling and motto of the Corporation of the City of London; initials split by crest; date split at ends of motto.

Notes: Shield: Argent, a cross gules, in the first quarter a sword in pale point upwards of the last; crest: on a wreath argent and gules a dragon's sinister wing argent, charged on the underside with a cross throughout gules; supporters: on either side a dragon argent charged on the undersides of the wings with a cross throughout gules; motto: Domine Dirige Nos - Lord Direct Us; the earliest illustration of the arms in this form was in 1609, but their use is older. Formerly part of the Ade Collection (from Grove Hill, Hellingly, Sussex).

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: F W / 16 DOMINE DIRIGE NOS 59

Arms: Corporation of the City of London

Description: Arched rectangular shape with rounded corners; ovolo within fillet moulding all round; oval Tudor royal shield with garter surrounding, topped with a royal crown; dragon and greyhound supporters; initials split by crown; inscription on a fillet between legs of supporters, behind garter finial; motto on an Ionic plinth at bottom.

Notes: The supporters are those of Henry VII or Henry VIII, but the initials suggest the fireback dates from the reign of Edward VI (1547-53). John Harvo (d. c1565) was a gunfounder who has been identified as occupying Pounsley furnace, Framfield, Sussex, possibly from as early as 1547. This fireback is also seen with a variety of rectangular, rope-edged side panels bearing stamps or letters, some of which link the source of this and other groups of firebacks. The pattern or model for this fireback may have been made during the reign of Henry VIII (1509-47), with the initials added to an early casting using the original pattern. The protuberance on the bottom of the plate may be the remains of the runner from a pouring basin or overflow channel used during casting. Formerly part of the Ade Collection (from Grove Hill, Hellingly, Sussex).

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: E R / HONY SOYT QVE MAL Y PAVNCE / Made in Sussex by John Harvo / DV ET MOVN DRO

Arms: Tudor royal (Edward VI)