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162
Description: Arched rectangular shaped; cavetto-moulded edge; figure of St Paul, a sword in his left hand, holding a viper in his right hand over flames rising from the ground.
Notes: The scene illustrates an episode in the New Testament, Acts 28: 3. The design shows stylistic similarities to other firebacks where simple, well-executed relief has overlapped the cavetto edging. Formerly part of the Ade Collection (from Grove Hill, Hellingly, Sussex).
Copies of this fireback are known.
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular with round arch (shape)
- cavetto (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- pictorial
- biblical
- humans
Manufactured: in the mid- to late-17th century possibly in the Weald area of England.
Current location: Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, John's Place, Bohemia Road, Hastings, East Sussex, England.
Museum number: HASMG: 1952.51.25 (part of the Hastings Museum museum group)
Citation: Butterfield, W. R., 1916, 'Old Wealden Firebacks', The Connoisseur, 46, pp. 197-209.
- Attached to series:
- Small cavetto series
- New Testament firebacks
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176
Description: Probably originally rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); two (originally probably three) panels divided by vertical twisted rope, each containing a rounded shield with fillet edge with 'ihs' (the 'h' crossed), between two cartouche-style shields with fillet edge, bearing a cross rising from two concentric rings.
Notes: The overtly religious symbolism may indicate a pre-Reformation or Marian date. The christogram, 'ihs', derived from the first three letters of 'IESUS' in Greek, was first noted in England in the 14th century. The cross rising from the rings may be intended to indicate christian dominion over the globe. Possibly as much as the right third of the fireback is missing. The fireback is believed to have been in Robertsbridge Abbey.
Inscription: ihs ihs
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular (shape)
- rope (edging)
- simple stamps
- carved stamps
- heraldic
- text
Manufactured: in the early-16th century possibly in the Weald area of England.
Current location: Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, John's Place, Bohemia Road, h, East Sussex, England.
Museum number: HASMG: 1914.38 (part of the Hastings Museum museum group)
- Attached to series:
- Religious firebacks
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152
Description: Rectangular; plain plate; on top, twice repeated stamp probably formed of a section of cresting with a row of seven ?fleurs-de-lys above a diagonal grid of squares, each with a small raised square in the middle, and a horizontal astragal border below; between the cresting, a stamp of indeterminate form and design; below, four repeated hexagonal stamps, each divided into triangles by raised lines, two under each cresting stamp; between them, a stamp of indeterminate form and design, possibly the same as the one above it; below, probably six double crosses flory, with a flower head stamp between each group of three; along the bottom, two crosses flory, three hexagon stamps and two other stamps of indeterminate form and design (though different from those described above), arranged asymetrically.
Notes: A crude and poorly executed casting. Butterfield (1916) illustrated this fireback the other way up, and that is how it was displayed in Hastings Museum when it was photographed in the early 2000s. The orientation of this fireback has been reconsidered and the greater relative wear and heat corrosion of the smaller individual stamps suggests that the cresting was originally at the top of the fireback and not the bottom.
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular (shape)
- none (edging)
- carved stamps
- objects
Manufactured: in the mid-16th century in the Weald area of England.
Current location: Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, John's Place, Bohemia Road, Hastings, East Sussex, England.
Museum number: HASMG: 1911.60.8 (part of the Hastings Museum museum group)
Citation: Butterfield, W. R., 1916, 'Old Wealden Firebacks', The Connoisseur, 46, pp. 197-209.
- Attached to series:
- Miscellaneous stamp firebacks
-
159
Description: Rectangular with ‘pediment’ arch linked by cavetto curves; fillet and cavetto edging; pictorial, a cylindrical furnace with inscribed stone courses, flames issuing from the top, with the heads of three people, a hand raised from two of them, and an angel with wings and arms outstretched; the furnace has a small arched opening bottom centre; above the angel, the inscription was inscribed on the pattern.
Notes: The scene represents Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being delivered from the burning fiery furnace by the angel of God (Daniel 3), the phrase, The Three Children, being a reference to the eponymous apocryphal verses from the Book of Daniel. Formerly at Brightling Hall, Robertsbridge, Sussex.
Inscription: THE THREE CHILDREN
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular with pediment (shape)
- cavetto (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- pictorial
- biblical
- architectural
- text
- humans
- objects
Manufactured: in the early- to mid-17th century possibly in the Weald area of England.
Current location: Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, John's Place, Bohemia Road, Hastings, East Sussex, England.
Museum number: HASMG: 1913.58 (part of the Hastings Museum museum group)
Citation: Baines, J. M., 1958, Wealden Firebacks (Hastings Museum).
Citation: Butterfield, W. R., 1916, 'Old Wealden Firebacks', The Connoisseur, 46, pp. 197-209.
Citation: Butterfield, W. R., 23 Feb 1935, 'A Scriptural Fireback', Hastings and St Leonards Observer.
- Attached to series:
- Old Testament & Apocrypha firebacks
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926
Description: Carved wooden fireback pattern. Cavetto-canted rectangle with arch; ovolo-moulded edging; shield, garter, helm, mantling, crest, motto and supporters of William Cecil, 1st Lord Burghley, KG (1520-98). Date below garter.
Notes: William Cecil was Queen Elizabeth I's first minister. Owing to Lord Burghley's motto being merely painted and not carved, as the Garter motto is, the primary purpose of this armorial was probably decorative, and its role as a pattern for firebacks secondary.
Inscription: HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE / COR VNVM [ET] VIA VNA / 15 75
Arms: William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, KG
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular (shape)
- ovolo (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- planklines
- armorial
- text
Manufactured: in 1575 in England.
Current location: Hatfield House, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England.
- Attached to series:
- Patterns
- Personal armorial firebacks
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188
Description: Cavetto-canted rectangle with arch; ovolo-moulded edging; shield, garter, helm, mantling, crest and supporters of William Cecil, 1st Lord Burghley, KG (1520-98). Date below garter.
Notes: William Cecil was Queen Elizabeth I's first minister. The wooden pattern for this fireback (no. 926), itself a fine carved, wooden painted panel, is at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire.
Copies of this fireback are known.
Inscription: HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE 15 75
Arms: William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley KG
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular with canted top corners and round arch (shape)
- ovolo (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- planklines
- armorial
- text
Manufactured: in 1575 possibly in the Weald area of England.
Current location: Hatfield House, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England.
- Attached to series:
- Personal armorial firebacks
- Armorial panel firebacks
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189
Description: Rectangular with an ogee arch; twisted rope edging (top and sides); line of small fleurs-de-lys around the top and sides, inside the edging; Tudor rose inside each top corner (overstamped on the left); below each rose an escarbuncle of twisted rope with fleur de lys terminals (understamped); top centre, a Tudor royal shield within an oval garter - HONE SOVT QUEY MAL Y PENSE - with greyhound and lion supporters, and crown above; cross of small fleurs inclined to each side of the crown; inverted 'Y' shape in twisted rope below each supporter, a fleur at the top end of each.
Notes: An oft-used achievement of arms; twisted rope with fleur de lys terminals are seen on other firebacks from the same source. The escarbuncle was the principal charge on the arms of the Duchy of Cleves, the same charge on this fireback possibly associating it with the brief marriage of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves.
Inscription: HONE SOVT QUEY MAL Y PENSE
Arms: Tudor royal (prob. Henry VIII)
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular with ogee-arch (shape)
- rope (edging)
- carved stamps
- heraldic
- armorial
- royal
- text
- objects
Manufactured: in the mid- to late-16th century possibly at Pounsley Furnace, Framfield in the Weald area of England.
Current location: in private hands, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England.
- Attached to series:
- Pounsley series
- Fleur rope terminal series
- Tudor royal armorial firebacks
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318
Description: Canted rectangle; twisted rope edging (top and sides); symmetrical arrangement of a fleur-d-lys stamp repeated seven times (2-3-2), with the middle one of the three slight above the other two, and the bottom two inverted immediately below the outer two of the three.
Notes: The style of the fleurs is identical to those on two firebacks decorated with firedogs bearing the initials, HN, and the crossed staple badge of the Nevills; Henry Nevill occupied Mayfield furnace from about 1585 until 1599.
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular with canted top corners (shape)
- rope (edging)
- carved stamps
- heraldic
Manufactured: in the late-16th century possibly at Mayfield Furnace in the Weald area of England.
Current location:, not known.
Citation: Hayden, A., 1912, Chats on Cottage and Farmhouse Furniture (Unwin, London).
- Attached to series:
- Henry Nevill series
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1127
Description: Plain rectangle; no edging; top centre, date between two six-pointed stars.
Notes: Characteristic of the last firebacks cast at Ashburnham Furnace, Sussex. One of a small series of firebacks cast in the early-19th century for farms on the Ashburnham estate.
Inscription: * 1812 *
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular (shape)
- none (edging)
- carved stamps
- individual numbers
- text
- objects
Manufactured: in 1812 at Ashburnham Furnace in the Weald area of England.
Current location:, not known.
- Attached to series:
- Date only firebacks
- Ashburnham late series
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912
Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); impression of the end of a firedog repeated three times, one upright in centre, two diagonally inverted with feet angled towards top centre; a large saltire of twisted rope in each top corner, a small saltire, of twisted rope and dowel, on either side of top of central firedog; cross of twisted rope below right hand corner saltire; lower centre, two angled rope lengths either side of central firedog. At the bottom, and outside the feet of the central firedog, two excrescences formed by the pouring of the metal.
Notes: A well-preserved example with an unusual arrangement of the firedog stamp; formerly (c.1886) in the Warbill-in-Tun inn, Warbleton, Sussex.
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular (shape)
- rope (edging)
- simple stamps
- apotropaic
- objects
Manufactured: in the mid- to late-16th century in the Weald area of England.
Current location: in private hands, Heathfield, East Sussex, England.
Citation: Balcomb, J. T., Nov. 1886, 'An Extinct Sussex Art', The Art Journal, pp. 337-340.
- Attached to series:
- Firedog stamp firebacks
- Metalware stamp firebacks