Firebacks

Manufactured in England

887 results

  1. 558

    pet-m-50.jpg
    765 x 846 mm

    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.

    Arms: Royal arms of the United Kingdom 1801-37

    Manufactured: in the early-19th century probably at Cocking Foundry in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Petworth House, Petworth, West Sussex, England.

    Museum number: NT/PET/M/50 (part of the National Trust museum group)

    Citation: Ames, A., 1980, Collecting Cast Iron (Ashbourne, Moorland Publishing).

    Citation: Arnold, F. H., 1900, 'Notes and Queries No. 7: Relics of Old Cowdray', Sussex Archaeological Collections, 43, p. 281.

  2. 559

    pet-m-53.jpg
    715 x 450 mm

    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.

    Manufactured: in the late-16th century possibly in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Petworth House, Petworth, West Sussex, England.

    Museum number: NT/PET/M/53 (part of the National Trust museum group)

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2010, British Cast-Iron Firebacks of the 16th to Mid-18th Centuries (Crawley, Hodgers Books).

  3. 560

    pet-m-54.jpg
    830 x 585 mm

    Description: Quasi-arched rectangular shape with symmetrical double fillet rococo edging; high relief pictorial battle scene with mounted knights carrying lances and pennants.

    Notes: The battle scene may have been inspired by more than one classical portayal of a battle in history; likely sources are 'The Defeat of the Pisans at the Tower of St Vicenzo' by Giorgio Vasari and 'Alexander the Great's crossing of the Granicus' by Charles Le Brun. An engraving by Daniel Kellerthaler (1574-1648) has a similar frame enclosing an unidentified cavalry conflict.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Manufactured: in the late-18th to early-19th century in England.

    Current location: Petworth House, Petworth, West Sussex, England.

    Museum number: NT/PET/M/54 (part of the National Trust museum group)

  4. 563

    pet-m-57.jpg
    564 x 588 mm

    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

    Manufactured: in the mid- to late-17th century in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Petworth House, Petworth, West Sussex, England.

    Museum number: NT/PET/M/57 (part of the National Trust museum group)

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2010, British Cast-Iron Firebacks of the 16th to Mid-18th Centuries (Crawley, Hodgers Books).

  5. 575

    pet-m-66.jpg
    640 x 695 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto-moulded edging; on each side a column of small overlapping leaves above a pedestal with a single acanthus leaf; issuing from the top of each column two ribbons, in figure-of-eight with grenade terminals, fly across the arch; within an arched rectangular central panel with bead edging three naked children disport about a swag of fruit, with a central pomegranate, suspended from the top of each column; one figure sits on the top, facing right, the other two hang symmetrically from below, with mirrored swirls behind them; along the base is a line of acanthus leaves; on top a sea serpent is curled on each end.

    Notes: The design may have been inspired by the paintings of Jan Pauwel Gillemans the younger (1651-1704); he may have worked in London in 1675-8. Another version of the fireback (no. 591), probably by the same pattern-maker, has a slightly different design.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Manufactured: in the late-17th century in England.

    Current location: Petworth House, Petworth, West Sussex, England.

    Museum number: PET/M/66 (part of the National Trust museum group)

  6. 520

    pet-m-74.jpg
    410 x 650 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular central panel with bead edging; with tassel at top; three nude female figures: on top, Juno/Hera with a peacock, to the left Venus/Aphrodite, the young cupid/Eros at her feet, to the right Minerva/Athena with spear and shield; arched rectangular border with fillet edging; the heads of two putti and from them two suspended festoons of fruit and leaves; at the bottom, the inscription, THE 3 GODDESES, widely spaced. On top, two figures of Triton blowing seashells. On each shoulder of the fireback, a fluted vase with flowers issuing.

    Notes: The three eponymous goddesses are those whose beauty was the subject of the Judgement of Paris. The composition is copied from an engraving by Adriaen Collaert (c1560-1618). This fireback is an instance of a continental back which has been recast in England, the opportunity being taken to insert an English inscription in place of the customary date and pattern maker's monogram

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: THE 3 GODDESES [sic]

    Manufactured: in the late-17th century in England.

    Current location: Petworth House, Petworth, West Sussex, England.

    Museum number: NT/PET/M/74 (part of the National Trust museum group)

  7. 521

    pet-m-75a.jpg
    405 x 618 mm

    Description: Rectangular with arched, mirrored scrolls on top and central scallop shell; fillet edging; Pan, with a goat behind, trees to left and right; a putto above right; at the bottom, a separate rectangular panel with mirrored scrolled foliage.

    Notes: A scene apparently unrelated to a specific classical narrative, and without the customary decorated border.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Manufactured: in the early-18th century in England.

    Current location: Petworth House, Petworth, West Sussex, England.

    Museum number: NT/PET/M/75 (part of the National Trust museum group)

  8. 522

    pet-m-76.jpg
    600 x 416 mm

    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

    Manufactured: in the early- to mid-17th century possibly in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Petworth House, Petworth, West Sussex, England.

    Museum number: NT/PET/M/76 (part of the National Trust museum group)

  9. 535

    pet-m-89.jpg
    575 x 731 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; no edging; raised central square surmounted by Royal Arms of Great Britain and Ireland, with Garter, crown and lion and unicorn supporters; surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped, twisted floral wreath, within which the inscription is printed in capitals. Above the arms a raised rectangular fillet is surmounted by two suspended floral swags, one above the other, comprising roses and oak apples. On each side of the fillet are two Tudor roses, one above the other.

    Notes: Dated to between 1714 and 1801. The inscription is the visible part of an abbreviated version of the formal title of the monarch, ‘By the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, Duke of Brunswick and Lünenburg, Arch Treasurer and Prince Elector of the Holy Roman Empire’.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: MAG BRIT FRA ET HIB REX F D BRUN ET LUN DUX / HONY SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE

    Arms: English Hanoverian royal

    Manufactured: in the 18th century in England.

    Current location: Petworth House, Petworth, West Sussex, England.

    Museum number: NT/PET/M/89 (part of the National Trust museum group)

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2010, British Cast-Iron Firebacks of the 16th to Mid-18th Centuries (Crawley, Hodgers Books).

  10. 537

    pet-m-91.jpg
    335 x 554 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular central panel with bead-and-pellet edging on a broad fillet; nude figure of a man standing on a mound, resting his left hand on a club, a plant to his right, and drapery swags above; arched rectangular border with symmetrical swirls; monogram centre bottom; on top, symmetrical, swirled foliage.

    Notes: The figure is probably of Hercules.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: SHR

    Manufactured: in the late-17th to early-18th century in England.

    Current location: Petworth House, Petworth, West Sussex, England.

    Museum number: NT/PET/M/91 (part of the National Trust museum group)