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695
? x ? mmImage subject to copyrightDescription: Rectangular; fillet edging (top and sides only); top centre, date formed of individual letter stamps; below date, initials carved as single stamp, overstamped and showing v-shaped extension below.
Notes: The reason for the unusual shape of the base of the initial stamp is not understood.
Inscription: 1616 / WC
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular (shape)
- fillet (edging)
- carved stamps
- individual numbers
- text
Manufactured: in 1616 in England.
Current location: Nash's House, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England.
(part of the Shakespeare's Birthplace Trust museum group)
- Attached to series:
- Date & initials firebacks
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696
? x ? mmImage subject to copyrightDescription: Arched rectangular central panel with nutshell edging on a broad fillet; pictorial scene of a standing, winged male figure draped with a cloth, holding a staff in his left hand, above a ground, and with drapery over; arched rectangular border with fillet edging; alternating acanthus leaves with swirled tendrils; on top, two mirrored sea serpents.
Notes: Presumably intended to represent an angel; similarities in the design and execution of the pattern suggest the work of the pattern-maker identified as ‘N’ (q.v.); the missing segment had been filled with a piece from another fireback (removed in this photo).
Manufactured: in the early-18th century in England.
Current location: Nash's House, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England.
(part of the Shakespeare's Birthplace Trust museum group)
- Attached to series:
- British 'Dutch' style firebacks
- New Testament firebacks
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1087
Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto-moulded edging; central fouled anchor within a Garter surmounted by a ducal coronet; fructal swags to each side.
Notes: The anchor may relate to the office of Lord High Admiral who, in the third quarter of the 17th century was James, Duke of York (afterwards King James II). Another example was sold at Christie's auction 12 Oct 2010 lot 109 (£500). A variant with a viscount's coronet is at Chastleton House, Oxfordshire.
Copies of this fireback are known.
Inscription: HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular with round arch (shape)
- cavetto (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- heraldic
- text
- objects
Manufactured: in the mid- to late-17th century in England.
Current location: Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, England.
- Attached to series:
- Miscellaneous royal firebacks
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697
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
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular with canted top corners (shape)
- embattled cavetto (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- pictorial
- biblical
- text
- animals
- humans
- plants
Manufactured: in 1619 in England.
Current location: Stroud District Museum, Stroud, Gloucestershire, England.
Museum number: STGC 2371 (part of the Stroud Museum museum group)
- Attached to series:
- 1619 series
- Old Testament & Apocrypha firebacks
- Adam & Eve firebacks
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698
Description: Arched rectangular central panel with nutshell edging on a broad fillet; pictorial scene of a figure in a chariot drawn by birds, above a ground, and with clouds over; arched rectangular border with fillet edging; alternating acanthus leaves with swirled tendrils; on top, two mirrored sea serpents.
Notes: Similarities in the design and execution of the pattern suggest the work of the pattern-maker identified as ‘N’.
- Decoration tags:
- 'Dutch' (shape)
- fillet (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- pictorial
- mythological
- animals
- humans
- objects
Manufactured: in the early-18th century in England.
Current location: Sulgrave Manor, Sulgrave, Northamptonshire, England.
- Attached to series:
- British 'Dutch' style firebacks
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1021
Description: Rectangular; cavetto-moulded edging; shield mounted on a strap-work cartouche, helm, crest, motto scroll and elaborate swirled mantling.
Notes: The arms of the Ironmongers' Company; blazon: Argent, on a chevron gules, between three gads of steel azure, three swivels or; crest: two talbots combatant encoupled together or. The true crest of the company has two salamanders (originally 'scaly lizards') rather than talbots, and it has been noted on other firebacks that salamanders are not always represented as amphibians; Samuel Lyne, in his Heraldry Display'd (1741), described the crest as 'two talbots', etc. The motto scroll is blank, indicating that the pattern was an armorial panel with a painted, rather than a carved, motto. A variant of the same fireback has the date 1660 and initials GI (Country Life, 8 March 1946, p. 450; 29 March 1946, p.588). Reeman Dansie auction, Colchester, 13 Apr 2016, lot 1224; Bellman's auction, Wisborough Green, 13 Oct 2021, lot 588 (£220).
Copies of this fireback are known.
Arms: Worshipful Company of Ironmongers
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular (shape)
- cavetto (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- armorial
Manufactured: in the mid-17th century in England.
Current location: not known.
- Attached to series:
- Livery company firebacks
- Armorial panel firebacks
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958
Description: Rectangle with triangular arch; twisted rope edging (top and sides); centre top, initials in triad, E above; two twisted rope crosses irregularly spaced below initials.
Notes: The initials, probably of a husband and wife, show minimal extension in the horizontal, although the 'I' has a stud halfway; the crosses almost certainly have an apotropaic purpose; the depth of the casting varies between the top, where it is thickest, and the bottom. Bellman's auction, Wisborough Green, 13 Oct 2021, lot 589 (£420).
Inscription: IEL [triad]
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular with triangular arch (shape)
- rope (edging)
- simple stamps
- carved stamps
- apotropaic
- text
Manufactured: in the late-16th to early-17th century in England.
Current location: not known.
- Attached to series:
- Rope design firebacks
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829
Description: Rectangular; ovolo-moulded edging (top and sides); repeated guilloche pattern inside top and side edges; upper centre, lozenge stamp with ovolo edges and recessed daisy flower in centre, between buckle stamp repeated twice; the lozenge stamp is repeated over-stamping the lower part of the first.
Notes: The lozenge stamp is a design also seen on domestic interior panelling; the buckles suggest a Pelham family association; the buckle and lozenge are separate stamps, and in each example their relative positions differ slightly; the guilloche design appears to have been carved on the base panel; an example at The Star Inn, Alfriston, Sussex measures 665mm x 480mm.
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular (shape)
- ovolo (edging)
- carved stamps
- carved pattern panels
- heraldic
- objects
Manufactured: in the early- to mid-17th century in the Weald area of England.
Current location: in private hands, Iford, East Sussex, England.
- Attached to series:
- Pelham family firebacks
- Pelham buckle and lozenge series
- Metalware stamp firebacks
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830
Description: Rectangular; stepped fillet moulded edging (top and sides); small fleur-de-lys stamp repeated five times, three centred across the top, two centred across the middle.
Notes: The fleur-de-lys stamp appears to have been constructed using wire.
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular (shape)
- stepped fillet (edging)
- carved stamps
- heraldic
- objects
Manufactured: in the mid- to late-16th century in the Weald area of England.
Current location: in private hands, Iford, East Sussex, England.
- Attached to series:
- Miscellaneous stamp firebacks
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470
Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); central Tudor royal shield with encircling garter (motto reversed), separate greyhound and lion supporters, separate crown; rectangular bordered stamp with an animal facing to the right, repeated once above and on each side of the armorial; bold fleur-de-lys stamp repeated once on each side of the armorial below the other stamp; all irregularly positioned.
Notes: The armorial and fleurs-de-lys are seen together on a plate at Alfriston Clergy House.
Copies of this fireback are known.
Arms: Tudor royal (prob. Henry VIII)
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular (shape)
- rope (edging)
- carved stamps
- heraldic
- armorial
- royal
- objects
Manufactured: in the early- to mid-16th century possibly at Pounsley Furnace, Framfield in the Weald area of England.
Current location: not known.
Citation: Lloyd, N., 1925, 'Domestic Ironwork I', Architectural Review, 58, pp. 58-67.
- Attached to series:
- Pounsley series
- Tudor royal armorial firebacks