Firebacks

Manufactured in England

880 results

  1. 737

    va_13.jpg
    960 x 670 mm

    Description: Armorial within complex ovolo moulded edging on all sides; two plank lines; the achievement is distinguished by the elaborately festooned mantling, the whole resting on a boat-shaped compartment.

    Notes: The arms, which are those of an esquire, may be those of John Trevor, the son of Sir John Trevor, one of Charles II’s Secretaries of State. He married Elizabeth, widow of William Morley, of Glynde, Sussex, from whom passed the Glynde estates. The arms on this fireback have been variously attributed to Lord Dacre (a descendant of John Trevor), and Col. Marcus Trevor, 1st Viscount Dungannon. The distinctive shape is seen in similar form on several other armorial firebacks, suggesting a continuity of pattern making, if not the same pattern maker. Many copies of this fireback exist.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Arms: Trevor family, of Glynde

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

    Current location: Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, Kensington & Chelsea, Greater London, England.

    Museum number: 142.1892 (part of the Victoria & Albert Museum museum group)

    Citation: Beetlestone, C. J., 1926, 'Notes and Queries No. 6, A Sussex Fireback', Sussex Archaeological Collections, 67, pp. 221-2.

    Citation: Gardner, J. S., 1898, 'Iron Casting in the Weald', Archaeologia, 56, 1, pp. 133-164.

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

  2. 740

    va_16.jpg
    835 x 580 mm

    Description: Plain rectangular plate; shield, garter, helm, mantling and supporters of the Blount family, Lords Mountjoy.

    Notes: The arms are those of Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy, who was invested Knight of the Garter in 1597. He was created 1st Earl of Devonshire in 1603. Blazon: 1. (Blount) Barry nebuly of six Or and Sable; 2. (Ayala) Argent, two wolves passant Sable on a bordure of the first eight saltires Gules; 3. (Mountjoy) Or a tower Azure; 4. (Gresley) Vair. An unusually bold and detailed casting; the buckle missing from the garter suggests that this plate has been cropped from a larger fireback.

    Inscription: HONI·SOIT·QVI·MAL·Y·PENSE

    Arms: Charles Blount, KG, 8th Baron Mountjoy

    Manufactured: in the late-16th to early-17th century in England.

    Current location: Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, Kensington & Chelsea, Greater London, England.

    Museum number: 323.1907 (part of the Victoria & Albert Museum museum group)

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

  3. 741

    va_17.jpg
    910 x 480 mm

    Description: Rectangular, with canted top corners; twisted rope edging (top and sides only); five shields of Ayloffe impaling Sulyard in two rows, 3-2; Ayloffe: sable, a lion rampant Or, collared gules, between three crosses formy of the second; Sulyard: argent, a chevron gules between three pheons inverted sable. Two cut notches probably for firedogs.

    Notes: William Ayloffe (c1535-1584) of Hornchurch, Essex, Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench, married (c1560) Jane, dau. of Sir Eustace Sulyard, of Runwell, Essex. A large number of variants use the same shields. The excrescences affecting the left and right sides respectively of the lower shields are the result of inexpert ladling of the iron during casting. Part of the bequest to the Victoria and Albert Museum by Lieut. Colonel G. B. Croft-Lyons in 1926.

    Arms: Ayloffe impaling Sulyard (William Ayloffe of Bretons, Hornchurch)

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

    Current location: Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, Kensington & Chelsea, Greater London, England.

    Museum number: M.621-1926 (part of the Victoria & Albert Museum museum group)

    Citation: Cowper, H. S., 1911, 'A Series of Kentish Heraldic Firebacks and the Identification of the Arms', Archaeologia Cantiana, 29, pp. 40-6.

  4. 742

    va_18.jpg
    900 x 510 mm

    Description: Rectangular with canted top corners; twisted rope edging all round except base: plain plate with two stamps of an iron firedog with twisted neck and shield bearing letters HN and crossed staples; firedogs have columnar capitals; fleur de lys stamp repeated six times, singly at each end, in star pattern in middle; stamps have twisted wreaths.

    Notes: The initials HN probably refer to Henry Nevill, the crossed staples being a badge of the Nevill family. Henry Nevill occupied Mayfield furnace from about 1585 until 1599. One of two variants (see no. 393) with the same firedogs and fleurs-de-lys; other firedogs in a very similar style are known.

    Inscription: HN HN

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

    Current location: Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, Kensington & Chelsea, Greater London, England.

    Museum number: 11.1900 (part of the Victoria & Albert Museum museum group)

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

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2012, 'Pre-Restoration Iron Firebacks', Journal of the Antique Metalware Society, 20, pp. 2-15.

  5. 743

    va_19.jpg
    810 x 600 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; ovolo moulded edging; Tudor royal shield, garter, crown, motto and supporters (crowned lion and dragon), temp. Elizabeth I; the top of the lion's crown and the dragon's ear overlap the edging.

    Notes: Another version has a rose and portcullis either side of the crown, and the top of the lion's crown and the dragon's ear do not overlap the edging; a faint blank rectangular stamp on each side of the crown may have been to hide initials, which have been noted on a variant of this fireback.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: [Garter] HONI SOIT QVI MAL E PENSE / [motto] DIEV ET MON DROIT

    Arms: Tudor royal

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

    Current location: Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, Kensington & Chelsea, Greater London, England.

    Museum number: 794.1896 (part of the Victoria & Albert Museum museum group)

  6. 744

    va_20.jpg
    660 x 710 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; twisted rope edging (top and sides only); three water bougets (leather water containers) at top; knotted cord and tassel decoration on each side; centred inscription on six lines with ‘S’ reversed, bar across top of ‘A’ and letters individually placed and separated by small, opposed fleurs-de-lys.

    Notes: The approximately mirrored cord decoration appears to have been affixed to shaped boards. The Wealden origin of this fireback suggests possible connections with the Roos, or de Ros, family, who owned property in Easebourne, or the Meeres family of Glynleigh, near Hailsham, the arms of both families incorporating water bougets. A connection, previously proposed by the Victoria and Albert Museum, with the Ross family of Helmsley, Yorkshire, is improbable. One of a small series of distinctive firebacks cast in 1582, most with inscriptions dedicated to pairs of individuals; the initials IA may be of the founder as they appear in the same arrangement on other firebacks. Part of the bequest to the Victoria and Albert Museum by Lieut. Colonel G. B. Croft-Lyons in 1926.

    Inscription: THES:IS:FOR / WILAM:BRON / AND:ELISAB: / TH:HIS:SISTR / 15 82 / I A

    Manufactured: in 1582 possibly at Pounsley Furnace, Framfield in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, Kensington & Chelsea, Greater London, England.

    Museum number: M.977-1926 (part of the Victoria & Albert Museum museum group)

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

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2012, 'Pre-Restoration Iron Firebacks', Journal of the Antique Metalware Society, 20, pp. 2-15.

  7. 746

    va_22.jpg
    565 x >410 mm

    Description: Fragment (top part only); arched; cavetto-moulded edging; shield, helm, crown and supporters royal house of Scotland.

    Notes: The arms probably pre-date the union of the kingdoms of Scotland and England in 1603. The arched shape and style of execution suggest a possible continental origin for the design.

    Inscription: IN DEFENS

    Arms: Scotland royal pre 1603

    Manufactured: in the late-16th century in England.

    Current location: Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, Kensington & Chelsea, Greater London, England.

    Museum number: 891.1901 (part of the Victoria & Albert Museum museum group)

  8. 748

    va_24.jpg
    >585 x 610 mm

    Description: Fragment; right part only; canted rectangle; twisted rope edging; lion passant positioned vertically along right side; rose and crown stamp repeated twice (both over-pressed), each above an ‘imp’ figure with both arms lowered.

    Notes: A particularly clear casting; the right rear leg of the lion (missing on some variants of this series) has been replaced by a short length of twisted rope.

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

    Current location: Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, Kensington & Chelsea, Greater London, England.

    Museum number: 897.1901 (part of the Victoria & Albert Museum museum group)

    Citation: Faraday, L., Feb 1939, 'Sussex Firebacks in the Victoria and Albert Museum', Sussex County Magazine, 13, 2, pp. 100-103.

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2022, 'A Tudor Fireback Stamp: the progressive deterioration of its condition as evidence of the relative age of castings', Journal of the Antique Metalware Society, 27, pp. 42-5.

  9. 749

    va_25.jpg
    680 x 570 mm

    Description: Flattened arched rectangular shape; cavetto moulded edge all round; Stuart royal arms with lion and unicorn supporters, crown, garter and motto; CR initials placed separately outside supporters; date split either side of crown.

    Notes: A commonly copied variant has the intials, IT, at the top; one vertical plank-line on right side.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: 1635 / C R / HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE / DIEV ET MON DROIT

    Arms: English Stuart royal - Charles I

    Manufactured: in 1635 possibly in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, Kensington & Chelsea, Greater London, England.

    Museum number: 795.1896 (part of the Victoria & Albert Museum museum group)

    Citation: Anon., 2 Dec 1905, 'Old Kent and Sussex Fire-backs', Country Life, pp. 767-768.

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

  10. 750

    va_26.jpg
    445 x 440 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto edging; crowned rose with symmetrical leaves; date split across top; initials split across bottom.

    Notes: The hooked ‘1’ and ‘IM’ suggests a common pattern-maker with other firebacks bearing those features.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: 16 50 / I M

    Manufactured: in 1650 possibly at Brede Furnace in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, Kensington & Chelsea, Greater London, England.

    Museum number: M.113-1953 (part of the Victoria & Albert Museum museum group)

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

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2012, 'Pre-Restoration Iron Firebacks', Journal of the Antique Metalware Society, 20, pp. 2-15.

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2014, 'A Seventeenth-Century Sussex Woodcarver: The Evidence of Cast Ironwork', Regional Furniture, 28, pp. 39-48.