Firebacks

Description: Rectangular; wide fillet and cavetto-moulded edging; female figure holding a bow, with a quiver of arrows on her back, standing on a scallop shell; foliate swirls on each side.

Notes: The figure is that of Diana or Artemis.

Description: Arched rectangular; astragal edging with simiulated ribbon pattern; inscription on a banner in arch; crowned roundel bearing the arms of France between two angel supporters carrying trumpets; below, a triumph of arms; on the bottom, a plain extension panel.

Notes: The motto, translated, reads 'Alone against all'; other firebacks bear the motto, 'Victorieux contre tous' (Victorious against all).

Inscription: SEVL CONTRE TOVS

Arms: France modern

Description: Arched rectangular; fillet edging with darts on the inside; circular arms of France within the chains of the Ordre d'Esprit and the Ordre de St Michel, with crown above, all resting on a framework compartment, with olive leaf sprays on each side ofn the shield.

Notes: Typical form of the arms of France of the period of Louis XIV.

Arms: France modern

Description: Canted rectangle; ovolo-moulded edging; shield and dolphin crown of the dauphin of France, encircled by the Ordre d'Esprit and the Ordre de St Michel; dolphins in the bottom corners, separating digits of the date.

Notes: The 24th Dauphin was Louis, son of Louis XV and father of Louis XVI. Part of the bequest to the Victoria and Albert Museum by Lieut. Colonel G. B. Croft-Lyons in 1926.

Inscription: 1 7 5 0

Arms: Dauphin of France (24th Dauphin)

Description: Arch shaped; rope edging (top and sides); top centre, slightly over-pressed crowned cartouche with initials F S linked with twisted cord; below, two cartouches, each bearing a 7-pointed star, and each separating the paired initials HG.

Notes: The national origin of this fireback is a little uncertain. A variant of this fireback (no. 1306) has slightly different proportions and relative positions of the stamps.

Inscription: F S / H G H G

Description: Upon a moulded base plinth, wide scrolled side double fillets with foliage about the scrolls and suspended bell flowers in chain above; central foliate cartouche behind an oval shield surmounted by a vicomte's coronet, with an abbot's mitre to the left and the scrolled top of an abbot's crozier to the right; on top, an arch rising from horizontal moulding on each side, with a small central cartouche enclosing a plain button and a suspended bell flower.

Notes: The quartered arms may include those of Leclerc de Lesseville (az. three crescents or), one of whose number was bishop of Coutances 1659-65.

Arms: ?Leclerc quartering ?

Description: Cavetto-canted arched rectangular shape; double fillet edging on top, pilasters with diagonal striping at sides; double bead and pellet moulding parallel to, and inside fillet, enclosing pictorial representation of Joshua and Caleb carrying an outsize bunch of grapes; below them, at each side, a basket of flowers and fruit, and between them a cartouche with a date; on top, two symmetrical cornucopiae spilling their contents down the canted shoulders of the plate; at bottom, a plain extension panel.

Notes: The image is derived from a fireback of c.1700, in the series identified by the letters GK, as is the date cartouche. This is a contrived design using elements from another fireback.

Inscription: [indecipherable poss. 1700]

Description: Ogee-arched rectangular shape, centred by a scroll-edged cartouche enclosing a pair of armorial ovals, the left cast with a crowned lion rampant, the right with a salamander surrounded by flames, all between a pair of greyhound supporters and edged with bellflower-decorated pilasters.

Notes: The heraldic design depicting the marriage of Paul de Chabannes (1686-1769), comte de Chabannes de Vergers, with Marie-Madeleine Sallonyer on 1st July 1715 (whose shield is a golden salamander bedded in red hot fire on a blue shield).

Copies of this fireback are known.

Description: Arched rectangular on a plain rectangular plinth; cavetto-moulded edging (top and sides) with repeated floriate motif; within mirrored olive leaves, shield (three pallets, on a fess in chief three mullets, an eagle displayed) surmounted by a crown; on each side above the plinth, a bracket formed of a rose within a foliate swirl; on each shoulder, a dolphin.

Notes: A baroque style of fireback; the excrescences on the shield are the result of careless pouring of the iron into the mould.