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1231
Description: Arched rectangular shape; ovolo-moulded edging; shield, Garter, crowned helm and mantling of the English royal arms to 1603 with crowned lion and griffon supporters standing on separate rectangular cartouches containing the word 'ANNO' and the date '1662'; above the mantling are the initials 'I R'
Notes: The date appears to have been altered from 1602. The initials 'I R' for Jacobus Rex (James I of England) are inappropriate for the date in both its original and its altered form; also the griffon supporter on the sinister side is incorrect, a dragon being correct for the arms of Elizabeth I in 1602. There is a vertical plankline left of centre.
Inscription: I R / HONI SOIT QVI MAL I PENSE / ANNO 1662
Arms: English Tudor royal
- Decoration tags:
- rounded arched (shape)
- ovolo (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- individual letters
- planklines
- heraldic
- armorial
- royal
- text
Manufactured: in 1662 possibly in the Ardennes area of Belgium.
Current location: Rijksmuseum, Museumstraat, Amsterdam South, North Holland, Netherlands.
Museum number: BK-NM-10837 (part of the Rijksmuseum museum group)
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994
Description: Arched; cavetto-moulded edging; English royal Stuart shield, garter, crown, supporters, and motto on a cartouche; a monogram of S and C lies to the left of the Garter buckle; a small rose stamp is repeated each side of crown; date split each side of top of crown.
Notes: Although English arms, the design is in a continental style, arched firebacks being typical of Lorraine. In some later recastings the proportions have been distorted, making them narrower, and the '16' of the date is missing. The fireback illustrated was formerly in the city museum of Vlissingen in the Netherlands.
Copies of this fireback are known.
Inscription: 16 21 / HONI SOIT QVI MAL I PENSE / SC / DIEV ET MON DROIT
Arms: English Stuart royal (James I)
- Decoration tags:
- rounded arched (shape)
- cavetto (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- heraldic
- monogram
- armorial
- royal
- text
Manufactured: in 1621 possibly in the Ardennes area of Belgium.
Current location:, not known.
Citation: Gardner, J. S., 1898, 'Iron Casting in the Weald', Archaeologia, 56, 1, pp. 133-164.
- Attached to series:
- Jacobean royal armorial firebacks
- Stuart royal armorial firebacks
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1137
Description: Arched shape with ovolo-moulded edging; central shield with the English royal Tudor arms and an inescutcheon of a lion rampant, surrounded by a Garter with an incorrect inscription, the shield surmounted by a crown and supported on the dexter side by a dragon and on the sinister side by a greyhound; to the left of the crown, a crowned rose and the the right, a crowned portcullis; above the supporters the date 1614 is split by the shield; below, split by the Garter buckle, initials GB.
Notes: The arms are of Henry VII or Henry VIII, the inescutcheon probably representing a marriage to an heiress, but are anachronistic as the date was in the reign of James I (and VI). The initials GB are believed to relate to Gilles or Georges Boniver, who worked at the foundry at Theux, near Liège, and whose initials appear on several firebacks. The fireback is thought to be a 19th-century copy.
Copies of this fireback are known.
Inscription: 16 14 / HONI SOIT IL QVIMAL I PANSE / G B
Arms: English royal Tudor with an inescutcheon of a lion rampant
- Decoration tags:
- rounded arched (shape)
- ovolo (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- heraldic
- armorial
- royal
- text
Manufactured: in 1614 probably at Theux Furnace in the Franchimont area of Belgium.
Current location: M-Museum Leuven, 28-30 Leopold Vanderkelenstraat, Leuven, Brabant, Belgium.
(part of the Leuven Museum museum group)
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823
Description: Arched shape with ovolo egg-and-dart edging; crown surmounting a shield, a quartered shield with an escutcheon impaling a crowned lion rampant with an escutcheon; text along the bottom.
Notes: The arms have not been identified; LOVEN is the town of Leuven, capital of the province of Brabant, which, in 1662, was in the Spanish Netherlands.
Inscription: LOVEN 1662
- Decoration tags:
- rounded arched (shape)
- ovolo, egg and dart (edging)
- carved pattern panels
- armorial
- text
- plants
Manufactured: in 1662 possibly in the Ardennes area of Belgium.
Current location: in private hands, Mayfield, East Sussex, England.
- Attached to series:
- Foreign armorial firebacks
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562
Description: Rectangular; flanged edging; main panel, pictorial scene of Adam and Eve with, between them, the Tree of Life, bearing fruit, entwined by a serpent; bottom panel indistinct.
Notes: A much worn plate.
Copies of this fireback are known.
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular (shape)
- flanged (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- pictorial
- biblical
- humans
Manufactured: in the mid- to late-16th century possibly in the Wallonia area of Belgium.
Current location: Petworth House, Petworth, West Sussex, England.
Museum number: NT/PET/M/56 (part of the National Trust museum group)
- Attached to series:
- Stoveplates
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753
Description: Arched rectangular shape; parallel astragal and fillet edging; four panels divied by fillets, an orb with a cross at the intersection; top left, naked female figure holding scales in her right hand, a scroll bearing an inscription above her and to her left and right; top right, a naked female figure holding a hawk in her right hand and leading two dogs with her left hand, a scroll bearing an inscription above her and to her left and right; bottom left, a clothed female figure, at her feet a fox attacking a serpent, a scroll bearing an inscription above her and to her left and right; bottom right, a clothed female figure, at her feet hounds chasing and attacking another animal, a scroll bearing an inscription above her and to her left and right.
Notes: The figures (clockwise from top left) probably represent Justice and Vigilance (both naked), Indifference and Perfidy (both clothed).
Copies of this fireback are known.
Inscription: ..T IS V EN SCHADE DAT TROV IS LICHTER DAN PLVME / ICH JAG OM DIE VINDE OFT ICH TROV KOND FINDEN / TROV IS DOET ONTROVE VERDT VERFAVLEN / ONTOVE LOEPT OVER ..AL
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular with round arch (shape)
- astragal & fillet (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- planklines
- pictorial
- allegorical
- text
- humans
Manufactured: in the late-16th century possibly in the Wallonia area of Belgium.
Current location: Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, Kensington & Chelsea, Greater London, England.
Museum number: 142.1898 (part of the Victoria & Albert Museum museum group)
- Attached to series:
- Virtues and Faults firebacks
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1227
Description: Rectangular shape with ovolo-moulded edging; within the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, a central shield of the arms of Spain: quarterly Castile and Leon, Aragon and Aragon-Sicily, with an escutcheon of Portugal; in base Austria, Burgundy ancient, Burgundy modern and Brabant with an escutcheon of Flanders impaling Tyrol; above, a crown; supporters: two golden lions rampant; below the shield, the date, 1595; above the crown, the inscription: Dominus mihi adiutor (the Lord is my helper).
Notes: The arms of King Philip II of Spain following the unification with Portugal, as used in the Spanish Netherlands. Part of the bequest to the Victoria and Albert Museum by Lieut. Colonel G. B. Croft-Lyons in 1926.
Copies of this fireback are known.
Inscription: DOMINVS MIHI ADIVTOR
Arms: King Philip II of Spain (Spanish Netherlands)
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular (shape)
- ovolo (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- heraldic
- armorial
- royal
- text
- animals
Manufactured: in 1595 possibly in the Ardennes area of Belgium.
Current location: Science Museum, Exhibition Road, Kensington & Chelsea, London, England.
Museum number: M.624.1926 (part of the Victoria & Albert Museum museum group)
- Attached to series:
- Foreign armorial firebacks
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1171
Description: Rectangular shape; fillet edging; arrangement of five shields: centre, arms of the kingdom of France surmounted by a crown and, below, the word FRANCE on a fillet edged rectangular block over a cartouche; top left, arms of the duchy of Lorraine surmounted by a bishop's mitre and crozier separating a largely illegible text; top right, arms of the kingdom of Spain surmounted by a crown with the letters SPA to the left; bottom right, arms of the duchy of Nevers surmounted by a coronet below a fillet edged rectangle with the word NEVERS; bottom left, arms of the kingdom of England surmounted by a crown below a fillet edged rectangle with the word ANGLIA; bottom centre, the date 1623.
Notes: A taque de foyer or takenplatte; the arms in the corners are likely to be of (from top left): Louis III of Lorraine, Archbishop of Reims; King Philip III of Spain; Charles I, Duke of Nevers and Rethel; and Queen Elizabeth I of England. A similar fireback with the same arms, illustrated by von den Driesch (1990, p.181), has the date 1611, but the absence of a cardinal's hat over the arms of Louis of Lorraine suggests that the fireback originally dates from before 1605.
Inscription: [LORR]AI[NE] SPA / ANGLIA NEVERS / FRANCE / 16z3
Arms: Louis of Lorraine; Kingdom of Spain; Kingdom of France; Kingdom of England; Charles Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular (shape)
- fillet (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- individual numbers
- heraldic
- armorial
- royal
- text
Manufactured: in 1623 possibly in the Ardennes area of Belgium.
Current location: Musée Gaumais, 38 Rue d'Arlon, Virton, Luxembourg, Belgium.
(part of the Musée Gaumais, Virton museum group)
- Attached to series:
- Foreign armorial firebacks
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1010
Description: Rectangular with ovolo-moulded edging; central oval shield of England (quarterly France modern and England) surrounded by the Garter with the additional word 'IL', and supported by a dragon on the dexter side and a greyhound on the sinister side, each standing on a plinth; to each side of the armorial group is a column with the upper part of the shaft fluted and the lower part foliate; each has an Ionic capital and a moulded pedestal; fire issues from the top of the capital.
Notes: The style of carving is not typical of English design but is similar to other firebacks bearing Tudor armorials that were probably cast in Wallonia.
Inscription: HONI SOIT IL QVI MAL Y PENSE
Arms: English royal Tudor (prob. Henry VIII)
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular (shape)
- ovolo (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- armorial
- royal
Manufactured: in the 17th century possibly in the Wallonia area of Belgium.
Current location: Westpreussenring 1, Saarbrucken, Saarland, Germany.
Citation: Carpentier, H., 1912, Plaques de Cheminées (Paris, published by the author).
- Attached to series:
- Tudor royal armorial firebacks
- Continental Tudor royal armorial firebacks