Firebacks

Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and upper three-quarters of sides); central Tudor shield, garter, crown and supporters (greyhound and lion), formed from separate stamps; date on a single stamp in top left corner.

Notes: This is an early example of a fireback being used as a pattern, with the addition of a subsequent date. The same stamps forming the arms can also be seen on other firebacks. The extension of the lower part of the ‘3’ on the date stamp suggests that the numbers may have been fixed to the backing block, rather than the date being carved as a whole. Another variant of this fireback has the rope edging extending further down the sides.

Inscription: 1583 / HONE SOVT qVEY MAL Y PENSE

Arms: Tudor royal (prob. Henry VIII)

Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); top centre, twisted rope saltire between two food moulds used as stamps, comprising two concentric discs with a hatched design and enclosing four hearts arranged in a cross; below the saltire another food mould stamp; in the top corners, a twisted rope saltire with a double V design below each, the open ends facing inwards; below each of the upper pair of food mould stamps, an inverted twisted rope V.

Notes: The food mould stamps can be seen on another fireback dated to 1562; the rope Vs and saltires have an apotropaic, or evil averting, purpose.

Description: Rectangular; rope edging on top and sides; central inscription panel; repeated trailing vine decoration from impressed wooden strips — one horizontal line at top, one vertical strip at each side.

Notes: The inscription panel is identical to that on the memorial plate to Anne Forster in Crowhurst church, Surrey; at least ten other firebacks are known with the same inscription panel. Formerly at Stonelands, West Hoathly.

Inscription: HER : LIETH : ANE : FORST/ R : DAVGHTER : AND : / HEYR : TO : THOMAS : / GAYNSFORD : ESQVIER / DECEASED : XVIII : OF: / IANVARI : 1591 : LEAVYNG / BEHIND : HER II : SONES : / AND : V : DAVGHTERS

Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); top corners, initials in separate stamps arranged in triad with ‘WR’ above ‘E’; top centre, date on single block overstamped.

Notes: It is somewhat puzzling why a furnace should have a stock of letters but not of numerals. The use of a block for the date suggests that other firebacks may bear the same stamp.

Inscription: WER [triad] 1632 WER [triad]

Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging; top centre, quartered shield between four 'imp' figures, left facing, one with right arm raised, one of each on each side; below each pair of figures, a rope cross above an inverted V in rope, with an 'imp' figure, arms lowered, below the shield; along the bottom, eight 'imp' figures, alternately arms raised and lowered.

Notes: The 'imp' figures are common on a group of firebacks, the rope designs having a probable apotropaic significance. The arms are probably of Thomas Wriothesley, who was Henry VIII's last Lord Chancellor and created Earl of Southampton in 1547; he married c.1533 so the arms could date to before then, but the same arms are displayed on his enamelled stall plate in St George's Chapel, Windsor, of 1545, and in stained glass in a window in the parish church at South Warnborough, Hampshire. The shield is, quarterly, 1. Wrythe or Wriothesley quartering Dunstanville and Pink, 2. Drayton, 3. Crocker and 4. Peckham. The same armorial stamp has been noted on at least two other firebacks. A candidate for the earliest English fireback with an example of personal arms.

Arms: Wriothesley (Earl of Southampton)

Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); top centre; crowned Tudor royal shield with angled lion passant guardant sinister to the left, and an angled lion passant to the right; below, a crowned shield with a fleur-de-lys below initials (over-pressed), between two four-petalled, crowned roses; the same crowned rose repeated in each top corner, below each a vertical dagger, point upwards; inside the roses and daggers, two tiered pairs of ‘imp’ figures, one of each with arm raised, above a single figure, its arms lowered.

Notes: Each dagger, which is seen on two other firebacks (no. 660 and no. 1100), is approx. 35cm long.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: KH

Arms: Tudor royal arms of England

Description: Canted rectangular shape; twisted rope edging (top and sides); top centre, date formed of individual numerals.

Notes: The '1' has a central button, typical of the period, or of a little earlier. Formerly at Padley Hall, Derbyshire. Wilkinson's, Doncaster, auction 24 Apr 2016 lot 317.

Inscription: 1670

Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); three impressions of an ornate firedog, each incorporating lion’s legs, above it a pedestal with a lion’s head, surmounted by a caryatid, a shield shaped cartouche over its lower trunk, and with a floral vase headdress. The dog impressions are not evenly stamped, the middle one lying to the right.

Notes: The firedogs are much more elaborate than those customarily used as stamps on firebacks and indicate a later date; they probably included brass elements and were possibly French.

Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); irregular arrangement of four stamps in three rows: face mask with ruff (7), flower head with four petals and leaflets (4), fleur-de-lys (7), and profile of head with ‘Roman’ crest (2); initials replace stamps top left and centre.

Notes: A smaller, dated variant is at Godolphin House, Helston.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: AT nS

Description: Rectangular shape; twisted rope edging (top and sides); from top: rose and crown within a shield stamped eight times horizontally; rectangular stamp with a griffin passant repeated seven times horizontally; rose and crown within a shield stamped eight times horizontally.

Notes: Five other firebacks bearing these stamps are known: two are in Hastings, and one, dated 1569, is at Hadlow Down, Sussex. The locations of the other two, formerly in Ipswich and Guildford, are not known. Two excrescences on the lower part of the fireback show where the iron was poured, displacing the sand in the mould. Woolley & Wallis auction, Salisbury, 4 Apr 2023, lot 46 (£1,400).