Firebacks

Description: Arched rectangle; ovol-moulded edging; pictorial scene of a begowned figure waving to figures standing beneath a portico with a sun behind, other figures opening a door to his left, above which is the shape of the man in the moon; blottom left, a computer; bottom right, a painter's palette.

Notes: A farewell gift to William Vaughan, Reader in Art History at University College, London (later professor of the History of Art at Birkbeck College).

Inscription: WILLIAM VAUGHAN / 1972 UNIVERSITY 1986 / COLLEGE

Description: Fragment; rectangular shape; ovolo-moulded edging (top and sides); six stamps, in two columns of three, taking the form of a long-pointed arrow head within a circlet of small curls.

Notes: The stamps are of an unfamiliar type with some similarity to the heraldic symbol for ermine. Because only the left part of the fireback has survived it is not known how many original columns of this stamp there were.

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)

Description: Arched rectangular centrel panel with bead on fillet edging; central seated female with an infant in her arms, a swan at her feet and a standing child on each side, the one to her left facing the front and holding aloft a flaming heart, its foot on a ball; the child to her right facing the back, holding aloft a branch in its left hand, all on a ground with a tree behind to the right; arched rectangular border with bead edging; fructal and floral festoons suspended on ribbons with two putti at the top and two on each side; at the bottom, a central cartouche with illegible date, between floral swags; on top, twin spirals between descending floral festoons.

Notes: The group is an allegory of Charity. A recasting.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Description: Arched rectangular shape; probable ovolo-moulded edging; Stuart royal arms of England (quarterly, 1st and 4th, France and England, 2nd Scotland and 3rd Ireland) with garter, crown, crest, motto and supporters.

Notes: A poor recasting, obscuring most of the detail.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: [illegible]

Arms: English Stuart royal

Description: Triple-facetted arched rectangular shape; ovolo-moulded edging (top and sides); bottom centre, a vertical distaff or spindle repeated twice; to each side a fillet-edged oval containing the initials S and W; above, either side of the distaffs, two more ovals perpendicular to the first two, with the date split between them; above each distaff, an oval rotated as at the bottom, the initials I T split between them; at the base, a blank rectangular panel.

Notes: An unusual shaped fireback. It was recorded by J. Starkie Gardner in one of his scrapbooks (Victoria and Albert Museum, Archive of Art and Design (AAD/2014/8)), marked '[?]Warris Westerham Kent'; subsequently it was at Skipreed, Chiddingstone Hoath, Kent.

Inscription: I T / 16 63 / S W

Description: Arched rectangular shape; ovolo moulded edging; date in arch; below arch two parallel, vertical straps, each with a buckle at the top and six prong holes; initials left and right of centre; in top corners, rectangular framed stamp with inset bird; top centre, to left and right of buckle, circular 'butter mould' stamp with stylised fleur-de-lys design, the left one angled top to left; between each initial and strap, rectangular framed stamp with inset deer with antlers, and star in top left corner; below this, adjacent to each strap end, a circular stamp with symmetrical pattern; to left and right of this, a rectangular stamp with an unidentified animal, possibly a dog..

Notes: The buckles, the date and the initials all appear to be separate stamps but attached to the base board before being impressed to form the mould, as they are identically positioned on all castings. The buckles suggest a connection with the Pelham family; the initials may relate to Sir Thomas Pelham, Bt. (1597-1654) who owned and operated ironworks at Waldron in Sussex. This would appear to be a casting of the original pattern with the addition of five pairs of stamps. The circular stamp with the symmetrical pattern is probably the same stamp that has been noted on an otherwise unrelated fireback (no. 733). Some of the stamps are seen in greater profusion on a fireback formerly at Huggetts Farm, Waldron, Sussex (no. 966) and drawn by Edward Hughes, of Heathfield, in a scrapbook of images compiled by J. Starkie Gardner. Nicholson's auction, Fernhurst, 3 Jul 2021, lot 100 (£5).

Inscription: 1642 / T P

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)