Firebacks

Description: Arched plate; ovolo moulding edging; shield, supporters, coronet, helm, crest and motto of Viscount Montague; quarterly Browne, Albini, Fitzalan, Fitzalan of Clare, Warren, Maltravers, Nevill, Montagu, Monthermer, Inglethorpe, Burghe, Delapole, Bradeston, Tiptoft, Charleton and Kent (Plantagenet); supporters: two bears collared and chained; the crest: an eagle, the wings elevated and displayed.

Notes: The arms of either the 2nd (Anthony-Maria Browne, succ. 1592-1629) or 3rd viscount (Francis Browne succ. 1629-1682) - the 1st viscount was a Knight of the Garter and no garter is shown; the style of the modelling bears similarities to that on the 1618 series of firebacks and may be the work of the same pattern-maker.

Inscription: VERITATE DUCE [Be led by Truth]

Arms: Viscount Montague

Description: Arched rectangular shape: ovolo-moulded edging; pictorial scene of St George in armour, mounted on a horse, spearing a dragon which lies beneath the horse; in each top corner, a rose.

Notes: A portrayal of St George and the Dragon in bold relief that owes something to the famous modelling by Benedetto Pistrucci of 1817; however, the figure of St George is disproportionately large in relation to the horse.

Description: Arched rectangular shape; ovolo-moulded edging; central crest of a gryphon's head couped, its wings displayed; above, the initials, the 'S' above the 'P's; below, the date.

Notes: The crest is likely to be that of Peter Short of Lindfield, Sussex, who married Philadelphia Burrell in 1704.

Inscription: PSP / 1730

Arms: Short of Lindfield

Description: Fragment; rectangular shape; ovolo-moulded edging; image of an iron grate with barred front and integral andiron with iron or brass disc.

Notes: A unique example; it is not certain how the mould was formed, whether by impressing an actual grate or carving a pattern with the image of a grate; the former seems more likely.

Description: Double arched rectangular shaped; ovolo edging; central clock dial with Roman numerals separated by stops, sunburst inside, single hand with fleur de lys pointer; teardrop weights, with finials above, suspended from each side; symmetrical tendrils above; date split below dial.

Notes: One of the ‘hooked 1’ series of firebacks; two versions exist of this fireback, the other without finials above the suspended weights.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: I · II · III · IIII · V · VI · VII · VIII · IX · X · XI · XII / 16 5 [..]

Description: Rectangular; ovolo-moulded edging (top and sides); inscription along top of plate.

Notes: The initials may relate to Robert, 2nd Earl of Leicester.

Inscription: R · 1647 · L

Description: Rectangular; ovolo edging; shield, helm, crest, mantling and motto of the Merchant Taylors’ Company: Argent a Pavilion Imperial Purple garnished Or lined Ermine between two Mantles also Imperial Purple lined Ermine on a chief Azure a Lion passant guardant Or.

Notes: Arms were re-granted to the Company in 1586; the excrescences on the helm and shield are probably the result of splashes caused when pouring the iron into the mould from too great a height.

Inscription: CONCORDIA PARVAE RES CRESCUNT [In Harmony Small Things Grow]

Arms: Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors

Description: Rectangular; ovolo-moulded edging; top centre, stamp formed of a carved domestic scene of a family around a table, between two small mirrored rectangular stamps each of a cow; lower centre, symmetrical arrangement of two jugs, two goblets and two crossed churchwarden pipes, all in low relief.

Notes: The domestic group has been formed from a decorative iron mantelpiece ornament portraying the tale of the goose that laid golden eggs. Having killed the goose, the family are lamenting the loss of their bounty (see Ames, 1980, p.94). The style of the fireback suggests a pastiche using designs suggesting the past. The same mantelpiece group can be seen as decoration on the kitchen spit assemblage at Petworth House, West Sussex, which was cast at Robert Chorley's foundry at Cocking, south of Midhurst. Evidently this and another fireback bearing the same ornament stamp were among items from the Cowdray estate sold in 1898.

Description: Arched rectangular shape; bead-on-fillet edging; standing figure of a female holding a torch in her right hand, a goat by her feet, and a bush bottom left; arched rectangular border with ovolo-moulded edging; symmetrical arrangement of scrolled foliage; on top, a scallop shell with a descending dolphin on each side of the arch.

Notes: The figure is an allegorical representation of Wisdom.

Description: Arched rectangular shape; bead-on-fillet edging; in a garden of ground, a tree and a tall plant in a pot, the standing figure of a young person blowing a pipe, two sheep or goats behind; arched rectangular border with ovolo-moulded edging; symmetrical arrangement of scrolled foliage; on top, a scallop shell with a descending dolphin on each side of the arch.

Notes: The scene may be allegorical or purely representational.