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995
Description: Arched; fillet edging; English royal Stuart shield, garter, crown, supporters, 'CS' monogram to left of Garter buckle, and motto on a cartouche; small rose stamp repeated each side of crown; date split each side of top of crown (first part absent in this casting).
Notes: Although English arms, the design is in a continental style, arched firebacks being typical of Lorraine; the 'CS' monogram is likely to be that of the pattern-maker; a modern copy of a poor casting, hence the incomplete date. For the complete version see no. 994.
Copies of this fireback are known.
Inscription: [16 missing] 21 / HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE / CS / DIEV ET MON DROIT
Arms: English Stuart royal (James I)
- Decoration tags:
- rounded arched (shape)
- cavetto (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- planklines
- monogram
- armorial
- royal
- text
Manufactured: in 1621 in England.
Current location:.
- Attached to series:
- Jacobean royal armorial firebacks
- Stuart royal armorial firebacks
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145
Description: Arched shape; cavetto moulded edging; shield, crown, tassels and ribbons, of the combined kingdom of Castille, Aragon, Leon and Sicily.
Notes: Probably the arms of King Charles V of Spain; quarterly (1 & 4) Castille and Leon, (2 & 3) Aragon and Aragon-Sicily.
Inscription: 15 [?]0
Arms: Royal House of Trastámara (Spain)
- Decoration tags:
- rounded arched (shape)
- cavetto (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- armorial
- royal
Manufactured: in 1550 probably at Eisenschmitt Furnace in the Eifel area of Germany.
Current location: in private hands, Érezée, Luxembourg, Belgium.
- Attached to series:
- Foreign armorial firebacks
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627
Description: Arched shape; cavetto moulded edge; double-headed eagle displayed, a Holy Roman Imperial crown above; in front, a quartered shield; a flaming pillar on each side, a motto scroll entwining each.
Notes: The shield bears the arms of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1519-1556), king of Spain and nephew of Katherine of Aragon, Queen of England; the pillars are a symbolic representation of the Pillars of Hercules at the Strait of Gibraltar. Some variants of this fireback have a different date (e.g. see no. 1267) or none at all.
Copies of this fireback are known.
Inscription: PLVS OVLTRE [Further Beyond]
Arms: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
- Decoration tags:
- rounded arched (shape)
- cavetto (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- individual numbers
- heraldic
- armorial
- royal
- text
Manufactured: in 1592 possibly in the Eifel area of Germany.
Current location: Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England.
- Attached to series:
- Foreign armorial firebacks
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603
Description: Arched rectangular shaped, the arch linked to the rectangle by cavetto curves; cavetto edging ending in two opposed spirals at top; initials below spirals; date below initials; otherwise plain.
Notes: Probably cast from a carved, edged board, with the initials and date added separately. A copy.
Copies of this fireback are known.
Inscription: IH / 1678
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular with round arch (shape)
- cavetto (edging)
- individual letters
- individual numbers
- text
Manufactured: in 1678 in the Weald area of England.
Current location: Banbury, Oxfordshire, England.
- Attached to series:
- Small arch series
- Date & initials firebacks
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1058
Description: Rectangular; cavetto-moulded edging with an astragal inside; baroque-style shield of Montagu impaling Wriothesley.
Notes: Ralph Montagu (1638-1709), afterwards Earl of Montagu and later Duke, married Elizabeth Percy, née Wriothesley, daughter of the 4th Earl of Southampton, in 1673. She died in 1690; thus the fireback dates to between 1673 and 1690; Blazon: (Montagu) Argent, three lozenges conjoined in fess gules, a border sable; (Wriothesley) Azure, a cross or between four falcons close argent.
Arms: Montagu impaling Wriothesley
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular (shape)
- cavetto (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- heraldic
- armorial
Manufactured: in the late-17th century probably at Sowley Furnace, Beaulieu in England.
Current location: Palace House, Beaulieu, Hampshire, England.
- Attached to series:
- Personal armorial firebacks
- Wriothesley firebacks
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1205
Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto moulded edging; top centre within arch, initials above date.
Notes: Plain elegant fireback from a late series, probably cast in the south east of England. The crack emanating from the top right corner of the fireback seems to be a weakness on all the recorded examples, and may have caused by thinness of the base board at that point.
Inscription: R.R / 1857
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular with round arch (shape)
- cavetto (edging)
- carved stamps
- individual letters
- individual numbers
- text
Manufactured: in 1857 in England.
Current location: in private hands, Horsted Keynes, West Sussex, England.
- Attached to series:
- 1850s series
- Date & initials firebacks
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1244
Description: Cavetto-canted arched rectangular shape with rectangular extension panels; cavetto-moulded edging, with astragal on wide fillet edging on the extension panels; central panel, crown, shield and Garter of the Tudor royal arms but with crowned lion and unicorn supporters, all within an undulating vine border; extension panels comprise a single letter (W on left, H on right) above an inward-facing seated squirrel.
Notes: The royal arms are a hybrid of the Tudor and Stuart achievement, quite crudely modelled. The initials and squirrels both relate to the Holte family who lived at Aston Hall, which was built between 1618 and 1623. The difference in the condition of the armorial and the extensions suggest that the armorial was significantly older than the extensions. The bottom 190mm of the fireback is concealed below, behind the grate placed in front of it.
Inscription: W / HONY SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE / H
Arms: English Tudor royal with Stuart lion and unicorn supporters
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular with canted top corners and round arch (shape)
- cavetto (edging)
- carved stamps
- carved pattern panels
- extension panels
- heraldic
- armorial
- royal
- text
- animals
Manufactured: in the mid- to late-17th century in England.
Current location: Aston Hall, Aston, West Midlands, England.
(part of the Birmingham Museums Trust museum group)
- Attached to series:
- Stuart royal armorial firebacks
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651
Description: Rectangular; cavetto edging; a left-facing cockerel grasps a snake in its beak, another snake writhes on the ground behind it; date to left of the cockerel’s tail; four vertical planklines.
Notes: The design may have religious significance, the snake symbolising sin and the cockerel denoting St Peter’s denial of Christ. The ‘1’ of the date is hooked, suggesting a common source with firebacks designed by the pattern-maker, IM. A copy of this fireback is set into the brickwork of 16 Old Church Street, Chelsea, London.
Copies of this fireback are known.
Inscription: 1652
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular (shape)
- cavetto (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- planklines
- pictorial
- biblical
- text
- animals
Manufactured: in 1652 possibly at Brede Furnace in the Weald area of England.
Current location:, not known.
- Attached to series:
- Small cavetto series
- Hooked '1' series
- New Testament firebacks
- Brede group
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853
Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto edging; three ostrich feathers issuing from a royal coronet; motto banner below.
Notes: The badge of the Prince of Wales; perhaps cast during the Commonwealth period; a variant at Rottingdean Grange has pattern-maker's initials.
Copies of this fireback are known.
Inscription: ICH [DIEN]
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular with round arch (shape)
- cavetto (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- heraldic
- royal
- text
- objects
Manufactured: in the mid-17th century in the Weald area of England.
Current location:, not known.
Citation: Lloyd, N., 1925, 'Domestic Ironwork I', Architectural Review, 58, pp. 58-67.
- Attached to series:
- Prince of Wales firebacks
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220
Description: Rectangular with cavetto moulded edging; English Royal supporters (crowned lion and unicorn) standing upon a cartouche, upon which rests a blank motto scroll; above, an anchor, surrounded by a looped cable is encircled by the Garter ribbon, which is surmounted by a royal coronet; the numbers ‘61’, presumably part of the date, are to the right of the unicorn, and a letter, ‘D’, is placed between the unicorn and the coronet.
Notes: From another casting of the same back, the date is known to be 1661. The cabled anchor is the badge of the Lord High Admiral who, in 1661, was the Duke of York and Albany, later James II. The missing initial is an ‘I’, for Jacobus Dux. The absence of the motto may be explained by the pattern being a carved armorial panel where the motto text, unlike that of the Garter, was merely painted.
Copies of this fireback are known.
Inscription: [I] D / 16 61
Arms: Lord High Admiral of England
- Decoration tags:
- rectangular (shape)
- cavetto (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- individual letters
- individual numbers
- armorial
- text
Manufactured: in 1661 possibly in the Weald area of England.
Current location: Preston Manor, Brighton, East Sussex, England.
Museum number: PM400269 (part of the Brighton Museum museum group)
- Attached to series:
- Miscellaneous royal firebacks