Firebacks

Edging: fillet

233 results

  1. 163

    hastings_046.jpg
    545 x 740 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape with fillet edging; tall, arched central panel with bead edging (top and sides); flying bird in arch, with two small trees below, and two figures, one with a staff in his right hand, and a dog, at the bottom; two side panels with similar cascades of flowers; narrow base panel with fillet edging and symmetrical floral arrangement; on top, a scallop shell between two symmetrical lines of trailing flowers.

    Notes: The figures may be Venus and Adonis, the bird aboive being a dove; probably an English design based on the 'Dutch' style. Formerly part of the Ade Collection (from Grove Hill, Hellingly, Sussex).

    Manufactured: in the late 17th to early 18th century in England.

    Current location: Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, John's Place, Bohemia Road, Hastings, East Sussex, England.

    Museum number: HASMG: 1952.51.31 (part of the Hastings Museum museum group)

  2. 168

    hastings_051.jpg
    622 x 705 mm

    Description: Quasi-arched shape; straight fillet edging to sides and bottom, symmetrical, stepped cavetto, ovolo, cavetto and double arched on top; central pictorial scene of a female and male seated on a couch, both in 18th century dress, with swirled floral border; swirled floral base panel separated by a fillet; two sea serpents on top.

    Notes: The dress of the figures portrayed suggests a late-18th century date

    Manufactured: in the late 18th century in England.

    Current location: Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, John's Place, Bohemia Road, Hastings, East Sussex, England.

    Museum number: HASMG: 1910.36 (part of the Hastings Museum museum group)

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2010, British Cast-Iron Firebacks of the 16th to Mid-18th Centuries (Crawley, Hodgers Books).

  3. 171

    hastings_058.jpg
    730 x 584 mm

    Description: Quasi-rectangular with raised symmetrical scrolls between semi-circular re-entrants on top edge; ovolo-moulded edge on bottom and sides, with fillet edging on top; grotesque face with swirled hair locks, above an inverted floral spike, between two moustachioed male figures in tunics, holding pikes, standing on a cavetto-moulded compartment, date beneath.

    Notes: Alleged to represent the 'Brede Ogre', Sir Goddard Oxenbridge (1478-1531) who, legend states, was sawn in half by local children. Stylistically similar to other firebacks with connections with Brede furnace.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: 16 52

    Manufactured: in 1652 probably at Brede Furnace in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, John's Place, Bohemia Road, Hastings, East Sussex, England.

    Museum number: HASMG: 1924.42 (part of the Hastings Museum museum group)

    Citation: Butterfield, W. R., 10 Mar 1934, 'The Brede Ogre', Hastings and St Leonards Observer.

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2010, British Cast-Iron Firebacks of the 16th to Mid-18th Centuries (Crawley, Hodgers Books).

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2014, 'A Seventeenth-Century Sussex Woodcarver: The Evidence of Cast Ironwork', Regional Furniture, 28, pp. 39-48.

    Citation: Baines, J. M., 1958, Wealden Firebacks (Hastings Museum).

  4. 178

    hastings_065.jpg
    711 x 686 mm

    Description: Arched; cavetto edging; crowned plain shield bearing a Tudor rose, with crowned lion and dragon supporters, with garter and motto; date split by crown.

    Notes: A much-copied fireback; the numerals are uncharacteristically modern in form, suggesting they have been substituted on a later copy; a variant illustrated by Dawson (no. 269) shows a cross above the crown and more typically 16th century numerals. Formerly part of the Ade Collection (from Grove Hill, Hellingly, Sussex).

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: 1571 HONI SOIT... ...DROI ? K

    Manufactured: in the late 19th to early 20th century possibly in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, John's Place, Bohemia Road, Hastings, East Sussex, England.

    Museum number: HASMG: 1952.51.45 (part of the Hastings Museum museum group)

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2010, British Cast-Iron Firebacks of the 16th to Mid-18th Centuries (Crawley, Hodgers Books).

    Citation: Schubert, H. R., 1957, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry (London, Routledge), pp. 256-264.

  5. 180

    hastings_067.jpg
    690 x 770 mm

    Description: Rectangular: fillet edging; top left, standing classically dressed female figure playing a lyre, with short column behind; top right, classically dressed female figure leaning on a short column; top centre, hatted figure of a bearded man with bagpipes on his back, riding a horse.

    Notes: An unusual group of stamps, possibly derived from brass chimney ornaments; the middle figure seems to have little in common with the other two, and the horse’s tail may include part of another figure. Formerly part of the Ade Collection (from Grove Hill, Hellingly, Sussex).

    Manufactured: in the late 19th to early 20th century in England.

    Current location: Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, John's Place, Bohemia Road, Hastings, East Sussex, England.

    Museum number: HASMG: 1952.51.66 (part of the Hastings Museum museum group)

  6. 187

    hastings_071.jpg
    ?380 x ?610 mm

    Description: 'Dutch' style; arched rectangular shaped central panel, bead edging, two children sitting astride a beast (possibly a winged ram); arched rectangular shaped border, fillet edging, swags of fruit bunches suspended from ribbon; on top, symmetrical floral swirls and flowers.

    Notes: The image is probably intended to be Phryxus and Helle riding the winged ram with the golden fleece, but in recasting it has been misinterpreted as the young Samson slaying the lion at Timnath; Judges 14: 5-6. Formerly part of the Ade Collection (from Grove Hill, Hellingly, Sussex).

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: 16 NDW 97 / DER IUNGE SAMSON [the young Samson]

    Manufactured: in 1697 possibly in the Siegerland area of Germany.

    Current location: Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, John's Place, Bohemia Road, Hastings, East Sussex, England.

    Museum number: HASMG 1952.51.28 (part of the Hastings Museum museum group)

  7. 938

    hennell_01.jpg
    850 x 695 mm

    Description: Rectangular with three-facetted arch; fillet edging; shield, crown and lion supporters of the French royal house of Valois.

    Notes: The arms date to before 1589 when the House of Valois was succeeded by the House of Bourbon. Lion supporters on the French royal arms are not common.

    Arms: France Royal

    Manufactured: in the late 16th century in France.

    Current location:, not known.

  8. 320

    hever_castle 02.jpg
    830 x 890 mm

    Description: Low arched rectangular shape; broad rebated fillet edging; stylised Tudor royal shield, crown and supporters (dragon and greyhound); Tudor rose in top left corner; portcullis in top right corner.

    Notes: Pastiche 'Tudor' design by George Shaw of Saddleworth, Lancashire, c.1850, possibly intended to be passed off as genuine Tudor. A fireback of the same armorial design within a different, arched edging is at Wirkworth Castle, Northumberland (see no. 1246).

    Arms: Tudor royal

    Manufactured: in the mid 19th century possibly in the Lancashire area of England.

    Current location: Hever Castle, Hever, Kent, England.

    Citation: Brooke, S., 2022, 'Appendix IV George Shaw (1810-1876)', Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture, 8, 3, pp. 162-183.

    Citation: Foyle, J. & Lindfield, P., 2021, 'A Forger's Folly?: George Shaw's Productions for Cheetham's Library, Manchester', The British Art Journal, 21, 3, pp. 42-50.

  9. 227

    holyrood_architectural_salvage.jpg
    490 x 750 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shaped central panel with bead edging on a wide fillet; two-handled vase with assorted flowers on a stand with scrolled legs; a plant pot on each side; arched rectangular shaped border with fillet edging, symmetrical floral fronds descending from a rose, top centre, with a looped 'W' in each shoulder; inscription at base; on top, symmetrical scrolled plant tendrils.

    Notes: The second largest of five flower vase designs in this series; a recast plate. All incorporate the looped 'W' motif which may be intended to identify the pattern maker. The inscription translates as 'God is our strength'.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: 17 DVW Ydyw Ein Cadernid 24

    Manufactured: in 1724 in England.

    Current location: not known.

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2010, British Cast-Iron Firebacks of the 16th to Mid-18th Centuries (Crawley, Hodgers Books).

  10. 327

    horsham_museum 05.jpg
    560 x 810 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shaped central panel with open-bud edging; pictorial: Venus in her chariot drawn by doves, with her child, Cupid; a heron flies away to the left; above are swagged curtains and a pair of tassels, below is a landscape; arched rectangular shaped border with fillet edging, a scallop shell top centre with symmetrical arrangement of vine and acanthus leaves and tendrils; the monogram, SHR, bottom centre; above is a symmetrical design of scrolled floral tendrils.

    Notes: The design is derived from a personification of the planet Venus in 'Planetarum effectus et eorum in signis zodiaci', by Marten de Vos (1585); the flying heron has been copied from a print by Wenceslaus Hollar c.1658. The theft, in 1699, from a Thames-side warehouse of several firebacks, included '6 of Venus in a Chariot with Doves', which is likely to refer to this type (Post Boy 11-14 Nov. 1699).

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: SHR

    Manufactured: in the late 17th century in England.

    Current location: Horsham Museum, Causeway, Horsham, West Sussex, England.

    (part of the Horsham Museum museum group)

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2010, British Cast-Iron Firebacks of the 16th to Mid-18th Centuries (Crawley, Hodgers Books).