Firebacks

Edging: custom with repeated leaf pattern

  1. 1246

    warkworth_castle,_dukes_room.jpg
    750 x 905 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Low-arched shape within broad fillet edging marked with a repeated leaf pattern ascending toward the top; on an incised criss-cross field a Tudor royal shield, quarterly France Modern and England, supported by a stylised, scaly dragon and greyhound and surmounted by a crown, all resting on a two-stepped compartment with cavetto- and astragal-moulded edging at the top.

    Notes: Pastiche 'Tudor' design by George Shaw of Saddleworth, Lancashire, c.1850, possibly intended to be passed off as genuine Tudor. Another casting in this form is in Cheetham's Library, Manchester. A variant exists without the leaf pattern on the edging and the 'scales' on the dragon. Firebacks of the same armorial design within a different, arched rectangular, edging are also known.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Arms: Tudor royal

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

    Current location: Warkworth Castle, Warkworth, Northumberland, England.

    (part of the English Heritage museum group)

    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.