Firebacks

Description: Rectangular; rope edging (top and sides); central Tudor royal shield with encircling garter (motto reversed: HONE SOVT QVEY … PEN), separate greyhound and lion supporters, separate crown; a bird, repeated in each top corner, its wings displayed and inverted and its head facing behind and to the left, standing on a scroll; a fleur de lys repeated in the bottom corners; inside the birds is a repeated stamp, half of one similar to a stamp on a fireback in Hastings Museum.

Notes: The particular form of the Tudor arms and supporters is encountered on other firebacks, as are the distinctive style of fleurs de lys and the birds (probably swans, a Lancastrian icon). The plain scroll upon which the bird is perched suggests that there might have been a painted inscription on it originally and that the stamp had not been made specifically for the decoration of firebacks but was, perhaps, redundant from interior domestic decoration. Formerly at Framfield, East Sussex.

Arms: Tudor royal (prob. Henry VIII)

Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging on top and sides; inscription panel with repeated trailing vine decoration from impressed wooden strips — one horizontal line at top, one vertical strip on right side (missing but probably repeated on left), at least ten short vertical strips below inscription.

Notes: Formerly at Fulling Mill Cottages, and possibly formerly at Wakehurst Place, Ardingly; it was moved to Ardingly church sometime after 1915. The inscription panel is identical to that on the memorial plate to Anne Forster in Crowhurst church, Surrey; at least ten other firebacks are known with the same inscription panel. Edward Culpeper (1561-1630), of Wakehurst, was fourth cousin, once removed, of Anne Forster. Assuming the vine strip and rope edging on the left side were of approximately the same width as on the right the overall original width of the fireback is estimated to have been 837mm.

Inscription: HER : LIETH : ANE : FORST/ R : DAVGHTER : AND : / HEYR : TO : THOMAS : / GAYNSFORD : ESQVIER / DECEASED : XVIII : OF: / IANVARI : 1591 : LEAVYNG / BEHIND : HER II : SONES : / AND : V : DAVGHTERS

Description: Composite; rectangular with semi-circular arches in middle (large) and ends (small) of top edge; rope on all edges except bottom; central panel effectively comprises an arched fireback form with Tudor royal arms (temp. Elizabeth I) with date above, and, below, letters G M, made from rope with fleur de lys terminals between two coronets surmounted by lions; below this are fronds with roses. On either side of this panel are placed the Anne Forster inscription panels; above each of these is a rose and crown with lion and dragon supporters, beneath which are three fleurs de lys. Along the base of the inscription panels and the central panel are single rows of ‘grape bunch’ shapes, beneath which are repeated trailing vine decoration from impressed wooden strips across the entire width of the fireback; 35 in all.

Notes: Formerly at Baynard's Park, Ewhurst, Surrey; GM probably refers to Sir George More, who built Baynards Park after buying the estate in 1587, and who moved to Loseley in 1604. The central coat of arms has been noted on two other firebacks, dated 1588 and 1595. The rose and crown stamps have been noted on a fireback in Haslemere Museum, and on examples illustrated by Lower (all of which bear the date 1582 and the initials IA; e.g. no. 107). The association of these stamps and the particular form of rope lettering, with the Anne Forster inscription and the ‘grape bunch’ shapes, both of which have been linked with other stamps from Pounsley furnace, suggests that they, too, were part of the stock of those works.

Inscription: 15 93 / GM / HER : LIETH : ANE : FORST/ R : DAVGHTER : AND : / HEYR : TO : THOMAS : / GAYNSFORD : ESQVIER / DECEASED : XVIII : OF: / IANVARI : 1591 : LEAVYNG / BEHIND : HER II : SONES : / AND : V : DAVGHTERS [twice]

Arms: Tudor royal

Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging; otherwise plain plate with inscription panel centre top.

Notes: Inscription panel identical to that on the memorial plate to Anne Forster in Crowhurst church, Surrey. At least ten other firebacks are known with the same inscription panel.

Inscription: HER : LIETH : ANE : FORST/ R : DAVGHTER : AND : / HEYR : TO : THOMAS : / GAYNSFORD : ESQVIER / DECEASED : XVIII : OF: / IANVARI : 1591 : LEAVYNG / BEHIND : HER II : SONES : / AND : V : DAVGHTERS

Description: Canted rectangle; twisted rope edging (top and sides); Tudor royal shield and Garter with crown above, between lion and unicorn supporters; initials separated by crown; a small ring and bar are placed to the left of the unicorn’s mouth.

Notes: The Tudor shield and crown feature on many Wealden firebacks, and have here been reused with Jacobean supporters; their stamps are derived from standing models.

Inscription: I R

Arms: Tudor royal

Description: Rectangular; cyma recta (ogee) moulded edging (top and sides); fleur-de-lys stamp repeated three times across the upper part of the plate; a long pastry mould stamped between each pair of fleurs; above the central fleur, a small stamp, over-pressed, bearing FL below a coronet; above the right fleur, a small stamp, over-pressed, bearing a fish embowed.

Notes: The food moulds are variations of others used in the same series.

Inscription: FL

Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); inner border of repeated strips of undulating vine tendril, inside of which are stamped panels of repeated grape bunches, totalling 27 along the upper edge and 13 down each side; inside them is a further border of vine strips within which are five columns of a bird stamp (probably a swan, a Lancastrian badge). each repeated three times, below each of which are three further grape bunch stamps except the middle column, where the grape bunches are above the swans.

Notes: A complex and well executed design incorporating three stamps found on many other firebacks.

Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); irregular arrangement of two rectangular pastry stamps, each with a fleur de lys within fern leaves, and one with three additional fern leaves below; the smaller stamps form the four corners, with the larger stamp, three times, in a triangular pattern between.

Notes: Various excrescences on the plate were probably the result of careless pouring of the metal during casting.

Description: Rectangular with five-facetted arched shape; twisted rope edging (top and sides); small flower-bud stamp repeated 23 times inside the edging; across the middle of the fireback, two approximately parallel lines of lengths of vine strip moulding inclined up to the right; between them, five bird stamps, probably swans (a Lancastrian badge), the front of their left wings 'displayed and inverted', and three more swans above the top line of vine strip moulding.

Notes: The stamps are all seen on other firebacks in the same series. The five-facetted arch is seemingly unique. A very similar fireback with minor differences was lot 2630 at Toovey's auction, Washington, West Sussex, 19 Jun 2015.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Description: Rectangular shape; twisted rope or strap edging (top and sides); semi-random arrangement of three stamps interspersed with rope crosses and rope 'squares' with saltires or linked smaller squares within; low centre, a crowned rose-en-soleil stamp repeated, more or less regularly, five times across the width of the fireback; above, four circular butter mould stamps with a hexagonal design, between which are two rope squares with saltires and, to the left, a rope square containing a smaller square with its corners linked to the corners of the outer square; above, a horned sheep standing on a base repeated four times, between which are two crowned rose-en-soleil stamps and four rope crosses, with a square-within-a-square at the right end.

Notes: The rose-en-soleil was the badge of King Edward IV and, thus, a Yorkist symbol. It, together with the butter mould and rope squares, are seen on other firebacks associating them with the same producer/foundry. A ram is the crest of the Gage family of West Firle, for many centuries major landholders in Sussex. Formerly at Heringdales/Heronsdale Manor, Waldron, East Sussex, which, however, was not a Gage property. Illustration from Christy 1908.