Firebacks

Description: Canted rectangle; hatched fillet edging (top and sides); initials in triad to the left; fleur-de-lys stamp repeated seven times across top; date and initial pairs below; full width, horizontal hatched fillet below inscription; zig-zag formed of short, hatched fillets down each side below horizontal fillet; space within bordered by squared cross stamp repeated 12 times horizontally and six times on each side.

Notes: The distinctive squared cross and fleur stamps are seen on other firebacks; the initials in triad may relate to a husband and wife, the pairs of initials to their children; an almost identical fireback seen at Smith's Funeral Services, close to the site of Elmbridge Furnace, at Newent, Gloucestershire, differs only in the alignment of the left-hand column of squared crosses.

Inscription: AHE [triad] 1671 WH MH

Description: Canted rectangle; twisted rope edging (top and sides); bearded face stamp repeated in top corners and below inscription; date along top edge; initials split by date and slightly below.

Notes: The distinctive style of the ‘4’ in the date and the bearded mask stamp have also been noted on a fireback at Callow Farm, Dymock, Gloucestershire, associated with the operator of the Newent furnace.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: E 1641 M

Description: Rectangular; cavetto-moulded edging; [?]fillet frame parallel with edging; on top, central date between two groups of initials in triad, with six 'daisy heads' above; on each side, vertical line of at least four squared cross stamps; inside frame, four fleurs-de-lys between two oval 'buttons' on a rectangular base at least five 'daisy heads' in a vertical line on each side.

Notes: A significant fireback, it comprises decorative stamps from at least three series of firebacks produced in the Forest of Dean area, linking their production to the same ironworks. The same fireback (or copies thereof), with and without the attached grate, was illustrated in catalogues issued c1910-21 by Arthur Todhunter, architectural antiques dealer, of New York (catalogue #919, $50). Leland Little auction, Hillsborough, North Carolina, 3 Mar 2018, lot 260, $400.

Inscription: THM [triad] 1669 THM [triad]