Firebacks

1070mm tall

  1. 1292

    goodwood_house.jpg
    905 x 1070 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; Greek Key border with fillet edges; in high relief, in front of swagged drapery, the shield of, quarterly, France quartering England, Scotland and Ireland, surrounded by a Garter, and surmounted by a ducal coronet; below, the inscription in capitals.

    Notes: The use of the Greek Key design as a border is believed to be unique for an English fireback. Although somewhat indistinct, the use of the Stuart royal arms and the ducal coronet can be explained by the fact that the fireback was one of a group cast for the 2nd Duke of Richmond, whose father, the 1st duke, was the illegitimate son of Charles II and Louise de Kéroualle. The Richmond arms were differenced from the Stuart royal arms by the addition of a bordure compony (the detail of which is not distinct on this casting). Sowley Furnace, near Beaulieu in Hampshire, was owned in 1732 by John, 2nd Duke of Montagu, and was let to Miles Troughton. An identical fireback also at Goodwood is dated 1731 and a similar, but smaller, variant of this fireback, is dated 1732.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE / SOWLEY MDCCXXX

    Arms: Duke of Richmond

    Manufactured: in 1730 at Sowley Furnace, Beaulieu in the New Forest area of England.

    Current location: Goodwood House, Westhampnett, West Sussex, England.

  2. 506

    parham_001.jpg
    920 x 1070 mm

    Description: Plain rectangular shield with sloping edges; shield helm and crest of Sir Weetman Pearson Bt.: Per fess indented gules and or, between two suns in splendour in chief an escutcheon bearing a baronet's badge, and a demi-gryphon couped wings elevated and addorsed in base all counterchanged; crest: in front of a demi-gryphon as in the arms, holding between the claws a mill-stone proper, thereon a mill-rind sable, a sun in splendour.

    Notes: Sir Weetman Pearson, later Viscount Cowdray, was created Baronet in 1894 and Baron in 1910, the fireback thus dates from the period 1894-1910. The motto - Do it with thy might - is from Ecclesiates 9: 10.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: DO IT WITH THY MIGHT

    Arms: Sir Weetman Pearson Bt

    Manufactured: in the late-19th century in England.

    Current location: Parham House, Parham, West Sussex, England.