Firebacks

445mm tall

  1. 76

    guildford_museum 01.jpg
    655 x 445 mm

    Description: Rectangular with ‘portico’ arch; cavetto edging; two-handled vase, flower stems on each side entwined round handles; flowers emerging from top of vase; base of vase overlaps the edging.

    Notes: One of a varied group of small firebacks with bold, simple designs and cavetto edging; formerly in the possession of Gertrude Jekyll, Munstead Wood, near Godalming, Surrey.

    Manufactured: in the mid-17th century possibly in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Guildford Museum, Guildford, Surrey, England.

    Museum number: S.7129 (part of the Guildford Museum museum group)

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

    Citation: Jekyll, G., 1903, Old West Surrey, London, Longmans.

  2. 481

    maresfield,_putmans farm 01.jpg
    478 x 445 mm

    Description: Rectangular; cavetto edging all round; seated lion on right, its tail rising above its back and its head turned to face the viewer; a seated sheep on the left; at the bottom, a plain rectangular extension panel; date split across top.

    Notes: Intended to represent the saying, ‘The lion shall lie down with the lamb’, a popular misquotation of Isaiah 11: 6.

    Manufactured: in 1679 in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, Maresfield, East Sussex, England.

  3. 861

    terry_sparks_03a.jpg
    605 x 445 mm

    Description: Canted rectangle; twisted rope edging (top and sides); top centre, date.

    Inscription: 1697

    Manufactured: in 1697 in England.

    Current location:, not known.

  4. 1304

    worth,_saxon_road_04.jpg
    600 x 445 mm

    Description: Canted rectangular shape with inclined sides; cavetto-moulded edging (top and sides); horizontal fillet parallel to the top edge divided by two further fillets, in the centre the initials in capitals in triad, and at each end a lion rampant stamp facing inwards and inclined upwards towards the centre; below the lions, two inclined vertical fillets, parallel to the sides of the plate, each enclosing down the sides a double fleur-de-lys stamp and a flowerhead stamp repeated twice on each side and arranged alternately; in the panel below the initials, two different animal figures of indeterminate type, possibly monkeys.

    Notes: The rampant lion, double fleur and flowerhead stamps have all been noted on other firebacks in a series identified on most backs with the initials I and B at the base of the plate. The initials are not present on this casting although the inclusion of I and B in the triad at the top could suggest that this fireback was personal to the founder and his wife. Of note are the impressions of the lions which overstamp the fillet below, indicating that they were placed after the fillet. Unlike the other backs in this series this example is undated. Wincanton Auctions, 24 Oct 2024, lot 540 (£35).

    Inscription: IBE [triad]

    Manufactured: in the late-17th to early-18th century in the Forest of Dean area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, Crawley, West Sussex, England.