Firebacks

554mm tall

  1. 537

    pet-m-91.jpg
    335 x 554 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Arched rectangular central panel with bead-and-pellet edging on a broad fillet; nude figure of a man standing on a mound, resting his left hand on a club, a plant to his right, and drapery swags above; arched rectangular border with symmetrical swirls; monogram centre bottom; on top, symmetrical, swirled foliage.

    Notes: The figure is probably of Hercules.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: SHR

    Manufactured: in the late-17th to early-18th century in England.

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

    Museum number: NT/PET/M/91 (part of the National Trust museum group)

  2. 523

    petworth_004.jpg
    594 x 554 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto-moulded edging; figure in mid-17th century armour, sword in belt, riding a prancing horse; initials split, below corners of arch, in front of horse’s head and behind rider’s back.

    Notes: Probably intended to represent Charles I in memoriam, as other firebacks in this style date from the end of the Commonwealth period.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: [C missing] R

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

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

    Museum number: NT/PET/M/77 (part of the National Trust museum group)

    Citation: Baines, J. M., 1958, Wealden Firebacks (Hastings Museum).

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

    Citation: Lloyd, N., 1925, 'Domestic Ironwork I', Architectural Review, 58, pp. 58-67.