Firebacks

575mm tall

  1. 844

    atcham_02.jpg
    395 x 575 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Arched rectangular central panel; fillet edging; pictorial scene of a cloaked figure, to the right, tempting a dog, to the left, with a tasty morsel; behind are the outlines of a door and window; arched rectangular border with fillet edging, the date along the bottom; down each side, a floral festoon; over the arch, the inscription, the initials split between each side of the main inscription; on top, floral scrolls.

    Notes: The inscription translates as 'loyalty above gifts'; some castings omit the initials, NL, indicating that they were a subsequent addition. The illustration is derived from 'The thief and the dog', one of a series of engravings of Aesop's Fables by Wenceslaus Hollar.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: N / FIDES DONA SUPERAT / L // 1696

    Manufactured: in 1696 possibly in the Siegerland area of Germany.

    Current location: English Heritage Store, Atcham Business Park, Atcham, Shropshire, England.

    Museum number: EH ASC 4491 (part of the English Heritage museum group)

  2. 853

    bridgewater_collection 08.jpg
    ?590 x ?575 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto edging; three ostrich feathers issuing from a royal coronet; motto banner below.

    Notes: The badge of the Prince of Wales; perhaps cast during the Commonwealth period; a variant at Rottingdean Grange has pattern-maker's initials.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: ICH [DIEN]

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

    Current location:, not known.

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

  3. 911

    crowhurst,_adams farm.jpg
    1010 x 575 mm

    Description: Plain rectangular plate; no edging; top centre, date with '7' reversed; below date, initials in triad.

    Notes: The reversed '7' indicates that the numerals, and probably the letters, had no backing; the initials are probably those of a husband and wife whose surname began with 'H'.

    Inscription: 1676 / BHM

    Manufactured: in 1676 in the Weald area of England.

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

  4. 670

    rottingdean_grange 03.jpg
    590 x 575 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto edging; three ostrich feathers issuing from a royal coronet; a blank motto banner below; the initials bottom left, above banner.

    Notes: The badge of the Prince of Wales; perhaps cast during the Commonwealth period.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: IL

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

    Current location: Rottingdean Grange, Rottingdean, East Sussex, England.

    (part of the Brighton Museum museum group)

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

  5. 1223

    west_peckham,_haven_hall.jpg
    775 x 575 mm

    Description: Rectangular; no edging; top centre, inscription, FF, and date, 1732, separated by a small saltire.

    Notes: The possibility exists that the initials are those of Francis Fairburn, whose descendants are known to have occupied the house where it lies.

    Inscription: FFx1732

    Manufactured: in 1732 possibly in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, West Peckham, Kent, England.