Firebacks

620mm tall

17 results

  1. 603

    banbury_750x620.jpg
    750 x 620 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shaped, the arch linked to the rectangle by cavetto curves; cavetto edging ending in two opposed spirals at top; initials below spirals; date below initials; otherwise plain.

    Notes: Probably cast from a carved, edged board, with the initials and date added separately. A copy.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: IH / 1678

    Manufactured: in 1678 in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Banbury, Oxfordshire, England.

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

  2. 889

    bonhams,_chester 18 oct 12 560x620.jpg
    560 x 620 mm

    Description: Arched shape; fillet edging; swan within a voided strapwork cartouche; date in Arabic numerals, at bottom, on a broad horizontal fillet.

    Notes: Stylistically, of the early 17th century, suggesting the date is 1617, although the third numeral is indistinct. Bonham's sale, Chester, 18 October 2012, lot 384 (£375).

    Inscription: 16 1[?]7

    Manufactured: in 1617 in England.

    Current location:, not known.

  3. 1201

    chiddingstone,_spokeshave.png
    890 x 620 mm

    Description: Rectangular with five-facetted arched shape; twisted rope edging (top and sides); small flower-bud stamp repeated 23 times inside the edging; across the middle of the fireback, two approximately parallel lines of lengths of vine strip moulding inclined up to the right; between them, five bird stamps, probably swans (a Lancastrian badge), the front of their left wings 'displayed and inverted', and three more swans above the top line of vine strip moulding.

    Notes: The stamps are all seen on other firebacks in the same series. The five-facetted arch is seemingly unique. A very similar fireback with minor differences was lot 2630 at Toovey's auction, Washington, West Sussex, 19 Jun 2015.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Manufactured: in the late-16th century possibly at Pounsley Furnace, Framfield in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, Chiddingstone, Kent, England.

  4. 1085

    faversham_930x620.jpg
    930 x 620 mm

    Description: Rectangular; rebated ovolo-moulded edging (top, left and half-right sides); top centre, date with unevenly positioned numerals.

    Notes: The asymmetry of the side moulding is unusual.

    Inscription: 1667

    Manufactured: in 1667 possibly in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Faversham, Kent, England.

  5. 1019

    gildings_19 apr 2016 lot 529 990x620.jpg
    990 x 620 mm

    Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging; top centre and corners, stamp formed of three ostrich feathers within a coronet, repeated three times.

    Notes: The ostrich feathers are the badge of the Prince of Wales; a recast plate. Gildings Auctioneers, Market Harborough, 19 Apr 2016 lot 529.

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

    Current location:, not known.

  6. 81

    guildford_museum 06.jpg
    677 x 620 mm

    Description: Rectangular with two mirrored scrolls on top, a lion’s face between; bas-relief semi-circle edging (sides and bottom); central pilaster with vine scrolling, Corinthian capital, initials on the pedestal; on either side, an arched alcove, each with a halberdier in mid-17th century clothes, their feet pointing to the middle.

    Notes: Stylistically similar to the Lenard fireback (no. 429), the initials also appear on other firebacks, possibly from Brede. All known examples of this fireback are poorly modelled and cast.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: IM

    Manufactured: in the early- to mid-17th century possibly at Brede Furnace in the Weald area of England.

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

    Museum number: S.7108 (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: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2014, 'A Seventeenth-Century Sussex Woodcarver: The Evidence of Cast Ironwork', Regional Furniture, 28, pp. 39-48.

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

  7. 333

    horsham_museum 11.jpg
    875 x 620 mm

    Description: Rectangular with triangular extension at middle of top edge; rope edging (top and sides); inscription in triangle - O larger than I; a pair of vertical, parallel ratchet bars (180mm long) below each top corner.

    Inscription: O I

    Manufactured: in the late-16th to early-17th century possibly in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Horsham Museum, Causeway, Horsham, West Sussex, England.

    (part of the Horsham Museum museum group)

  8. 379

    lewes,_sussex arch soc 014.jpg
    1020 x 620 mm

    Description: Rectangular; single moulded edge on top and sides; bold date and initials, formed from large individual characters, on same line across full width of plate; otherwise plain. Side lifting lug on top right.

    Notes: The style of the numerals, particularly the 6 and 5, can be seen on a smaller fireback of 1656. Lifting handles are only seen on a few firebacks. Formerly part of the J. H. Every collection.

    Inscription: 1653 IHA

    Manufactured: in 1653 in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Anne of Cleves House, Southover High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, England.

    Museum number: 1944.24.044 (part of the Sussex Archaeological Society museum group)

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

  9. 400

    lewes,_sussex arch soc 034.jpg
    675 x 620 mm

    Description: Rectangular with two mirrored scrolls on top, a lion’s face between; ogee-moulded edging; central pilaster with vine scrolling, Corinthian capital, a diamond on the pedestal; on either side, an arched alcove with fillet edging, each with a halberdier in mid-17th century clothes, their feet pointing to the middle.

    Notes: A more common version has different edging and a pattern-maker’s mark. Formerly part of the J. H. Every collection.

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

    Current location: Anne of Cleves House, Southover High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, England.

    Museum number: 1944.24.064 (part of the Sussex Archaeological Society museum group)

  10. 405

    lewes,_sussex arch soc 039.jpg
    820 x 620 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape with small rhomboidal flanges in the corners of the arch; cavetto moulded edge on all sides; Stuart royal arms (1605-88, 1702-14) with lion and unicorn supporters, garter, crown and motto; raised inscription in a tapering label beneath crown.

    Notes: An amended copy of a 17th/early 18th century original (see no. 633). The added inscription has been impressed with the personalised cast handle of a cooking vessel. A bronze skillet bearing the inscription 'STANDEN 1726' on its handle has been recorded elsewhere, but the impression on the fireback has been formed from a handle with the inscription inset in relief, whereas the 1726 inscription is inscribed. Also the lettering on the handle used to personalise the fireback, which includes the letter A surmounted with a horizontal line, is of an earlier style. Three members of the Standen family, Thomas, James and Elias, were founders at Beech or Robertsbridge furnaces, Sussex, 1728-9, and a John Standen was casting skillets at Heathfield Furnace in the early 1730s; each could have been the founder of the 1726 skillet, but the maker of the handle used in the fireback casting may have been earlier. Formerly at Marshalls Manor House, Maresfield, Sussex.

    Inscription: IAMES STANDEN [+Garter and royal mottoes]

    Arms: English Stuart royal

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

    Current location: Anne of Cleves House, Southover High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, England.

    Museum number: LH000.943 (part of the Sussex Archaeological Society museum group)

    Citation: Dawson, C., 1903, 'Sussex Iron Work and Pottery', Sussex Archaeological Collections, 46, pp. 1-54.

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

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2020, 'A Skillet Handle on a Fireback', Journal of the Antique Metalware Society, 25 (2020), pp. 48-51.