Firebacks

680mm tall

15 results

  1. 995

    085.jpg
    550 x 680 mm

    Description: Arched; fillet edging; English royal Stuart shield, garter, crown, supporters, 'CS' monogram to left of Garter buckle, and motto on a cartouche; small rose stamp repeated each side of crown; date split each side of top of crown (first part absent in this casting).

    Notes: Although English arms, the design is in a continental style, arched firebacks being typical of Lorraine; the 'CS' monogram is likely to be that of the pattern-maker; a modern copy of a poor casting, hence the incomplete date. For the complete version see no. 994.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: [16 missing] 21 / HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE / CS / DIEV ET MON DROIT

    Arms: English Stuart royal (James I)

    Manufactured: in 1621 in England.

    Current location:.

  2. 1155

    chorleys_gloucester,_20_nov_2019,_lot_634_1200x580.jpg
    1200 x ~680 mm

    Description: Rectangular shape; fillet edging (top and sides); across the top, line of squared cross stamps in three groups (5, 5 and 7), with six more continued down each side; below the top line of stamps, central date with initials in triad to each side, interrupting the top line of stamps, with two fleurs-de-lys to each side and a single bead; below, three sides of a rectangular compartment, fillet edged with irregular quadrants at the top corner enclosing two fleurs-de-lys each, between which is a line of about 10 beads between single fleurs.

    Notes: A large and badly corroded fireback linking the Square Cross series and Hollow Saltire series stylistically. The initials probably relate to a husband and wife. Chorley's Auctioneers sale, Gloucester, 20 November 2019, lot 634 (£20).

    Inscription: WCK [triad] 1668 WCK [triad

    Manufactured: in 1668 in the Forest of Dean area of England.

    Current location:, not known.

  3. 1213

    durham_cathedral,_priors_hall.jpg
    ~1130 x ~680 mm

    Description: Rectangle with curved shoulders and low arch joined with concave curves; fillet and ogee moulded edging; central Tudor royal shield surrounded by garter, with crown above and lion and dragon supporters; royal initials either side of crown.

    Notes: On other castings of this fireback the initials are 'ER', the 'I' for James having been substituted here for the 'E' for Elizabeth but incorrectly retaining the Tudor shield. The garter motto includes ‘EQVI’ instead of ‘HONI’, making it meaningless; possibly ‘EQVI’ was a mis-transcription of ‘HONI’; the crown is distinctly continental in form.

    Inscription: I R

    Arms: Tudor royal - Edward VI or Elizabeth I

    Manufactured: in the early 17th century in England.

    Current location: Prior's Hall, Durham Cathedral, Durham, County Durham, England.

  4. 303

    gloucester_folk museum 01.jpg
    1130 x 680 mm

    Description: Rectangle with curved shoulders and low arch joined with concave curves; fillet and ogee moulded edging; central Tudor royal shield surrounded by garter, with crown above and lion and dragon supporters; royal initials either side of crown.

    Notes: Damaged on bottom left corner; the garter motto includes ‘EQVI’ instead of ‘HONI’, making it meaningless; possibly ‘EQVI’ was a mis-transcription of ‘HONI’; the crown is distinctly continental in form; a much-copied fireback. Previously at Hoarthorns Farm, West Dean, Gloucestershire, where another fireback of the same design was recovered from a pond and is now at the Forestry Commission camp site at Christchurch, near Coleford.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: E R / EQVI : SOIT : QVI : MAL : Y : PENSE

    Arms: Tudor royal - Edward VI or Elizabeth I

    Manufactured: in the mid to late 16th century possibly in the Forest of Dean area of England.

    Current location: Gloucester Folk Museum, Westgate street, Gloucester, Gloucestershire, England.

    Museum number: GLRCM:F03526 (part of the Gloucester Museums museum group)

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

  5. 942

    hull,_wilberforce house.jpg
    910 x 680 mm

    Description: Rectangular with a central rectangular extension; twisted rope edging; fleur-de-lys stamp with twisted band repeated three times at top; ?rose stamp repeated five times in line below fleurs, some over pressed, central rose above others; cabled anchor stamp repeated twice, either side of central rose; initials below central rose; ?cow and dog stamps each repeated twice alternately in line below initials; eight rivets from later repair.

    Notes: None of the stamps is known from any other fireback; cabled anchor may suggest a connection with a seaport.

    Inscription: HI

    Manufactured: in the early 17th century in England.

    Current location: Wilberforce House, High Street, Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England.

    (part of the Hull Museums museum group)

  6. 345

    ightham_mote 04.jpg
    945 x 680 mm

    Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); from top, crowned Tudor royal shield (stamp overpressed) above crowned shield bearing initials, KH in Lombardic lettering, above a fleur de lys (stamp overpressed); to left, diagonal lion passant guardant sinister; to right, diagonal lion passant; at base, single 'imp' figure, arms to side, moving left but facing right, between two pairs of 'imp' figures (separately stamped), one moving left, right arm raised, the other moving right, right arm raised.

    Notes: One of the 'Royal' series.

    Arms: Tudor royal arms of England

    Manufactured: in the mid 16th century in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Ightham Mote, Ightham, Kent, England.

    Museum number: 825393 (part of the National Trust 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., 2022, 'A Tudor Fireback Stamp: the progressive deterioration of its condition as evidence of the relative age of castings', Journal of the Antique Metalware Society, 27, pp. 42-5.

  7. 473

    lower_4a.jpg
    ~857 x ~680 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; twisted rope edging (top and sides); in arch; rose and crown with dragon and lion supporters, above a fleur cross and a crowned shield bearing a small fleur-de-lys; text across top half, each word separated by two fleur terminals; lower left and right, twice repeated eight-pointed star design formed of twisted rope with fleur-de-lys terminals; bottom left, ‘I’; bottom right, ‘A’.

    Notes: A James Hide married Joan Blackefane at Horley, Surrey on 11th October 1579; illustrated in Lower, 1849 p. 217, when it was at Sutton Hurst, Barcombe, Sussex (still there in 1893, house since demolished). One of a series of distinctive firebacks cast in 1582, most with inscriptions dedicated to pairs of individuals; the initials IA may be of the founder as they appear in the same arrangement on other firebacks.

    Inscription: THES : IS FOR IAMES : / HIDE : AND : ION : HIS : WIF [W inverted] / 1582 / I A

    Manufactured: in 1582 possibly at Pounsley Furnace, Framfield in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: not known.

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

    Citation: Lower, M. A., 1849, 'Iron Works of the County of Sussex', Sussex Archaeological Collections, 2, pp. 169-220 (esp. pp. 188-9).

  8. 822

    mayfield,_yeomans.jpg
    1030 x 680 mm

    Description: Repeated rectangular panels each bearing an anchor with coiled rope between two fleurs de lys, below which are two roses and a grape bunch beneath; the two rectangular side panels each comprise a vertical stem with six grape bunches surmounted by a smaller bunch; above, a semicircular arch contains the initials between two roses as in the central panel, with the date above; where the arch meets the central panel there is an arc across each corner; the top and sides panels are edged with simulated twisted rope.

    Notes: One of an unusual series formed from separate panels arranged, in this instance, with each vertical panel repeated.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: 1588 / IFC

    Manufactured: in 1588 in the Weald area of England.

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

  9. 613

    ripley_025.jpg
    1120 x 680 mm

    Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); top centre, crowned Tudor royal shield between, on the left, and angled lion passant guardant sinister and, on the right, an angled lion passant; in each of the top corners, a four petalled rose; below the shield, a crowned shield bearing the initials above a small fleur-de-lys, between two crowned four-petalled roses; outside each of the roses, a pair of ‘imp’ figures, one with an arm raised, the other with both arms lowered.

    Notes: A copy; one of the ‘Royal’ series. Sold at Christie's Masters and Makers auction, 30 November 2010, lot 522 (£2,125).

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: KH

    Arms: Tudor royal arms of England

    Manufactured: in the mid 16th century in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: not known.

  10. 839

    ripley_066.jpg
    >845 x 680 mm

    Description: Fragment (left quarter missing - symmetrical design assumed); rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); top centre, crowned Tudor shield between two lions passant, the left lion guardant sinister; below each lion, two leftward heading ‘imp’ stamps, the left one of each with arms down and head facing right, the right with right arm raised; in the top corner(s), a crowned rose stamp with a ‘daisy’ stamp towards the middle.

    Notes: Assuming the crowned shield is central, the fireback would have originally measured 1160mm wide; one of the ‘Royal’ series.

    Arms: Tudor royal arms of England

    Manufactured: in the mid 16th century in the Weald area of England.

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