Firebacks

796mm tall

  1. 499

    midhurst,_cowdray house 02.jpg
    760 x 796 mm

    Description: Arched rectangle; dentil ovolo-moulded edging; shield, supporters, coronet, helm, crest, mantling and motto of Viscount Montague; quarterly Browne, Albini, Fitzalan, Fitzalan of Clare, Warren, Maltravers, Nevill, Montagu, Monthermer, Inglethorpe, Burghe, Delapole, Bradeston, Tiptoft, Charleton and Kent (Plantagenet); supporters: two bears collared and chained; the crest: an eagle, the wings elevated and displayed.

    Notes: The arms of either the 2nd (Anthony-Maria Browne, succ. 1592-1629) or 3rd viscount (Francis Browne succ. 1629-1682) - the 1st viscount was a Knight of the Garter and no garter is shown.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: VERITATE DUCE [Be led by Truth]

    Arms: Viscount Montague

    Manufactured: in the late-16th to early-17th century in England.

    Current location: Cowdray House, Midhurst, West Sussex, England.

    Citation: Garner, T. and Stratton, A., 1911, The Domestic Architecture of England during the Tudor Period, Part III (London, Batsford), pp. 240-2 and pl. CLXXIX.

    Citation: Roundell, Mrs C. (J. A. E. T.), 1907, Cowdray: The History of a Great English House (London, Bickers & Son), pp. 28-9.

  2. 528

    pet-m-82.jpg
    601 x 796 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Arched rectangular central panel with bead edging; pictorial scene of seven figures, the central one crowned, seated at a table laid with cups and dishes, with two other figures, one at the front, the other to the right, serving them; below are martial symbols (cannon, banners etc.); behind the figures are two archways with drapery at the side, and a chandelier above; arched rectangular border with fillet edging, and egg-and-dart moulding on top and sides; on top, a diamond within a cartouche, and the same on each shoulder of the plate; descending from the top, a serpent on each side.

    Notes: The scene is of the marriage at Cana (John 2), a biblical story often portrayed on firebacks and stoveplates.

    Manufactured: in the mid- to late-17th century in the Siegerland area of Germany.

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

    Museum number: NT/PET/M/82 (part of the National Trust museum group)