Firebacks

Description: Rectangular; rope edging (top and sides); central Tudor royal shield with encircling garter (motto reversed: HONE SOVT QVEY … PEN), separate greyhound and lion supporters, separate crown; a bird, repeated in each top corner, its wings displayed and inverted and its head facing behind and to the left, standing on a scroll; a fleur de lys repeated in the bottom corners; inside the birds is a repeated stamp, half of one similar to a stamp on a fireback in Hastings Museum.

Notes: The particular form of the Tudor arms and supporters is encountered on other firebacks, as are the distinctive style of fleurs de lys and the birds (probably swans, a Lancastrian icon). The plain scroll upon which the bird is perched suggests that there might have been a painted inscription on it originally and that the stamp had not been made specifically for the decoration of firebacks but was, perhaps, redundant from interior domestic decoration. Formerly at Framfield, East Sussex.

Arms: Tudor royal (prob. Henry VIII)

Description: Quasi-arched shape with forward-facing 'wings', which splay outwards towards the base; the 'wings' curve to follow the shape of the main panel but curl outwards at the top; central panel with pictorial image of, to the right, a shepherd holding a musical pipe, his right foot upon a log, upon which a dog, to the left, sits holding the shepherd's crook; top centre, a crown, on either side of which, on the curled upper parts of the 'wings', is an inward facing sheep.

Notes: This small, but unusual, casting was probably cast in an open box mould as the upcast (reverse) side of the casting shows evidence of being sand-treated. Only a very small number of such castings are known. Depth 210mm

Description: Arched shape; fillet edging; top centre, date; decorative Tudor royal shield, crown, garter (motto clockwise but reversed) and supporters (dragon and greyhound); a rose to the left and a portcullis (grid of 6) to the right side of crown; the supporters stand on a horizontal compartment which, on similar firebacks, often contains the date.

Notes: There are several firebacks with the Tudor royal arms that were probably originally produced in the Spanish Netherlands, perhaps illustrating the association between England and Spain through the marriage of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon. The firebacks differ in several small details, such as the form and rotation of the Garter motto, the style of the crown, the positioning of the supporters in relation to the Garter, and the form and size of the rose and portcullis.

Inscription: 15 70 / HONY SOYT QVI MAL Y PENSE

Arms: English royal Tudor

Description: Arched rectangular shape; ovolo-moulded edging; shield, Garter, crowned helm and mantling of the English royal arms to 1603 with crowned lion and griffon supporters standing on separate rectangular cartouches containing the word 'ANNO' and the date '1662'; above the mantling are the initials 'I R'

Notes: The date appears to have been altered from 1602. The initials 'I R' for Jacobus Rex (James I of England) are inappropriate for the date in both its original and its altered form; also the griffon supporter on the sinister side is incorrect, a dragon being correct for the arms of Elizabeth I in 1602. There is a vertical plankline left of centre.

Inscription: I R / HONI SOIT QVI MAL I PENSE / ANNO 1662

Arms: English Tudor royal

Description: Rectangular; composite: complex (cavetto/cyma recta/ovolo) moulded edging (top and sides), derived from domestic carpentry; two firebacks used as patterns: on the left, rectangular with mirrored floriate scrolled top, simulated overlapping tile edging at sides, with fillet bottom edge, a mythical salamander in the form of a dog with an arrow-shaped tongue, standing among flames, a stapled scroll inside the left and right edges; on the right, arched rectangular with fillet edging indented on the inner side, surrounding a circular clock face with Roman numerals, each interspaced with a bead, and a button outside each quarter, a triangular design of swirled foliage in each bottom spandrel; initials in triad between firebacks; below, stamp formed of a talbot statant guardant upon a wreath; date split: ‘1’s in top corners, ‘6’s above initials; bottom third of fireback plain.

Notes: The talbot crest, which in this instance has been over pressed and shows the shape of the backing, is seen on other firebacks indicating a common source; the 'salamander' fireback is one of the Stapled Scroll series; composite firebacks (where the impression of one or more other firebacks are used as part of the decoration) are uncommon in England but less so in France.

Inscription: 16 61 / IBM [triad]

Description: Steeply canted rectangle; no edging; upper centre, square formed of twisted rope lengths inside which are what appear to be two lions passant in pale with a circle and two short sloping lines in inverted V form above; on either side of the square is an O and an R; below the square three lengths of twisted rope extend to the bottom edge, the central one vertically and the the outer two sloping away from the centre; along the bottom is the date, each numeral separated by one of the rope lengths.

Notes: Alleged to be a representation of the arms of the O'Rourke family, who held sway in Cavan and Leitrim, the initials said to be of Owen O'Rourke. Noted in a cottage at Arigna, County Roscommon.

Inscription: O O R / 1 6 8 8

Arms: O'Rourke

Description: Arched rectangular shape; fillet edging to a rounded frame with sections of acanthus leaves at the corners and at the top of the arch, and blank campartments in between; astragal and fillet inside edging; arched rectangular inscription scroll suspended with faux ribbon from the top of the arch; below, a coronet over a large baroque cartouche containg two oval shields: Massenbach - azure two bars or, d'Helmstadt - argent a crow sable; on either side, lion rampant reguardant supporters; four vertical planklines.

Notes: A finely executed carving. Nicolas de Massenbach (1659-1722) and Francoise d'Helmstadt (d.1729) were married at Ourches-sur-Meuse, in Lorraine, in 1695.

Inscription: NDM 1710 FDH

Arms: Nicolas de Massenbach and Francoise d'Helmstadt

Description: Arched shape; cavetto moulded edge; double-headed eagle displayed, a Holy Roman Imperial crown above; in front, a quartered shield; a flaming pillar on each side, a motto scroll entwining each.

Notes: The shield bears the arms of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1519-1556), king of Spain and nephew of Katherine of Aragon, Queen of England; the pillars are a symbolic representation of the Pillars of Hercules at the Strait of Gibraltar. Some variants of this fireback have a different date (e.g. see no. 1267) or none at all.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: PLVS OVLTRE [Further Beyond]

Arms: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Description: Arched rectangular shape; plain plate. Crowned capital ‘A’ between ‘W’ and ‘R’; divided date at top extremities of plate; single six-pointed star below ‘A’.

Notes: Earl’s coronet denotes the Earl of Ashburnham, furnace owner; ‘WR’ denotes William Rummins, furnace founder; 1813 - the furnace was blown out for the last time in late February 1813. Similar to, but narrower than the fireback at Church Farm, Penhurst (in private hands), and uses the same cipher and numbers. One of a small series of firebacks cast in the early-19th century for farms on the Ashburnham estate; this example was formerly at Great Sprays Farm, Penhurst.

Inscription: W A R / 18 * 13

Description: Arched shape; cavetto-moulded edging invected on the inner edge; Tudor rose surmounted by a royal crown; monogram in bottom right corner.

Notes: The monogram, RN, is associated with the invected cavetto moulding; a recasting, replicating an earlier crack.

Inscription: RN