Firebacks

Description: Canted rectangular shape; double fillet edging (top and sides); top centre, date; initials, SP, repeated in top corners; a fleur-de-lys below each pair of initials and the date; between the initials and the date, a flower head, with two more flower heads arranged vertically on each side below the initials.

Notes: The style of the fleurs-de-lys, and the distinctive form of the number '8', indicate that this fireback is one of a small series. Bishop & Miller auction, Stowmarket, Suffolk, 25 May 2022, lot 292 & 23 Feb 2023 lot 250, and Auctionet 4 Aug 2023, lot 2960707.

Inscription: SP 1689 SP

Description: Canted rectangle; twisted rope edging (top and sides); Tudor royal shield and Garter with crown above, between lion and unicorn supporters; initials separated by crown; a small ring and bar are placed to the left of the unicorn’s mouth.

Notes: The Tudor shield and crown feature on many Wealden firebacks, and have here been reused with Jacobean supporters; their stamps are derived from standing models.

Inscription: I R

Arms: Tudor royal

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

Description: Canted rectangle; simulated rectangular chain link moulded border, with bead edging inside (top and sides); Tudor royal shield surrounded by circular inscription with fillet edging; above, an English royal crown.

Notes: The unconventionality of the motto may indicate a particular purpose, e.g. thanksgiving; the edging is not known on other firebacks. Bonhams sale, Chester, 8-9 September 2009, lot 567 (£1,776).

Inscription: VIVAT·REGIN··A·DIV·:·PA CE [Long live the Queen ... peace]

Arms: Tudor royal

Description: Arched; ogee edging; Tudor royal shield, garter, crown and supporters (dragon and greyhound); top left, crowned Tudor rose; top right, crowned portcullis (grid of 6).

Notes: There are several firebacks with the Tudor royal arms that were probably 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 crowned rose and portcullis.; the placement of the rose and crown and of the crown above the portcullis suggest that they are stamps impressed over the original moulded design before casting. Bonhams auction, Oxford, 19 Feb 2020, lot 292.

Inscription: HONI SOIT QVI MAL I PENSE

Arms: Tudor royal

Description: Cast-iron fireback consisting of a panel with an arched top and scrolled ears. Decorated with reliefs, foliate borders at the sides, and in the centre with a coat of arms consisting of a shield, three castles separated by a chevron with an open compass, and with crest of a bird with a leafed branch in its beak, all elaborated with foliage. Motto along arched crest; motto in scroll below arms; maker’s name along bottom.

Notes: The arms are essentially those of the Premier Grand Lodge of England, granted in 1717, differenced by the motto; the Massachusetts Lodge was founded in 1733; the blazon is an adaptation of the arms of the Worshipful Company of Masons. Joseph Webb was a Boston ironmonger and chandler; his 1765 trade card was designed by fellow Freemason Paul Revere, who may also have cast the fireback.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: THE • FREE • MASONS • ARMS / FOLLOW • REASON / SOLD • BY • JOSEPH • WEBB • BOSTON

Arms: Massachusetts Grand Lodge of Freemasons

Description: Arched rectangular shape with a fleur-de-lys springing from each shoulder; cyma recta-moulded edging; quartered shield of the Stuart royal arms of England with surrounding Garter, surmounted by a crown and supported by a crowned lion and unicorn; indistinct motto cartouche along the bottom.

Notes: A poorly-modelled and much-worn fireback. The fleur extensions to the top of the edging are an unusual feature

Arms: English Stuart royal

Description: Individually designed quasi-arched rectangular shape; astragal edging; central portico with framed doorway and sloping roof, in which stands a male figure dressed in contemporary style; above the roof, the date, and above that, the initials R R separated by a flower head, this inscription enclosed within a five-sided ribbon compartment held at the top corners by a pair of mirrored dancing cherubs each of which holds in their outer hand a wand surmounted by a fleur-de-lys; below them are mirrored vine designs terminating in a grape bunch, and below each of them a mirrored swirled snake, its head reversed; towards the outer side of these snakes are a pair of mirrored birds within a curved cartouche of slightly raised relief that is associated with a swirl on each side of the fireback that terminates the astragal edging on each side and which ascends via a step surmounted by a miniature urn on each shoulder of the back to the top which is surmounted by an acorn shape; above the ribbons held by the cherubs, is a stylised crown between the initials GR; the above features are limited by a horizontal astragal, though the portico descends below it, and which is supported at each end by a simple Doric column enclosing the bottom panel which is otherwise plain.

Notes: The initials GR are of Georgius Rex - King George I. Finely cast but of naïve design, another fireback of the same design but with different inscriptions and dated 1714 is at Low Graythwaite in Hawkshead parish, which was home to the Rawlinson family who, in 1711, built the first blast furnace in what was then the northern part of Lancashire.

Inscription: G R / R R / 1723

Description: Rectangular with ogee arch; ovolo, egg and dart edging; shield, garter, helm, mantling, crest and motto of the English House of Stuart; date split either side of garter buckle.

Notes: One of several firebacks, all of the same date, but varying in size, framing style and moulding; all have stylistic features in common and will have been the work of the same pattern maker, who was also responsible for carving royal coats of arms in three West Country churches. Similar in design but proportionately different to no. 880.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE / 16 18 / DIEV ET MON DROIT

Arms: English Stuart royal (James I)

Description: Canted rectangle; double fillet edging (top and sides); repeated 'X' stamp parallel to edging, horizontally across centre, and in two parallel lines from top to centre, dividing top half of plate into three sections; 'daisy' stamp approximately in middle of top left and right sections, repeated four times in triad in top middle section, and thrice along top of bottom section; small roundel stamp repeated 3-3-1 in top left section, and 3-1-3-1 in top right section; date split between top left and right sections; initials split in top centre section.

Notes: An arrangement with several elements likely to have been repeated on other firebacks.

Inscription: 16 D[reversed] B 81