Firebacks

Description: Rectangular with two-stepped top; twisted rope edging to top of main plate and sides of lower step, reused frame moulding for sides of main plate; top centre, stamp formed of a talbot statant guardant upon a wreath; date below crest stamp; initials in triad, separated by, and below, date.

Notes: Straight elements in the letters and numbers are formed of the same short lengths of twisted rope that are used to form the edging; curved elements appear to have been formed by hand drawing in the casting sand; the talbot crest, which in this instance has been over pressed and shows the shape of the backing, has been seen on other firebacks indicating a common source, and is associated with firebacks with a stepped-shape.

Inscription: N 1615 W / K

Description: Rectangular; plain edging; asymmetrical arrangement of stamps: top right, three 'renaissance' style shield stamps with a 'PL' monogram above two [?]bougets, in a triangular arrangement bases uppermost; top centre, a shield, indented at the top, charged with a bird upon a branch; top left, crowned shield of France Modern between two inverted 'PL' monogram shields above a bird shield; to the right, a broad bladed dagger, point uppermost.

Notes: The dagger is of the cinquedea style, introduced from Italy in the early-16th century, length approx. 38cm; the bird shield stamp has been seen on other firebacks. Wilkinson's Auctioneers, Doncaster, 24 Feb 2019, lot 534 (£650).

Inscription: PL [in five shields]

Arms: 'France Modern'

Description: Rectangular, with double astragal edging; three eaglets, their wings outspread, side by side; the initials IW and SW, respectively, to left and right of the central eaglet's head.

Notes: The design is based on the arms of Wynn, of Gwydir Castle in the Conwy valley of North Wales, the blazon of which is Vert, three eagles displayed in fess or. The initials relate to Sir John Wynn (1553-1626/7) who, c.1576, married Sydney Gerrard (d.1632), dating the fireback to c.1576-1626. The conjoined wings of the eagles appear to form heart shapes.

Inscription: IW SW

Arms: Wynn of Gwydir

Description: Arched rectangular shape; stepped cavetto-moulded edging; shiled, suporters, helm, crest, mantling and motto of Clan MacIntosh

Notes: Blazon: Quarterly, 1st, Or, a lion rampant, Gules, armed and langued, Azure (for MacDuff); 2nd, Argent, a dexter hand, couped, fessways, grasping a man’s heart, paleways, Gules; 3rd, Azure, a boar’s head, couped, armed, Proper, and langued, Gules; 4th, Or, a lymphad, sails furled, Azure, flagged and surmounted of her oars in saltire, Gules (for Clan Chattan). The motto means 'Don't touch the cat without a glove'.

Inscription: TOUCH NOT THE CAT BOT A GLOVE

Arms: Clan MacIntosh

Description: Rectangular with 5-facetted arch; twisted rope edging; centre top, rectangular stamp, over-pressed, with crown above initials in bottom corners; diamond shaped stamp with fleur-de-lys repeated each side of crown, both over-pressed.

Notes: Notable for the large size of the fleur-de-lys stamp; this casting differs from another (no. 486) in the placement of the stamps. Formerly at Parsonage Farm, Steeple Bumpstead, Essex.

Inscription: E R

Description: Low-arched shape within broad fillet edging; on a plain field a Tudor royal shield, quarterly France Modern and England, supported by a stylised dragon and greyhound and surmounted by a crown, all resting on a two-stepped compartment with cavetto- and astragal-moulded edging at the top.

Notes: Pastiche 'Tudor' design by George Shaw of Saddleworth, Lancashire, c.1850, possibly intended to be passed off as genuine Tudor. Another casting in this form is to be found in The Guildhall, Lichfield. More decorated examples exist, with a leaf pattern on the edging and 'scales' on the dragon. Firebacks of the same armorial design within a different, arched rectangular, edging are known.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Arms: Tudor royal

Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); top row, two square-within-a-square arrangements of twisted rope between three stamps formed of Gothic tracery cresting; 2nd row, two more tracery cresting stamps between two crowned, star-embossed butter mould stamps with a crowned rose-en-soleil stamp in the middle; 3rd row, three star-embossed butter mould stamps with two pairs of fleurs-de-lys between them; bottom row, seven fleurs-de-lys; plus intersepersed fragments of cresting and short rope lengths, a vertical arrangement of cresting fragments down the right side and a vertical, zig-zag arrangement of rope lengths on the left side.

Notes: The rose-en-soleil was the badge of King Edward IV and, thus, a Yorkist symbol. Many of the stamps employed on this fireback are seen, with other stamps, on a wide variety of firebacks, suggesting a common source; similar gothic tracery cresting can be seen as pierced cresting on a rare late-Medieval, wooden Easter sepulchre at the redundant church of St Michael at Cowthorpe, North Yorkshire. A similar fireback is at Anne of Cleves House, Lewes (no. 371). Christie's auction, 24 May 2001.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Description: Canted rectangle; cavetto moulded edging (top and sides); single horizontal fillet below canted corners and vertical fillet parallel to each side, dividing the fireback into two side panels, two top corner panels, top panel and main central panel; corner panels, lion passant stamp, left facing in right corner, right facing in left corner; top panel, date between double fleurs-de-lys stamps; side panels, suspended vine stamp repeated each side; centre panel, flower head stamp in each top corner.

Notes: The lion, flower head and double fleur stamps and linear division are identical to those on a group of firebacks, some of which are identified by the initials IB. The vine stamp in the side panels is not seen on other backs in the series.

Inscription: 1699

Description: Arched rectangular shape; ovolo-moulded edging; a shield with the arms of the Grocers' Company on a cartouche, surrounded by four sprays of olive leaves.

Notes: The blazon of the arms is: Argent, a chev­ron gules between nine cloves six in chief and three in base proper. The arms were granted in 1532. The style of the fireback owes something to the design of French firebacks of the mid-17th century.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Arms: Worshipful Company of Grocers

Description: Quasi-Arched rectangular shape with cyma reversa shoulders; ovolo edging; stylised lion passant guardant; crowned rose with leaf and stem on left, crowned fleur de lys on right, thistle with leaves above centre; three right-facing scrolls at base; down-facing scroll, with staple, on right side; date split between bottom corners; initials below date, bottom right.

Notes: Blatantly Royalist in its symbolism, a variant (no. 763) is dated (perhaps less convincingly) 1649. Numeral style, initials, leaf depiction and the stapled scroll are typical features of firebacks made from patterns by the same maker. A later version of the same subject, but with a different shaped plate and without the fleur-de-lys, is also known (see 'Royalist series'). M. A. Lower writes of this design of fireback being cast at Waldron Furnace in Sussex (Lower, 1849, p.219).

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: 16 41 / IM