Firebacks

Description: Arched rectangular central panel with overlapping leaf bud edging; prancing equestrian figure of a man in late-seventeenth century dress, with a plumed tricorn hat, his head turned to his left, his left hand holding the reins and his right hand pointing a baton beside the horse's head; quasi-arched rectangular border with overlapping leaf bud edging enclosing martial emblems (cannon, helmets etc.) to left and right, and surmounted by two reclining female figures, that to the left blowing a hunting horn, and that to the right supporting a cornucopia; between them, a sun in splendour, above which is a royal crown; at the bottom corrosion through use and damage has rendered the decoration indistinct.

Notes: The sun in splendour suggests that the figure is that of Louis XIV, of France, but the 'Dutch' style makes this less likely; an alternative identification might be Crown Prince Frederick (later King Frederick IV) of Denmark, of whom other fireback representations exist in a similar pose and with similar martial accoutriments.