Firebacks

Description: Arched rectangular shape; fillet edging; central male figure clothed in 17th century style, facing to the left, holding a mallet in his raised right hand and holding a board with rectangular detailing in relief in his left hand; vertical boards in relief behind; below to the left, a smaller figure holding a long pole diagonally with other detailing in relief behind; to the lower right, a female figure, contemporaneously clothed, a scroll feature to her right; behind, an archtectural grille with scrolled detailing; above, swagged drapery with three descending tasselled ropes.

Notes: A pastiche of a 17th century fireback, perhaps inspired by the Lenard fireback of 1636 (see no. 429). The scene appears to be of a carpenter's workshop but some of the detail in the lower parts of the fireback is indistinct owing to corrosion. The drapery was probably inspired by a similar feature on several late-17th or early-18th century English, 'Dutch'-style fireback designs. The reverse (upcast) side of the fireback is very smooth indicating a modern date for the casting.