Firebacks

Description: Arched rectangular central panel with additional arch above; bead edging; pictorial scene of Solomon, seated on a scallop-backed, canopied throne, greeting the Queen of Sheba, with other figures in attendance; identical shaped border with fillet edging; a vase on top with descending vines with leaves and fruit; at the sides, festoons of flowers suspended from ribbon bows; at the bottom, a symmetrical folded motto scroll with 'ANNO 1603' in the centre; on top, a Roman Imperial crown between a descending serpent on each side.

Notes: The date is spurious, this style of fireback not being made until after 1650. Several contemporary paintings are of similar scenes; this design may have been derived from a Dutch engraving of a drawing by an anonymous French artist after Maarten van Heemskerck. The same central panel can be seen on no. 1289.

Inscription: ANNO 1603