Firebacks

  1. 189

    hatfield_house 02.jpg
    965 x ?780 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Rectangular with an ogee arch; twisted rope edging (top and sides); line of small fleurs-de-lys around the top and sides, inside the edging; Tudor rose inside each top corner (overstamped on the left); below each rose an escarbuncle of twisted rope with fleur de lys terminals (understamped); top centre, a Tudor royal shield within an oval garter - HONE SOVT QUEY MAL Y PENSE - with greyhound and lion supporters, and crown above; cross of small fleurs inclined to each side of the crown; inverted 'Y' shape in twisted rope below each supporter, a fleur at the top end of each.

    Notes: An oft-used achievement of arms; twisted rope with fleur de lys terminals are seen on other firebacks from the same source. The escarbuncle was the principal charge on the arms of the Duchy of Cleves, the same charge on this fireback possibly associating it with the brief marriage of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves.

    Inscription: HONE SOVT QUEY MAL Y PENSE

    Arms: Tudor royal (prob. Henry VIII)

    Manufactured: in the mid- to late-16th century possibly at Pounsley Furnace, Framfield in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England.

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2010, British Cast-Iron Firebacks of the 16th to Mid-18th Centuries (Crawley, Hodgers Books).