Firebacks

Description: 'Dutch' style; arched rectangular shaped with bead edging; figures of a man and woman walking, in dress of the mid-17th century, a page holding the woman's train. followed by a man holding a parasol, and by a horse; they pass between the bases of two columns; above is foliage and clouds. On top are two serpents and three pomegranates arranged symmetrically.

Notes: The pictorial scene is based on an engraving c.1642 of Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg, and his wife, Luise Henriette of Oranje-Nassau, by Mathias Czwiczek; one of series of firebacks depicting allegories of the four continents.

Copies of this fireback are known.