Firebacks

  1. 383

    lewes,_sussex arch soc 018.jpg
    970 x 705 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; thin twisted rope edging on top and sides; trailing vine strips frame a row of repeated bird (probably swan) stamps (5) above repeated rose en soleil stamps (5); single bird stamp with two short, slanting vine strips in top arch.

    Notes: The rose-en-soleil was the badge of King Edward IV and, thus, a Yorkist symbol, while the swan had been adopted by Henry IV and was, therefore, a Lancastrian symbol.

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

    Current location: Anne of Cleves House, Southover High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, England.

    Museum number: LH000.941 (part of the Sussex Archaeological Society museum group)

    Citation: Butterfield, W. R., 1916, 'Old Wealden Firebacks', The Connoisseur, 46, pp. 197-209.

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