Firebacks

  1. 743

    va_19.jpg
    810 x 600 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; ovolo moulded edging; Tudor royal shield, garter, crown, motto and supporters (crowned lion and dragon), temp. Elizabeth I; the top of the lion's crown and the dragon's ear overlap the edging.

    Notes: Another version has a rose and portcullis either side of the crown, and the top of the lion's crown and the dragon's ear do not overlap the edging; a faint blank rectangular stamp on each side of the crown may have been to hide initials, which have been noted on a variant of this fireback.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: [Garter] HONI SOIT QVI MAL E PENSE / [motto] DIEV ET MON DROIT

    Arms: Tudor royal

    Manufactured: in the mid- to late-16th century possibly in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, Kensington & Chelsea, Greater London, England.

    Museum number: 794.1896 (part of the Victoria & Albert Museum museum group)