Firebacks

  1. 797

    wisborough_green, idehurst.jpg
    1247 x 653 mm

    Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); three impressions of an ornate firedog, each incorporating lion’s legs, above it a pedestal with a lion’s head, surmounted by a caryatid, a shield shaped cartouche over its lower trunk, and with a floral vase headdress. The dog impressions are not evenly stamped, the middle one lying to the right.

    Notes: The firedogs are much more elaborate than those customarily used as stamps on firebacks and indicate a later date; they probably included brass elements and were possibly French.

    Manufactured: in the late 16th to early 17th century in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, Wisborough Green, West Sussex, England.

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