Firebacks

  1. 984

    unknown_85 711x1016b.jpg
    711 x 1016 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular central panel with additional arch above; bead and fillet edging; pictorial scene of, on the left, a tree next to a female and, in the centre, a male figure, both in eastern dress, a page behind holding a train, and to the right a short obelisk surmounted by a crescent, behind which is the head of a figure with a camel; behind is a small building also surmounted by a crescent, with clouds above; the word, ASIA, is centre bottom; identical shaped border with cavetto-moulded edging; a pomegranate on top with descending swags of drapery; at the sides, overlapping bunches of foliage suspended from ribbon bows; at the bottom, a central cartouche between fruit bunches; on top, a pomegranate with a descending serpent on each side, and a pomegranate on each shoulder of the plate.

    Notes: A pastiche of the EUROPA design based on an engraving c.1642 of Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg, and his wife, Luise Henriette of Oranje-Nassau, by Mathias Czwiczek, with the figures adopting very similar poses in an oriental setting; one of series depicting allegories of the four continents, in this instance Asia. A recasting.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: ASIA / MB

    Manufactured: in the mid to late 17th century possibly in the Siegerland area of Germany.

    Current location:, not known.

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2016, 'The 'Europa' fireback at Preston Manor, Brighton', Sussex Archaeological Collections, 154, pp. 297-9.