Firebacks

Description: Oval armorial bearings carried by two naked, kneeling male figures, between them a scallop shell; above the shield a lion’s face surmounted by a crest of a lion’s head erased; the shield is surrounded by floral scrolls. The arms are of Worge impaling Collier: Worge - gules, a fess ermine, cotised argent, in chief three lion’s heads erased of the last; Collier - argent, on a chevron azure, between three unicorns courant couped gules, as many oak sprigs fructed proper.

Notes: George Worge (1705-65), of Starr’s Green, Battle, steward of the Battle Abbey estate, married Elizabeth Collier (d.1767) of Hastings in 1729. This deeply detailed fireback might have been cast in a closed mould; it had a circular aperture in the centre into which, in this instance, an armorial was placed; the same armorial is on a fireback, dated 1762, at Great Dixter, Northiam, Sussex.

Arms: Worge impaling Collier (George Worge)

Description: Flattened arched rectangular shape; cavetto moulded edge all round; armorial; arms of Browne family of Brenchley, Kent: Gules, a griffin passant or, a chief of the second; Crest: a vulture proper, wings endorsed, displuming a mallard’s wings.

Notes: John Browne, gunfounder, was granted arms in 1626. His principal furnace was in Brenchley parish, Kent. The royal gunfounder 1615-51, he petitioned the Crown for a monopoly of casting firebacks in 1633.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Arms: Browne of Brenchley (John Browne)

Description: Arched rectangular central panel; bead-on-fillet edging; wickerwork Garden of Holland (Hollandse Tuin) within which is seated a berobed female figure holding a cap of freedom on the end of a long pole; before her is the crowned heraldic lion of the States General of the Netherlands, clutching a sheaf of arrows in its left front paw; above are the words, Pro Patria; arched rectangular boreder with fillet edging, and foliage draped from the top; on top, a pomegranate to which ascends a serpent on each side, with a further pomegranate on each shoulder of the plate.

Notes: An overtly patriotic theme with symbols of Dutch nationhood.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: PRO PATRIA

Description: Arched rectangular; astragal edging with simiulated ribbon pattern; inscription on a banner in arch; crowned roundel bearing the arms of France between two angel supporters carrying trumpets; below, a triumph of arms; on the bottom, a plain extension panel.

Notes: The motto, translated, reads 'Alone against all'; other firebacks bear the motto, 'Victorieux contre tous' (Victorious against all).

Inscription: SEVL CONTRE TOVS

Arms: France modern

Description: Rectangular; astragal and fillet edging; oval shield of the Paulet family (sable three swords, points conjoined in pile), within a cartouche, surmounted by a marquis’s coronet; date split between bottom corners.

Notes: The arms of Charles Paulet, 6th Marquess of Winchester, who succeeded to the title in 1674 and was created Duke of Bolton in 1689. The fireback is reported to have come from Grange Farm, Basing House, Hampshire; Basing House was the seat of the Paulets.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: 16 87

Arms: Charles Paulet, 6th Marquess of Winchester

Description: Quasi-Arched rectangular shape with cyma reversa shoulders; ovolo edging; stylised lion passant guardant; crowned rose with leaf and stem on left, crowned fleur de lys on right, thistle with leaves above centre; three right-facing scrolls at base; down-facing scroll, with staple, on right side; date split between bottom corners; initials below date, bottom right.

Notes: Blatantly Royalist in its symbolism, a variant (no. 901) is dated (perhaps more convincingly) 1641. Numeral style, initials, leaf depiction and the stapled scroll are typical features of firebacks made from patterns by the same maker. A later version of the same subject, but with a different shaped plate and without the fleur-de-lys, is also known (see 'Royalist series'). M. A. Lower writes of firebacks of this design of being cast at Waldron Furnace in Sussex (Lower, 1849, p.219).

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: 16 49 / IM

Description: Stove-plate; rectangular; flanged edging; central rectangular panel bearing the shield of the kingdom of Denmark and Norway with male supporters, encircled by the chain of the Order of the Elephant; one each side of the central panel, repeated floriate stamps and flower heads.

Notes: A similar plate is illustrated by Nygard-Nilssen vol. 1, p.255. The poor detail suggests that this is a copy.

Arms: Kingdom of Denmark and Norway

Description: Arched rectangular; fillet edging with darts on the inside; circular arms of France within the chains of the Ordre d'Esprit and the Ordre de St Michel, with crown above, all resting on a framework compartment, with olive leaf sprays on each side ofn the shield.

Notes: Typical form of the arms of France of the period of Louis XIV.

Arms: France modern

Description: Canted rectangle; ovolo-moulded edging; shield and dolphin crown of the dauphin of France, encircled by the Ordre d'Esprit and the Ordre de St Michel; dolphins in the bottom corners, separating digits of the date.

Notes: The 24th Dauphin was Louis, son of Louis XV and father of Louis XVI. Part of the bequest to the Victoria and Albert Museum by Lieut. Colonel G. B. Croft-Lyons in 1926.

Inscription: 1 7 5 0

Arms: Dauphin of France (24th Dauphin)

Description: Arch shaped; rope edging (top and sides); top centre, slightly over-pressed crowned cartouche with initials F S linked with twisted cord; below, two cartouches, each bearing a 7-pointed star, and each separating the paired initials HG.

Notes: The national origin of this fireback is a little uncertain. A variant of this fireback (no. 1306) has slightly different proportions and relative positions of the stamps.

Inscription: F S / H G H G