Firebacks

Description: Arched rectangular shape with rounded corners; ovolo within fillet moulding all round; oval Tudor royal shield with garter surrounding, topped with a royal crown; dragon and greyhound supporters; initials split by crown; inscription on a fillet between legs of supporters, behind garter finial; motto on an Ionic plinth at bottom; two rectangular side panels with twisted rope edging top and side; a short length of turned dowel stamped four times, diagonally, on each panel.

Notes: The supporters are those of Henry VII or Henry VIII, but the initials suggest the fireback dates from the reign of Edward VI (1547-53). John Harvo (d. c1565) was a gunfounder who has been identified as occupying Pounsley furnace, Framfield, Sussex, possibly from as early as 1547; the fireback may have been cast originally during the reign of Henry VIII (1509-47), with the initials added to an early casting using the original pattern. The disparity between the worn surface of the armorial panel and the greater clarity of the extensions indicates that the extended casting was made using an already well-used armorial fireback and therefore at a substantially later date.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: E R / HONY SOIT QVE MAL Y PAYNCE / Made in Sussex by John Harvo / DV ET MOVN DROI

Arms: Tudor royal - Probably Henry VIII

Description: Rectangular; cavetto-moulded edge; a snake rises from a fire and bites the middle finger of the hand of a sleeved left arm that descends from a top right corner cloud; left and right, ‘S’ scrolls appear strapped to the edge of the fireback; the date, top left of centre; initials, bottom right corner.

Notes: An illustration of the New Testament episode (Acts 28: 3) when St Paul, shipwrecked in the island of Malta, was putting sticks on a fire and a viper bit him. The distinctive shape of the ‘1’ in the date and the initials, ‘IM’, together with the ‘S’ scrolls, parallel such features in other firebacks. The design is an adaptation of an illustration in 'Devises Heroiques' by Claudius Paradin (1557) which was translated into English by Geoffrey Whitney as 'The Book of Emblemes' (1586).

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: 1649 / IM

Description: Rectangular with triangular pediment; stepped fillet and ogee moulded edge; initials in rectangular panel (F reversed); date in pediment.

Notes: The triangular top is a separate element, in this instance impressed before the lower panel. A variant at Hastings Museum (no. 118) has the letters positioned slightly differently.

Inscription: 1586 / FM

Description: Cavetto canted arched rectangle; astragal edging; oval inscription surrounding a central battlemented shield bearing an open book, with a baronet's escutcheon above; above, a helm with a crest of an arm and hand holding a wreath; on each side, a druid supporter holding a harp, each upon a horizontal fillet; below, intertwined bell flowers behind a tripartite motto scroll.

Notes: The motto appears to have been incorrectly spelled; the Conroy baronetcy was created for Sir John Conroy, comptroller of the household of the Duchess of Kent, and much hated by her daughter, Princess (later Queen) Victoria; the 3rd (and last) baronet succeeded to the title in 1869.

Inscription: FIDELITER ET CONSTANTER [Faithfully and constantly] / L'ANTIQIVITE NE PEVX PAS L'ABOLIR [Antiquity cannot abolish it]

Arms: Conroy, baronet, of Llanbrynmair (Sir John Conroy, 3rd baronet, 1845-1900)

Description: Arched shape with bead edging; from top, large bead with four pairs of small beads in a cross shape, text with pellet surrounded by eight beads on each side of 'G', and at bottom.

Notes: Made by, and bearing the initials of Eric Gill and his wife, Mary, in 1930.

Inscription: E&M / G / MCM / XXX

Description: Arched rectangle; ovol-moulded edging; pictorial scene of a begowned figure waving to figures standing beneath a portico with a sun behind, other figures opening a door to his left, above which is the shape of the man in the moon; blottom left, a computer; bottom right, a painter's palette.

Notes: A farewell gift to William Vaughan, Reader in Art History at University College, London (later professor of the History of Art at Birkbeck College).

Inscription: WILLIAM VAUGHAN / 1972 UNIVERSITY 1986 / COLLEGE

Description: Stove-plate; poss. fragment; rectangular; flanged edging on top and sides; pictorial scene illustrating the biblical tale of Joshua and the five kings.

Notes: Joshua 10.

Description: Rectangular; cavetto-moulding within a flanged edge; floriate arch above a female figure with a child in her left arm and another by her right side, initials split by the group; below a simulated rope-twist fillet, elaborate floriate cartouche containing the word, CHARITAS.

Notes: A late stove-plate, illustrated in von den Driesch p.484.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: G S / CHARITAS

Description: Arched rectangular central panel with bead edging; image of two helmeted men in 17th century dress, on a ground, carrying a huge bunch of grapes slung from a pole between them, behind are vine leaves; the initials located below the top corners; arched rectangular border, fillet edging, containing vine leaves and grapes; above, symmetrical swirling foliage descending from a scallop shell; bottom of the image obscured by corrosion damage.

Notes: The scene, drawn from the Old Testament, represents Joshua and Caleb carrying the bunch of grapes from the valley of Eshcol in the land of Canaan, back to Moses and the children of Israel (Numbers 13: 23-4); a popular subject on a variety of media in the period.

Inscription: I N

Description: Fragment; rectangular shape; ovolo-moulded edging (top and sides); six stamps, in two columns of three, taking the form of a long-pointed arrow head within a circlet of small curls.

Notes: The stamps are of an unfamiliar type with some similarity to the heraldic symbol for ermine. Because only the left part of the fireback has survived it is not known how many original columns of this stamp there were.