Firebacks

Manufactured in the 18th century

11 results

  1. 24

    burwash,_batemans 02.jpg
    593 x 914 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shaped with fillet and cavetto dentil moulding, and paternost bead edging inside; a lion rampant

    Notes: Whole pattern. An unusually tall fireback in relation to its width.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Manufactured: in the 18th century in England.

    Current location: Bateman's, Burwash, East Sussex, England.

    Museum number: 761107 (part of the National Trust museum group)

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

  2. 935

    dammarie-sur-saulx_a.jpg
    ~850 x ~850 mm

    Description: Carved wooden fireback pattern. Rectangular shape with fillet edging; pictorial scene with three nymphs playing cymbals and tambourine, and dancing in the shade of two trees, with three satyrs play pipes behind; a jug stands on a pedestal; in the foreground a putto fills a jug from a barrel.

    Notes: From the Fonderie Salan, Dammarie-sur-Saulx (Meuse).

    Manufactured: in the 18th century in France.

    Current location: not known.

  3. 934

    klarenbeek.jpg
    ~420 x ~430 mm

    Description: Carved wooden fireback pattern. Arched rectangular shape with fillet and astragal edging; pictorial scene of The Three Graces in an exotic rural setting, with a palm tree, roses and ?doves.

    Notes: The detail of the carving is very fine

    Manufactured: in the 18th century in France.

    Current location: Haardplatenmuseum Klarenbeek, Oude Broekstraat 12, Klarenbeek, Netherlands.

  4. 367

    leicester,_newarke houses 01.jpg
    640 x 648 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; fillet and cavetto moulded edging; pictorial scene of three children, the centre one holding a stick strung with a bunch of grapes over his shoulder, and sitting on a goat.

    Notes: A mythological scene of the young Bacchus.

    Manufactured: in the 18th century in France.

    Current location: Newarke Houses, Leicester, Leicestershire, England.

    Museum number: H.358.1953.0.0 (part of the Leicester City Museums museum group)

    Citation: Carpentier, H., 1912, Plaques de Cheminées (Paris, published by the author).

  5. 465

    little_horsted, college farm 03.jpg
    1020 x 870 mm

    Description: Rectangular with three-faced arch; ogee moulded edging; top centre, overlapping, crossed staples arranged diagonally, each pointing to a bottom corner.

    Notes: The crossed staple is the badge of the Nevill family, and this fireback came from Eridge Park, the seat of the Marquess of Abergavenny.

    Manufactured: in the 18th century possibly in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, Little Horsted, East Sussex, England.

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

  6. 535

    pet-m-89.jpg
    575 x 731 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; no edging; raised central square surmounted by Royal Arms of Great Britain and Ireland, with Garter, crown and lion and unicorn supporters; surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped, twisted floral wreath, within which the inscription is printed in capitals. Above the arms a raised rectangular fillet is surmounted by two suspended floral swags, one above the other, comprising roses and oak apples. On each side of the fillet are two Tudor roses, one above the other.

    Notes: Dated to between 1714 and 1801. The inscription is the visible part of an abbreviated version of the formal title of the monarch, ‘By the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, Duke of Brunswick and Lünenburg, Arch Treasurer and Prince Elector of the Holy Roman Empire’.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: MAG BRIT FRA ET HIB REX F D BRUN ET LUN DUX / HONY SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE

    Arms: English Hanoverian royal

    Manufactured: in the 18th century in England.

    Current location: Petworth House, Petworth, West Sussex, England.

    Museum number: NT/PET/M/89 (part of the National Trust museum group)

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

  7. 605

    ripley_014.jpg
    785 x 785 mm

    Description: Rectangular with ovolo-moulded edging; elaborate symmetrical rococo design framing a pictorial representation of an old man and two young women.

    Notes: Carpentier (p.116) ascribes this design to Fontaine's fable of Les Oies de frere Philippe - Brother Philip's Geese.

    Manufactured: in the 18th century in France.

    Current location: Mark Ripley Forge & Fireplaces, Northbridge Street, Robertsbridge, East Sussex, England.

    Citation: Carpentier, H., 1912, Plaques de Cheminées (Paris, published by the author).

  8. 629

    ripley_046.jpg
    525 x 515 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape with cavetto canted shoulders; wide fillet edging with cavetto moulding inside; within a baroque frame, the seated figure of an old man clasping his cloak, a smoking urn to his left.

    Notes: Probably the allegorical figure of Winter.

    Manufactured: in the 18th century in France.

    Current location: Mark Ripley Forge & Fireplaces, Northbridge Street, Robertsbridge, East Sussex, England.

  9. 668

    rottingdean_grange 01.jpg
    500 x 540 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape with symmetrical floral scrolls on top; three horizontal plank lines; ovolo moulding all round edge of main panel; central figure of a bearded man wearing knee-length coat, belted at waist, and holding a sledge hammer in his right hand, his left arm akimbo; various ‘tools’ of his trade arranged about him; (clockwise from top left) a circular cartouche with a central bead; the date split on either side of his head; a floral console supporting a shelf bearing a flagon, a tankard and a goblet; a circular cartouche with a central bead, a mirrored image of the one in the top left corner; from the top of the cartouche a dog leaping up at its master; between the man’s legs a long-handled ladle, a weight and a cooking pot; a ringer, used to pull slag off molten iron; part of the elevation of a blast furnace, with wooden framework, casting house, and flames issuing from the top; an ore basket, wheelbarrow and a charcoal clamp.

    Notes: A pastiche of the 1636 original Lenard fireback (no. 429), now often mistaken for it; the inscription is missing, as are the fireback and the shield each being replaced by a form of cartouche; the figure of the man is more naturalistically modelled, yet wearing similar clothes; his feet face outwards.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: 1639

    Manufactured: in the 18th century possibly in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Rottingdean Grange, Rottingdean, East Sussex, England.

    (part of the Brighton Museum museum group)

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

  10. 976

    rudry,_cefnmabli.jpg
    ? x ? mm

    Description: Plain rectangular plate with detached pediment; central shield with motto scroll below.

    Notes: The severe classical form suggests that this back may have been intended for attaching to a grate. Blazon: Tynte - Gules, a lion couchant between six cross-crosslets Argent; Kemeys - Vert, on a chevron Argent three pheons Sable.

    Inscription: DYW DY RAS

    Arms: Tynte quartering Kemeys

    Manufactured: in the 18th century in Wales.

    Current location: Cefnmabli, Rudry, Glamorgan, Wales.

    Citation: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, 1981, An Inventory of Ancient Monuments of Glamorgan Vol IV Part 1: Domestic Architecture from the Reformation to the Industrial Revolution: the Greater Houses (Cardiff, HMSO).