Firebacks

Manufactured in the 18th century

12 results

  1. 1331

    unknown_118_death_of_adonis_546x787.jpeg
    546 x 787 mm

    Description: Quasi-'Dutch' shape; no edging; pictorial scene of a figure, with arms raised, in a chariot, a boar escaping, pursued by a hound, on the right; below, a figure crouched over a supine figure; at the top the face of a putto, possibly Cupid, above scrolled leaves; above right are trees; other details obscure.

    Notes: The scene appears to depict Venus at the death of Adonis, who was killed by a boar. Almost certainly a copy, hence the lack of definition, the scene combines elements from various pictorial representations, Venus being seen in her chariot with another figure crouched over Adonis's body.

    Manufactured: in the 18th century .

    Current location: not known.

  2. 803

    worth,_saxon road.jpg
    475 x 720 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular central panel, astragal and fillet edge, pictorial, Hercules, sword in hand, preparing to slay the Hydra; Arched rectangular border, fillet edge, ivy leaves and tendrils, monogram at bottom; swirled foliage on top.

    Notes: The wooden pattern for this fireback (no. 927), formerly in the custody of William Hobday (d. 1883), last surviving ironworker at Ashburnham furnace, was given to the Sussex Archaeological Society by the Revd. J. Bickersteth. The fireback was previously at a house at Hooe, East Sussex.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: TAN

    Manufactured: in the 18th century at Ashburnham Furnace in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, Crawley, West Sussex, England.

    Citation: Butterfield, W. R., 1916, 'Old Wealden Firebacks', The Connoisseur, 46, pp. 197-209.

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

    Citation: Lloyd, N., 1925, 'Domestic Ironwork I', Architectural Review, 58, pp. 58-67.

    Citation: Straker, E., 1931, Wealden Iron (London, Bell).

    Citation: Whistler, R. F., 1888, 'Penhurst: being some account of its Iron Works, Manor House, Church, etc.,' Sussex Archaeological Collections, 36, pp. 1-18.