Firebacks

Description: Arched central panel with fillet edging; figure in classical dress standing on a mound in front of a leafless tree; u; ninterrupted side and bottom border with straight fillet edges; at sides, mirrored low-relief undulating tendril design; at bottom, central leaf design; on top, central plume with hanging flower, between mirrored low-relief foliate swirls.

Notes: The figure is probably an allegory of Humility. Another example of this fireback bears the date 1746.

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)