Firebacks

Manufactured in the mid 19th century

  1. 1205

    birchgrove,_bunces_01.png
    925 x 795 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto moulded edging; top centre within arch, initials above date.

    Notes: Plain elegant fireback from a late series, probably cast in the south east of England. The crack emanating from the top right corner of the fireback seems to be a weakness on all the recorded examples, and may have caused by thinness of the base board at that point.

    Inscription: R.R / 1857

    Manufactured: in 1857 in England.

    Current location: in private hands, Horsted Keynes, West Sussex, England.

  2. 313

    handcross,_nymans 08.jpg
    1150 x 780 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto moulded edging; date top centre within arch.

    Notes: Plain elegant fireback from a late series, probably cast in the south east of England. The crack emanating from the top right corner of the fireback seems to be a weakness on all the recorded examples, and may have caused by thinness of the base board at that point.

    Inscription: 1853

    Manufactured: in 1853 in England.

    Current location: Nymans, Staplefield Road, Handcross, Slaugham, West Sussex, England.

    (part of the National Trust museum group)

  3. 320

    hever_castle 02.jpg
    830 x 890 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Low arched rectangular shape; broad rebated fillet edging; stylised Tudor royal shield, crown and supporters (dragon and greyhound); Tudor rose in top left corner; portcullis in top right corner.

    Notes: Likely to be a modern design of the Tudor arms, possibly the work of Anthony Salvin.

    Arms: Tudor royal

    Manufactured: in the mid 19th century in England.

    Current location: Hever Castle, Hever, Kent, England.

  4. 332

    horsham_museum 10.jpg
    1075 x 764 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto moulded edging; top centre within arch, initials above date.

    Notes: Plain elegant fireback from a late series, probably cast in the south east of England. The crack emanating from the top right corner of the fireback seems to be a weakness on all the recorded examples, and may have caused by thinness of the base board at that point.

    Inscription: TW / 1852

    Manufactured: in 1852 in England.

    Current location: Horsham Museum, Causeway, Horsham, West Sussex, England.

    (part of the Horsham Museum museum group)

  5. 1246

    warkworth_castle,_dukes_room.jpg
    750 x 905 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Low-arched shape within broad fillet edging marked with a repeated leaf pattern ascending toward the top; on an incised criss-cross field a Tudor royal shield, quarterly France Modern and England, supported by a stylised dragon and greyhound and surmounted by a crown, all resting on a two-stepped compartment with cavetto- and astragal-moulded edging at the top.

    Notes: Pastiche 'Tudor' design by George Shaw of Saddleworth, Lancashire, c.1850, possibly intended to be passed off as genuine Tudor. Examples are also to be found in Lichfield Guildhall (without the leaf pattern on the edging and the 'scales' on the dragon) and Cheetham's Library, Manchester. Firebacks of the same armorial design within a different, arched rectangular, edging are known, an example being at Hever Castle, Kent.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Arms: Tudor royal

    Manufactured: in the mid 19th century possibly in the Lancashire area of England.

    Current location: Warkworth Castle, Warkworth, Northumberland, England.

    (part of the English Heritage museum group)

    Citation: Brooke, S., 2022, 'Appendix IV George Shaw (1810-1876)', Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture, 8, 3, pp. 162-183.

    Citation: Foyle, J. & Lindfield, P., 2021, 'A Forger's Folly?: George Shaw's Productions for Cheetham's Library, Manchester', The British Art Journal, 21, 3, pp. 42-50.