Firebacks

Royal (wreath) series

  1. 186

    hastings_070.jpg
    610 x 450 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Plain rectangle with cavetto moulded edging (top and sides); pediment with same moulding.

    Notes: Three identical backs, but with various stamps, indicate that this fireback came from the same source as a distinct series of Tudor heraldic backs.

    Manufactured: in the mid to late 16th century in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, John's Place, Bohemia Road, Hastings, East Sussex, England.

    Museum number: 952.51.47 (part of the Hastings Museum museum group)

  2. 338

    huddington_court 06.jpg
    607 x 450 mm

    Description: Rectangular with pediment; ovolo moulded edging inside top of pediment and inside top and sides of rectangle; centre top, four-petal rose and crown with fleur de lys below; at either end, stamps made from two parts of a wreath (the middle section missing) enclosing a fleur de lys.

    Notes: The wreaths from which the stamps have been disassembled can be seen complete on two other firebacks, and the rose and crown is a common stamp on a large series of early firebacks.

    Inscription: ?I T

    Manufactured: in the late 16th century in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: in private hands Burford, Oxfordshire, England.

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

  3. 672

    mayfield,_middle house.jpg
    613 x 455 mm

    Description: Rectangular with pediment; ovolo moulded edging inside top of pediment and inside top and sides of rectangle; central talbot crest within wreath and eight-pointed star, between four fleurs-de-lys.

    Notes: The wreath and talbot crest are identical to those on a 1584 fireback in the Victoria & Albert Museum; one of the ‘Royal’ series.

    Manufactured: in the late 16th century in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Middle House Hotel, High Street, Mayfield, East Sussex, England.

  4. 689

    slaugham,_furnace pond cottage 01.jpg
    615 x 450 mm

    Description: Rectangular with pediment; ovolo moulded edging inside top of pediment and inside top and sides of rectangle; centre top, four-petal rose and crown with three fleurs-de-lys below; at either end, stamps made from two parts of a wreath (the middle section missing); in the pediment a cross.

    Notes: The wreaths from which the stamps have been disassembled can be seen complete on two other firebacks, and the rose and crown is a common stamp on a large series of early firebacks.

    Inscription: I T

    Manufactured: in the late 16th century in the Weald area of England.

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

  5. 752

    va_28.jpg
    1480 x 710 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Rectangular; cavetto moulded edging on top and sides, with astragal and fillet inside; talbot crest within wreath and eight-pointed star, repeated at top corners; date top centre between mouldings.

    Notes: The crest is probably that of the Parker family, of Ratton, near Eastbourne, Sussex. The base board appears to have been repositioned prior to the wreath stamps being impressed in the mould. Acquired from Marle Green Farm, Hellingly, Sussex, in 1896.

    Inscription: 1584

    Manufactured: in 1584 in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, Kensington & Chelsea, Greater London, England.

    Museum number: 780.1896 (part of the Victoria & Albert Museum museum group)

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