Firebacks

Primitive stamp series

  1. 192

    helston,_godolphin house 02.jpg
    910 x 520 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); irregular arrangement of four stamps in three rows: face mask with ?crown and ruff (3), flower head with four petals and leaflets (4), fleur de lys (5), and profile of a head with 'Roman' crest (2); initials replace stamps in top corners.

    Notes: A larger variant, undated and with other initials but the same four stamps, is also known.

    Inscription: TBI I•A•1•6•1•8 / TA S

    Manufactured: in 1618 possibly in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Godolphin House, Helston, Cornwall, England.

    Museum number: 169481 (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. 801

    withyham,_dorset arms.jpg
    1211 x 668 mm

    Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); irregular arrangement of four stamps in three rows: face mask with ruff (7), flower head with four petals and leaflets (4), fleur-de-lys (7), and profile of head with ‘Roman’ crest (2); initials replace stamps top left and centre.

    Notes: A smaller, dated variant is at Godolphin House, Helston.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: AT nS

    Manufactured: in the early-17th century in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: The Dorset Arms, Withyham, East Sussex, England.

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