Firebacks

Tudor royal armorial firebacks

52 results

  1. 1016

    mallams,_abingdon_lot_1208_8_sep_2014_830x650a.jpg
    830 x 650 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; ovolo-moulded edging; Tudor royal shield within a cartouche, garter, crown, motto and supporters (crowned lion and dragon); Tudor rose to right of lion’s head, portcullis to left of dragon’s head.

    Notes: The cartouche enclosing the shield is an unusual feature. A recasting. Mallam's auction, Abingdon, 9 Aug 2014, lot 1208 (£100).

    Inscription: Garter and Royal mottoes [not legible]

    Arms: Tudor royal (prob. Elizabeth I)

    Manufactured: in the mid- to late-16th century in England.

    Current location: not known.

  2. 482

    maresfield,_putmans farm 02.jpg
    673 x 584 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; rope edging (top and sides); Tudor royal shield, garter, crown and supporters (crowned lion and dragon); date split by crown; lower right, initial formed of twisted rope with fleur-de-lys terminals; small fleur-de-lys stamp repeated 14 times across top edge and arch; fleur-de-lys cross repeated six times across lower part of plate.

    Notes: Identical arms can be seen on at least two other firebacks (no. 41 and no. 200); minor variations in the position of individual elements indicate that the garter and shield, crown, and each supporter were separately stamped. The lack of definition in the decoration suggests that this is a copy made from an earlier casting.

    Inscription: 1595 / I H

    Arms: Tudor royal - Elizabeth I

    Manufactured: in 1595 possibly at Pounsley Furnace, Framfield in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, Maresfield, East Sussex, England.

  3. 496

    michelham_010.jpg
    810 x 690 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; ovolo moulded edging; plain panel at bottom; Tudor royal shield, garter, crown, motto and supporters (crowned lion and dragon), temp. Elizabeth I; the top of the lion's crown and the dragon's ear overlap the edging.

    Notes: Another version has a rose and portcullis either side of the crown, and the top of the lion's crown and the dragon's ear do not overlap the edging.

    Inscription: [Garter] HONI SOIT QVI MAL E PENSE / [motto] DIEV ET MON DROIT.

    Arms: Tudor royal

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

    Current location: Michelham Priory, Arlington, East Sussex, England.

    Museum number: LH000.999 (part of the Sussex Archaeological Society museum group)

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

  4. 1296

    mottistone_manor.jpg
    820 x 870 mm

    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: Pastiche 'Tudor' design by George Shaw of Saddleworth, Lancashire, c.1850, possibly intended to be passed off as genuine Tudor. Another casting is at Hever Castle, Kent. Firebacks with the same armorial design within a different, arched edging are also known.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Arms: Tudor royal

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

    Current location: Mottistone Manor, Brighstone, Isle of Wight, England.

    Museum number: NT/MOE/M/2 (part of the National Trust museum group)

    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.

  5. 515

    penshurst_06.jpg
    1135 x 585 mm

    Description: Rectangular; rope edging (top & sides); in centre, Tudor shield, garter, crown and supporters (greyhound and lion); date top left.

    Notes: The armorial achievement is seen on other firebacks and was formed from four separate stamps (one example has the shield and garter inverted); the supporters are consistent with the date; the style of the numerals is uncharacteristic of the period. The same date in identical form is on a similar fireback at Groombridge Place, Speldhurst, Kent.

    Inscription: 1579 / HONE SOVT qVEY MAL Y PENSE

    Arms: Tudor royal

    Manufactured: in 1579 in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Penshurst Place, Penshurst, Kent, England.

  6. 1248

    plaistow,_quennell_house.jpg
    940 x 740 mm

    Description: Central arched rectangular shape with rounded corners; ovolo moulding all round; oval Tudor royal shield with garter surrounding, topped with a royal crown; dragon and greyhound supporters; initials split by crown; all details below shield illegible; rectangular extension panels on each side, with twisted rope edging; quasi mirrored arrangement of twisted rope lengths to form (from the top) a cross, a vertical pointing arrow, and a diamond shape with a central vertical line.

    Notes: The detail of the extension panel is sharper than the armorial, indicating that the panel was cast with a worn copy of the armorial. Illustrated in Weaver, 1914, p. 16.

    Inscription: E R [+ Garter, Harvo and royal mottoes, all illegible]

    Arms: Tudor royal (prob. Henry VIII)

    Manufactured: in the late-16th to early-17th century in the Weald area of England.

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

    Citation: Weaver, L., 1914, Small Country Houses: their repair and enlargement (London, Country Life).

  7. 661

    rolvenden,_hole park 05.jpg
    >930 x 620 mm

    Description: Fragment; quasi-rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides), cavetto edging at bottom; originally, probably a symmetrical arrangement comprising a central, crude crowned, Tudor royal shield, with a standing human figure, its right arm bent at the elbow and its left arm crossing its waist, repeated in upper and lower positions on each side of the shield; to left and right, a twisted rope length repeated in the form of a cross, with the human figure placed above each transverse end and another below the cross and towards the shield; in the bottom corner(s), a (left) hand print.

    Notes: The same crowned shield and use of hand print can be seen on a fireback at Etchingham (no. 60), indicating a common source.

    Arms: Tudor royal

    Manufactured: in the early- to mid-16th century in the Weald area.

    Current location: Hole Park, Rolvenden, Kent, England.

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

  8. 806

    salfords,_picketts farmhouse.jpg
    1076 x 830 mm

    Description: Rectangle with curved shoulders and low arch joined with concave curves; fillet and ogee moulded edging; central Tudor royal shield surrounded by garter, with crown above and lion and dragon supporters; royal initials either side of crown; lower right, inclined rectangular stamp of a dog; extended variant.

    Notes: On clearer examples the garter motto has ‘EQVI’ instead of ‘HONI’, making it meaningless; possibly ‘EQVI’ was a mis-transcription of ‘HONI’; the crown is distinctly continental in form; a much-copied fireback.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: E R [Garter motto illegible]

    Arms: Tudor royal - Elizabeth I

    Manufactured: in the mid- to late-16th century possibly in the Forest of Dean area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, Salfords, Surrey, England.

  9. 1081

    schubert_(1950).jpg
    ~655 x ~670 mm

    Description: Arch-shaped, the arch consisting of eight, straight, ovolo-moulded sections; longer ovolo-moulded pieces form the lower sides of the fireback; in the centre a circular garter enclosing the Tudor arms of England; above, a crown; the date was carved on a single stamp and placed below left of the crown.

    Notes: From other examples it is apparent that the crown is formed from a separate stamp to the shield and garter. Formerly at the Anchor Inn, Hartfield, Sussex; later at the Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh, PA, it was deaccessioned in 2003 from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh and sold at auction by Skinner, Inc. of Marlborough, MA. Cropped illustration from Schubert 1950.

    Inscription: 1589 / HONI SOIT qVI MAL I PANSE

    Arms: Tudor royal

    Manufactured: in 1589 in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: not known.

    Citation: Hannah, I. C., 1919, 'Notes and Queries No. 4 Fire-back from the old Anchor Inn at Hartfield, now in Pennsylvania', Sussex Archaeological Collections, 60, p. 146.

    Citation: Schubert, H. R., 1950, 'A Rare Group of Wealden Firebacks', Journal of the Iron & Steel Institute, 165, pp. 39-40.

  10. 368

    schubert_(1957) 01.jpg
    900 x 715 mm

    Description: Canted rectangle; twisted rope edging (top and sides); Tudor royal shield within a Garter, supported by lion and dragon stamps, a crown above, between separate ‘E’ and ‘R’ stamps; fleur de lys stamp irregularly repeated four times below right and to left of lion.

    Notes: The shield, garter and crown stamps appear on many firebacks, usually with left-facing lion and greyhound supporters; the presence of the shield and crown indicate the fireback is derived from the same source; the supporter stamps, which are over-pressed, are clearly derived from blocks intended to represent standing models. Formerly at Kirby Frith Hall, Leicestershire. Illustration from Schubert, 1957, pl. 7.

    Inscription: HONE SOYT qVEY MAL Y PENSE

    Arms: Tudor royal - Edward VI or Elizabeth I

    Manufactured: in the mid- to late-16th century possibly at Pounsley Furnace, Framfield in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Newarke Houses, Leicester, Leicestershire, England.

    Museum number: H.101.1930.0 (part of the Leicester City Museums museum group)

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

    Citation: Schubert, H. R., 1957, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry (London, Routledge), pp. 256-264.