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56
Description: Flattened arched rectangular shape; cavetto moulded edge all round; Stuart royal arms with lion and unicorn supporters, crown, garter and motto; CR initials placed separately outside supporters; date split either side of crown.
Notes: A much-copied variant with the additional initials, I T, above the date and on either side of the crown.
Copies of this fireback are known.
Inscription: I T / 1635 / C R / HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE / DIEV ET MON DROIT
Arms: English Stuart royal (Charles I )
- Decoration tags:
- arched rectangular (shape)
- cavetto (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- planklines
- armorial
- royal
- text
Manufactured: in 1635 in the Weald area of England.
Current location: Dyrham Park, Dyrham, Gloucestershire, England.
Museum number: NT/DYR/M/2 (part of the National Trust museum group)
Citation: Lloyd, N., 1925, 'Domestic Ironwork I', Architectural Review, 58, pp. 58-67.
- Attached to series:
- Carolean royal armorial firebacks
- Stuart royal armorial firebacks
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282
Description: Arched rectangle; cavetto moulded edging; garter enclosing Stuart royal arms, crown, crowned lion and unicorn supporters and motto; initials in top corners.
Notes: The crown is not typically English in form, suggesting that the patternmaker may have been of foreign extraction.
Copies of this fireback are known.
Inscription: C R / [Garter motto - illeg.]
Arms: English Stuart royal
- Decoration tags:
- arched rectangular (shape)
- cavetto (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- armorial
- royal
- text
Manufactured: in the mid to late 17th century in England.
Current location: Chequers, Ellesborough, Buckinghamshire, England.
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967
Description: Arched rectangular shape; twisted rope edging; central shield, garter, supporters, motto and crown; date in arch; initials 'I R' (Iacobus Rex) separated by crown; initials 'R T' separated by supporters, and level with other initials; fleur-de-lys stamp repeated 16 times, one each side of date, two on each shoulder of plate, five down each side.
Notes: A naively carved armorial of James I (VI of Scotland). The initials 'RT' are likely to be those of the person who commissioned the fireback. A fireback with an identical armorial, supporters and royal initials, dated 1633, was recorded by Alfred Watkins at Fawley Court, Brockhampton, Herefordshire, before 1918 (but now no longer in situ).
Inscription: 1611 / R I R T / HONY SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE / [motto illegible]
Arms: English Stuart royal
- Decoration tags:
- arched rectangular (shape)
- rope (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- individual letters
- individual numbers
- heraldic
- armorial
- text
Manufactured: in 1611 in England.
Current location: Ellesmere, Shropshire, England.
- Attached to series:
- Stuart royal armorial firebacks
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1018
Description: Arched rectangular; cavetto-moulded edging, invected on the inner edge; English royal Stuart shield, garter, crown, supporters and motto; monogram to right of unicorn supporter.
Notes: The monogram probably identifies the pattern-maker, whose invected edging seems to be a distinctive style.
Copies of this fireback are known.
Inscription: HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE / RN / DIEV ET MON DROIT
Arms: English Stuart royal
- Decoration tags:
- arched rectangular (shape)
- cavetto (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- monogram
- armorial
- royal
- text
Manufactured: in the early to mid 17th century in England.
Current location: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, England.
Museum number: AAA3476 (part of the National Maritime Museum museum group)
- Attached to series:
- RN series
- Stuart royal armorial firebacks
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74
Description: Rectangle with flattened ogee arch; ovolo, simulated rope edging; shield, garter, helm, mantling, crown and supporters (crowned lion and unicorn) of the English royal house of Stuart; motto across base
Notes: A variation of a type, dated 1618, noted at Burwash, Sussex.
Copies of this fireback are known.
Inscription: DIEU ET MON DROIT
Arms: English Stuart royal
- Decoration tags:
- rectangle with ogee arch (shape)
- simulated rope (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- armorial
- text
Manufactured: in the early 17th century possibly in the Weald area of England.
Current location: in private hands, Groombridge, Kent, England.
- Attached to series:
- Stuart royal armorial firebacks
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92
Description: Arched rectangular shaped; paternost bead edging (top and sides); Stuart royal arms: shield, garter, helm, crown, crest, supporters and motto; date split between top corners; initials split beneath supporters.
Notes: Firebacks with royal arms attributable to the reign of James II are, inevitably, uncommon owing to the brevity of his reign. Paternost beads are more usually found as edging on ‘Dutch’ types of fireback. A polychrome casting of this fireback is displayed as the royal arms in St James's church in North Cray, Kent.
Copies of this fireback are known.
Inscription: 1687 /HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE / I R / DIEU ET MON DROIT
Arms: English Stuart royal (James II)
- Decoration tags:
- arched rectangular (shape)
- bead-and-pellett (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- individual numbers
- armorial
- royal
- text
Manufactured: in 1687 possibly in the Weald area of England.
Current location: Hampton Court, Richmond, Greater London, England.
Museum number: 1010 (part of the Royal Collection museum group)
- Attached to series:
- James II royal armorial firebacks
- Stuart royal armorial firebacks
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1076
Description: Fragment; arched rectangular fireback with embattled, cavetto-moulded edging; English Stuart royal shield, Garter, crown and supporters, stemmed rose and stemmed thistle, respectively, to left and right of crown; initials CR above crown; all within a plain border, with short lengths of twisted rope edging containing, at the top, the initial M between a split date; initials (only S surviving) below date.
Notes: A Carolean composite fireback. The armorial fireback includes stylistic elements - the form of the unicorn and of the harp - identical to those on two series of firebacks dated 1618 and 1619, indicating the work of the same pattern-maker; its width is 490mm.
Inscription: M / 1634 / [?] S / C R
Arms: English Stuart royal (Charles I)
- Decoration tags:
- quasi-arched rectangular (shape)
- rope (edging)
- carved pattern panels
- composite
- individual letters
- individual numbers
- heraldic
- armorial
- text
Manufactured: in 1634 possibly in the Forest of Dean area of England.
Current location: Black and White House Museum, The Old House, High Town, Hereford, Herefordshire, England.
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1075
Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto-moulded edging (top and sides); English Stuart Royal arms, garter, supporters, crown and motto; altered date above crown.
Notes: This design, which probably dates from 1619, has been used to cast composite firebacks with a variety of altered dates ranging from 1629 to 1662.
Copies of this fireback are known.
Inscription: 1639 [illegible Garter and royal mottoes]
Arms: English Stuart royal
- Decoration tags:
- arched rectangular (shape)
- cavetto (edging)
- whole carved pattern
- individual numbers
- heraldic
- armorial
- text
Manufactured: in 1639 in the Forest of Dean area of England.
Current location: Black and White House Museum, The Old House, High Town, Hereford, Herefordshire, England.
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1108
Description: Arched rectangular shape; Greek Key border with fillet edges; in high relief, in front of swagged drapery, the shield of, quarterly, France quartering England, Scotland and Ireland, surrounded by a Garter, and surmounted by a ducal coronet; below, the inscription in capitals.
Notes: The use of the Greek Key design as a border is believed to be unique for an English fireback. The arms are indistinct but appear to be the Stuart arms of the reign of Queen Anne before the union with Scotland in 1707, which were anachronistic by 1732. Also, the superposition of a ducal coronet in place of the royal crown is unusual. Sowley Furnace, near Beaulieu in Hampshire, was owned in 1732 by John, 2nd Duke of Montagu, and was let to Miles Troughton. Criterion Auctions, Islington, 7 Jan 2019.
Inscription: HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE / SOWLEY MDCCXXXII
Arms: Stuart royal (1707-14) France/England, Scotland and Ireland
- Decoration tags:
- arched rectangular (shape)
- fillet (edging)
- carved pattern panels
- heraldic
- armorial
- royal
- text
Manufactured: in 1732 at Sowley Furnace, Beaulieu in the New Forest area of England.
Current location: Criterion Auctions, 53, Essex Road, Islington, London, England.
- Attached to series:
- Stuart royal armorial firebacks
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994
Description: Arched; cavetto-moulded edging; English royal Stuart shield, garter, crown, supporters, and motto on a cartouche; a monogram of S and C lies to the left of the Garter buckle; a small rose stamp is repeated each side of crown; date split each side of top of crown.
Notes: Although English arms, the design is in a continental style, arched firebacks being typical of Lorraine. In some later recastings the proportions have been distorted, making them narrower, and the '16' of the date is missing. The fireback illustrated was formerly in the city museum of Vlissingen in the Netherlands.
Copies of this fireback are known.
Inscription: 16 21 / HONI SOIT QVI MAL I PENSE / SC / DIEV ET MON DROIT
Arms: English Stuart royal (James I)
Manufactured: in 1621 possibly in the Ardennes area of Belgium.
Current location:.
Citation: Gardner, J. S., 1898, 'Iron Casting in the Weald', Archaeologia, 56, 1, pp. 133-164.
- Attached to series:
- Jacobean royal armorial firebacks
- Stuart royal armorial firebacks