Firebacks

Stuart royal armorial firebacks

50 results

  1. 502

    newick_park 03.jpg
    600 x >435 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; embattled cavetto-moulded edging; shield, garter, supporters and crown of James I of England; a branch sprouting a rose and leaf to the left of the crown, a branch sprouting a thistle and leaf to the right; initials at top, split by crown; date below shield.

    Notes: Similar in style to the 1619 series, this plate has larger rose and thistle plant stamps and was probably designed by the same pattern-maker

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: I R / 16 21

    Arms: English Stuart royal - James I

    Manufactured: in 1621 in England.

    Current location: Newick Park Hotel, Newick, East Sussex, England.

  2. 1144

    norton,_norton manor a.jpg
    1000 x 670 mm

    Description: Composite; arched rectangular shaped, armorial fireback, cavetto edging, with Stuart Royal arms, garter, supporters, crown and motto, and 1662 date above crown; this overlies a rectangular plate with fillet edging; top centre in the space each side of the central shield, an initial letter - A to left, B to right - each above a fleur-de-lys, its stem terminating in a small buckle.

    Notes: Several firebacks have incorporated the same Stuart royal shield, which probably originally dated to 1619, but with the date altered. A similar fireback, but without the initials and fleurs-de-lys, dated 1661, and reputed to have come from the Totsey, the old guildhall at the market cross in Gloucester, is illustrated in Ames, 1980, 23; possibly the same fireback was reported by the late David Bick to be at The Grange, Minsterworth, Gloucestershire (demolished in the late 1960s).

    Inscription: 16 62 / [Garter motto (illeg.)] / A B

    Arms: English Stuart royal

    Manufactured: in 1662 possibly in the Forest of Dean area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, Norton, Wiltshire, England.

    Citation: Ames, A., 1980, Collecting Cast Iron (Ashbourne, Moorland Publishing).

    Citation: Badeni, J., 22 Sep 1983, 'Whose Fireback?' [letter], Country Life, 174, 4492, p. 772.

  3. 507

    parham_003.jpg
    1095 x 805 mm

    Description: Low arched rectangle with stepped shoulders; cavetto moulded edging; Stuart royal shield with lion and unicorn supporters, garter and crown.

    Notes: The pattern was probably carved in high relief, but the depth of casting sand may have been insufficient for all the detail to be revealed. At least one horizontal plank line is visible.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Arms: English Stuart royal

    Manufactured: in the late 17th to early 18th century in England.

    Current location: Parham House, Parham, West Sussex, England.

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

  4. 519

    penshurst_10.jpg
    850 x 655 mm

    Description: Rectangular; Ionic pilasters at sides, architrave on top; English Stuart royal shield, garter, crown, motto and supporters; date below and either side of garter.

    Notes: One of several firebacks, all of the same date, but varying in size, framing style and moulding; all have stylistic features in common and will have been the work of the same pattern maker, who was also responsible for carving royal coats of arms in three West Country churches. A plaster cast of a fireback of this design is displayed as the royal arms in St George's church, near Abergele in north Wales.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE / 16 18 / DIEV ET MON DROIT

    Arms: English Stuart royal (James I)

    Manufactured: in 1618 possibly in the Forest of Dean area of England.

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

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

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2017, 'Church Armorials and Firebacks: Evidence of an Early 17th-Century Woodcarver', Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 135, pp. 213-223.

  5. 563

    pet-m-57.jpg
    564 x 588 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto edging; Stuart royal arms of England (quarterly, 1st and 4th, France and England, 2nd Scotland and 3rd Ireland) with garter, crown, motto and supporters; initials either side of crown base.

    Notes: As in others of this series the design overlaps the edging.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: C R / ...SOIT QVI MAL Y ...

    Arms: English Stuart royal

    Manufactured: in the mid to late 17th century in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Petworth House, Petworth, West Sussex, England.

    Museum number: NT/PET/M/57 (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).

  6. 593

    richmond,_ham house 05.jpg
    530 x 430 mm

    Description: Rectangular, cavetto moulded edging; Stuart royal shield, garter, supporters and crown.

    Notes: Four clear vertical plank lines indicate that the pattern for this fireback was formed of a series of boards probably secured by horizontal battens on the rear.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE

    Arms: English Stuart royal

    Manufactured: in the late 17th century in England.

    Current location: Ham House, Richmond, Surrey, England.

    Museum number: 1140118 (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).

  7. 614

    ripley_026.jpg
    730 x 510 mm

    Description: Rectangular; cavetto-moulded edging; English royal Stuart shield, garter, crown, crowned lion and unicorn supporters, and motto; initials split by crown.

    Notes: A bold, well-sculpted pattern.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: I R / HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE / DIEU ET MON DROIT

    Arms: English Stuart royal - James I

    Manufactured: in the early 17th century in England.

    Current location: Mark Ripley Forge & Fireplaces, Northbridge Street, Robertsbridge, East Sussex, England.

  8. 633

    ripley_053.jpg
    803 x 610 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape with small rhomboidal flanges in the corners of the arch; cavetto moulded edge on all sides, with a rose stamp on each curved enlargement of the moulding in the top corners; Stuart royal arms (1605-88, 1702-14) with lion and unicorn supporters, garter, crown and motto.

    Notes: A recasting. A casting of the same fireback is in the collection of the Sussex Archaeological Society, but with the addition of a person's name impressed from the broken handle of a skillet (no. 405).

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: [Garter and royal mottoes]

    Arms: English Stuart royal

    Manufactured: in the late 17th century possibly in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Mark Ripley Forge & Fireplaces, Northbridge Street, Robertsbridge, East Sussex, England.

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2020, 'A Skillet Handle on a Fireback', Journal of the Antique Metalware Society, 25 (2020), pp. 48-51.

  9. 304

    ripley_059.jpg
    851 x 597 mm

    Description: Rectangular; cavetto-moulded edging; English royal Stuart shield, garter, crown, supporters and motto.

    Notes: One of many designs of the Stuart royal arms on firebacks. A recasting, hence the illegible motto. Sold at Christie's Masters and Makers auction, 30 November 2010, lot 517 (£1,875).

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE / DIEV ET MON DROIT

    Arms: English Stuart royal

    Manufactured: in the 17th century in England.

    Current location: Suffolk House Antiques, High Street, Yoxford, Suffolk, England.

  10. 644

    rochester_01.jpg
    870 x 580 mm

    Description: Formerly arched rectangular, arch now missing; cavetto-moulded edging, invected on the inner edge; English royal Stuart shield, garter, crown (mainly missing), supporters and motto; date split either side of crown; monogram to right of unicorn supporter.

    Notes: The monogram probably identifies the pattern-maker, whose invected edging seems to be a distinctive style. From another fireback of the same design (no. 1018), complete with the arch, the height is approx 710mm.

    Inscription: 1638 / HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE / RN / DIEV ET MON DROIT

    Arms: English Stuart royal

    Manufactured: in 1638 in England.

    Current location: Six Poor Travellers House, High Street, Rochester, Kent, England.

    Museum number: A4328 (part of the Rochester Guildhall Museum museum group)