Firebacks

TAN series

  1. 927

    lewes_001.jpg
    480 x 710 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Carved wooden fireback pattern. Arched rectangular central panel, astragal and fillet edge, pictorial, Hercules, sword in hand, preparing to slay the Hydra; arched rectangular border, fillet edge, ivy leaves and tendrils, monogram at bottom; swirled foliage on top.

    Notes: Unusually for a pattern, it was carved from a single piece of wood; formerly in the custody of William Hobday (d. 1883), last surviving ironworker at Ashburnham furnace, this pattern was given to the Sussex Archaeological Society by the Revd. J. Bickersteth.

    Inscription: TAN

    Manufactured: in the early 18th century in England.

    Current location: Anne of Cleves House, Southover High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, England.

    (part of the Sussex Archaeological Society museum group)

    Citation: Dawson, C., 1903, 'Sussex Iron Work and Pottery', Sussex Archaeological Collections, 46, pp. 1-54.

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

    Citation: Whistler, R. F., 1888, 'Penhurst: being some account of its Iron Works, Manor House, Church, etc.,' Sussex Archaeological Collections, 36, pp. 1-18.

  2. 928

    lewes_002.jpg
    610 x 830 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Carved wooden fireback pattern. Arched rectangular central panel with astragal and fillet edging; Phaëton riding Apollo’s chariot across the skies, the sun to the left behind clouds, a lion on ground below, between two trees; arched rectangular border with fillet edging; trailing convolvulus leaves surround the central panel.

    Notes: The illustration upon which the design has been based has not been identified, save that it figures in book II of Ovid's Metamorphoses. The convolvulus border is a common feature of this series of firebacks; given to the Sussex Archaeological Society by the Rev. J. Bickersteth.

    Manufactured: in the early 18th century in England.

    Current location: Anne of Cleves House, Southover High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, England.

    (part of the Sussex Archaeological Society museum group)

    Citation: Baines, J. M., 1958, Wealden Firebacks (Hastings Museum).

    Citation: Dawson, C., 1903, 'Sussex Iron Work and Pottery', Sussex Archaeological Collections, 46, pp. 1-54.

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

    Citation: Whistler, R. F., 1888, 'Penhurst: being some account of its Iron Works, Manor House, Church, etc.,' Sussex Archaeological Collections, 36, pp. 1-18.

  3. 500

    newbury_museum 01.jpg
    510 x 760 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Arched rectangular shaped central panel with astragal and fillet edge, pictorial, a bald, naked man, standing on a mound, holding a baton in his left hand, surrounded by leaf fronds to left and right, and clouds above; arched rectangular shaped border, fillet edging, hanging leaf clusters to left and right, swirled lines above, and draped foliage with monogram at base; on top are two serpents and draped foliage.

    Notes: The figure may represent Pheidippides, the messenger between Athens and Sparta during the Battle of Marathon in 490BC.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: TAN

    Manufactured: in the early 18th century probably at Ashburnham Furnace in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: West Berkshire Museum, Newbury, Berkshire, England.

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

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., Autumn 2005, ‘An Ashburnham Fireback’, WIRG Newsletter, 42, Newsletter of the Wealden Iron Research Group, p. 8.

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

  4. 509

    penhurst,_church farm 02.jpg
    605 x 840 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular central panel with astragal and fillet edging; Phaëton riding Apollo’s chariot across the skies, the sun to the left behind clouds, a lion on ground below, between two trees; arched rectangular border with fillet edging; trailing convolvulus leaves surround the central panel; on top, earl’s coronet above an illegible character, between mirrored, swirled foliage.

    Notes: The illustration upon which the design has been based has not been identified, save that it figures in book II of Ovid's Metamorphoses. The convolvulus border is a common feature of this series of firebacks and can be compared with other. The wooden pattern from which this casting was made survives in the collection of the Sussex Archaeological Society (no. 928).

    Manufactured: in the early 18th century at Ashburnham Furnace in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Penhurst Manor, Penhurst, East Sussex, England.

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

    Citation: Whistler, R. F., 1888, 'Penhurst: being some account of its Iron Works, Manor House, Church, etc.,' Sussex Archaeological Collections, 36, pp. 1-18.

  5. 510

    penhurst,_church farm 03.jpg
    605 x 835 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular central panel with astragal and fillet edging; to the left, Æneäs carrying his father, Anchises; to the right, an arched gateway and portcullis beneath battlements with flames rising therefrom; above left, clouds; far left, a tree; arched rectangular border with fillet edging; trailing convolvulus leaves surround the central panel; plain rectangular extensions to the bottom and each side; on top, mirrored, swirled foliage.

    Notes: Many of the early illustrated editions of Ovid’s Metamorphoses show Æneäs escaping from burning Troy, with his father on his back, most of them with an archway in the background.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: TAN

    Manufactured: in the early 18th century at Ashburnham Furnace in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Penhurst Manor, Penhurst, East Sussex, England.

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

    Citation: Whistler, R. F., 1888, 'Penhurst: being some account of its Iron Works, Manor House, Church, etc.,' Sussex Archaeological Collections, 36, pp. 1-18.

  6. 548

    pet-m-102.jpg
    679 x 830 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Arched rectangular central panel with bead edging; female figure, a crown above her head, holding two snakes; arched rectangular border with fillet edging; top centre, knot of ribbon with festoons of pomegranates suspended therefrom via a ring on each shoulder of the plate; at the bottom, two crossed palm fronds; on top, symmetrical arrangements of swirled foliage; on each side, a plain rectangular panel with fillet edging.

    Notes: Possibly the allegorical figure of Democracy; the form of the palm fronds and the swirled foliage on top suggest a common pattern-maker with the TAN series and the Mayfield 'Dutch' series.

    Manufactured: in the early 18th century in England.

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

    Museum number: NT/PET/M/102 (part of the National Trust museum group)

  7. 803

    worth,_saxon road.jpg
    475 x 720 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular central panel, astragal and fillet edge, pictorial, Hercules, sword in hand, preparing to slay the Hydra; Arched rectangular border, fillet edge, ivy leaves and tendrils, monogram at bottom; swirled foliage on top.

    Notes: The wooden pattern for this fireback (no. 927), formerly in the custody of William Hobday (d. 1883), last surviving ironworker at Ashburnham furnace, was given to the Sussex Archaeological Society by the Revd. J. Bickersteth. The fireback was previously at a house at Hooe, East Sussex.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: TAN

    Manufactured: in the 18th century at Ashburnham Furnace in the Weald area of England.

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

    Citation: Butterfield, W. R., 1916, 'Old Wealden Firebacks', The Connoisseur, 46, pp. 197-209.

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

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

    Citation: Straker, E., 1931, Wealden Iron (London, Bell).

    Citation: Whistler, R. F., 1888, 'Penhurst: being some account of its Iron Works, Manor House, Church, etc.,' Sussex Archaeological Collections, 36, pp. 1-18.