Firebacks

Description: Rectangular; faux-ruche cavetto-moulded edging; upper centre, shield, helm, crest, mantling and greyhound supporters on a compartment; behind the arms is what appears to be a gown spread out, comprising bands of ermine.

Notes: Blazon: Azure, a bull passant or. Jean Bouhier de Savigny (1673-1746) was President of the Parliament of Burgundy from 1704. He was also a historian, translator, scholar and bibliophile. He resigned his post in Parliament in 1728 to devote himself to his historical and literary work following his election to the French Academy in 1727.

Arms: Jean Bouhier de Savigny

Description: Arched shape with ovolo egg-and-dart edging; crown surmounting a shield, a quartered shield with an escutcheon impaling a crowned lion rampant with an escutcheon; text along the bottom.

Notes: The arms have not been identified; LOVEN is the town of Leuven, capital of the province of Brabant, which, in 1662, was in the Spanish Netherlands.

Inscription: LOVEN 1662

Description: Arched rectangular central panel with bead on fillet edging; central shield of the Dutch house of Orange impaling English royal Stuart, surmounted by a crown and supported by two putti; above, a maske with two descending grape bunches; below, two more putti seated on scrolls and cornucopiae; a drapery swag and bow in each top corner; arched rectangular border with cavetto-moulded edging and canted top corners; on each side, a Corinthian column and entablature on a pedestal, the columns with floriate decoration; below, a symmetrical 'auricular' design; above the arch, from a scallop shell on each shoulder, two serpents rising towards a third scallop on top.

Notes: The arms are of William III Prince of Orange (1650-1702) impaling those of his wife, Mary, Queen of Great Britain. Note, these are not the royal arms of William III and Mary II as joint sovereigns, but as Prince and Princess of Orange. William and Mary married in 1677 and Mary died in 1694, so the fireback dates from between 1689, when Mary became Queen, and 1694. A fireback of the same design with the arms of Louis XIV of France is illustrated by Elling and Winkler-Borck, p.213; it has the initials AD in the cartouche above the arch, not visible on this casting.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Arms: William Prince of Orange and Mary II Queen of Great Britain

Description: Rectangular; cavetto-moulded edging; shield, crown and supporters of King Philip IV of Spain, incorporating the arms of Castille and Leon, Aragon - Sicily, Granada, Portugal, Austria, Burgundy and Brabant; around the shield is the chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece; at the top, the date split by the crown; behind, crossed lilies.

Notes: By 1662 the arms of Portugal were redundant on the Spanish royal arms, but were retained until after the death of Philip IV; the word, LOVEN, indicates the particular association of this plate with the town of Leuven, the capital of Brabant in what was, at the time, part of the Spanish Netherlands. Mitford collection, Petworth House.

Inscription: 16 62 / LO VEN

Arms: King Philip IV of Spain

Description: Rectangular with three arches, the middle one larger than the outer two; cavetto-moulded edging; bottom panel, pictorial scene of Jesus and the woman of Samaria at the well (John 4), with other figures, buildings etc. in the background, illegible text below; centre arch, shield, helm, crest and mantling of unidentified arms, the initials 'GP' in bottom corners; left arch, probable figure of a saint; right arch, probable figure of a soldier. Mitford collection, Petworth House.

Notes: The combination of a biblical scene (John 4) with a coat of arms.

Inscription: 16 30 / G P

Description: Arched rectangular central panel with canted top corners and bead-on-fillet edging; elaborate central cartouche containing the double-headed eagle of the Holy Roman Emperor supported by male and female figures standing on a compartment with fillet edging, containing scrolled foliage and a central fleur-d-lys; above the central cartouche, the imperial crown and swagged drapery; arched rectangular border with canted top corners and cavetto-moulded edging; symmetrical arrangement of traceried foliage; on top, central oval casket with a serpent descending on each side of the arch to a further similar casket on each shoulder of the plate.

Notes: A variation of the standard 'Dutch' style of fireback. Mitford collection, Petworth House.

Description: Arched rectangular shape; wide fillet and egg-and-dart ovolo edging; central oval armorial with fillet edging, palm fronds on each side, tied below, a crown above; in each top corner, the cross of Lorraine.

Notes: The arms are those of Duke Leopold I of Lorraine, who also bore the titles of King of Jerusalem, Hungary and Aragon, and Duke of Anjou, Bar, Gueldre and Juliers.

Arms: Leopold I, Duke of Lorraine and Bar (1680-1729)

Description: Upon a moulded base plinth, wide scrolled side double fillets with foliage about the scrolls and suspended bell flowers in chain above; central foliate cartouche behind an oval shield surmounted by a viscomte's coronet; on top, an arch rising from horizontal moulding on each side.

Notes: Blazon: Azure, a chevron Argent between three estoiles Or, all surmounted by a bar of the second; characteristic of designs illustrated by architects such as Daniel Marot; the texturing on the shield indicates the azure tincture. See Carpentier p. 234, fig. 644.

Arms: Besset de la Chapelle

Description: Complex quasi-arched rectangular shape with fillet edging; bell flowers descending from the top of the arch; double fillet scrolls at the side with cockerel terminals; under the arch, a royal crown surmounting a counter-posed double 'L' monogram enclosing a human mask with a sunburst; below, a table draped with a cloth bearing a circular royal shield of France within palm leaves.

Notes: A very elaborate and symbolic design alluding to the Sun King, Louis XIV.

Description: Arched rectangular shape with fillet edging; within an arched rectangular border alternating repeated acanthus leaves, and a floral cartouche, a heart-shaped shield of the royal arms of France, surmounted by a royal crown and within splayed olive branches.

Arms: France Royal