Firebacks

Shape: rectangular

329 results

  1. 1282

    catsfield,_potmans_place.jpg
    1060 x 605 mm

    Description: Rectangular shape; wide fillet and ogee-moulded edging; approximately top centre, initials RH, with date 1701 centred below.

    Notes: The character set for the initials and date lacks uniformity, some carved crudely, others more carefully; the lettering differs from another fireback (see no. 1166), with the same initials and date, by the position and shape of the letter 'R'. Formerly at Nethercote, Netherfield Hill, East Sussex. The former location in the Netherfield area of these two firebacks suggests a possible association with Richard Hay, owner of land in that area at that time and ironmaster at Beech Furnace nearby.

    Inscription: R H / 1701

    Manufactured: in 1701 possibly at Beech Furnace, Battle in the Weald area of England.

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

  2. 855

    chailey,_warren farmhouse 01.jpg
    1320 x 737 mm

    Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); inner border of repeated strips of undulating vine tendril, inside of which are stamped panels of repeated grape bunches, totalling 27 along the upper edge and 13 down each side; inside them is a further border of vine strips within which are five columns of a bird stamp (probably a swan, a Lancastrian badge). each repeated three times, below each of which are three further grape bunch stamps except the middle column, where the grape bunches are above the swans.

    Notes: A complex and well executed design incorporating three stamps found on many other firebacks.

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

    Current location: in private hands, Butleigh, Somerset, England.

  3. 856

    chailey,_warren farmhouse 02.jpg
    1207 x 610 mm

    Description: Rectangular; ovolo-moulded edging (top and sides); otherwise plain.

    Notes: A base board, possibly used for other firebacks.

    Manufactured: in the 16th or 17th century possibly in the Weald area of England.

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

  4. 241

    chailey,_woodbrooks farm 01.jpg
    920 x 555 mm

    Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); irregular arrangement of two rectangular pastry stamps, each with a fleur de lys within fern leaves, and one with three additional fern leaves below; the smaller stamps form the four corners, with the larger stamp, three times, in a triangular pattern between.

    Notes: Various excrescences on the plate were probably the result of careless pouring of the metal during casting.

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

    Current location: in private hands Kensington and Chelsea, London, England.

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

  5. 1148

    chawton_house 03.jpg
    1178 x 1080 mm

    Description: A composite recasting placing, on a plain background with symmetrical rope saltires, a recast variant of the ‘Armada’ fireback, with changed initials, a single anchor panel, and the addition of plain base and borders, the latter each with a twisted rope saltire, upper middle.

    Notes: It is likely that an original four-panel fireback was used to cast an early copy with additional side and base panels. In the 19th century this second fireback was used to cast this third fireback with an additional full-width extension on top bearing four symmetrical rope saltires, the outer two larger than the inner two. The image of this fireback has been reconstructed by computer, combining photographs of the two fragments into which it had been broken.

    Inscription: 1588 / IK

    Manufactured: in the early- to mid-19th century in England.

    Current location: Chawton House, Chawton, Hampshire, England.

  6. 255

    chiddingfold,_ramster 03.jpg
    770 x 535 mm

    Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); along upper half of plate, date split with initials in between.

    Notes: The initials are likely of William Yalden (d.1674), an ironmaster who was active in north-west Sussex and south-west Surrey where this and other similar firebacks have been noted.

    Inscription: 16 WY 68

    Manufactured: in 1668 in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Ramster, Chiddingfold, Surrey, England.

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

  7. 1299

    chiddingly,_burgh_hill_house.jpg
    765 x 450 mm

    Description: Rectangular shape without edging; date in an elegant Roman style split between top and bottom corners; top centre, beaded initials WL.

    Notes: The dotted initials are unusual, in all probabiltiy the dots being individually pressed into the moulding sand.

    Inscription: I W L 8 / 1 8

    Manufactured: in 1818 in England.

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

  8. 1155

    chorleys_gloucester,_20_nov_2019,_lot_634_1200x580.jpg
    1200 x ~680 mm

    Description: Rectangular shape; fillet edging (top and sides); across the top, line of squared cross stamps in three groups (5, 5 and 7), with six more continued down each side; below the top line of stamps, central date with initials in triad to each side, interrupting the top line of stamps, with two fleurs-de-lys to each side and a single bead; below, three sides of a rectangular compartment, fillet edged with irregular quadrants at the top corner enclosing two fleurs-de-lys each, between which is a line of about 10 beads between single fleurs.

    Notes: A large and badly corroded fireback linking the Square Cross series and Hollow Saltire series stylistically. The initials probably relate to a husband and wife. Chorley's Auctioneers sale, Gloucester, 20 November 2019, lot 634 (£20).

    Inscription: WCK [triad] 1668 WCK [triad

    Manufactured: in 1668 in the Forest of Dean area of England.

    Current location: not known.

  9. 262

    christies_4-11-08 1040mm x 840mm.jpg
    1040 x 840 mm

    Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); top centre, crowned Tudor royal shield (over-pressed) between a leopard passant guardant sinister (on the left) and a leopard passant (on the right); below, crowned shield bearing initials, KH, above a fleur-de-lys, between two crowned roses; below each leopard, a pair of 'imp' figures, the left of each with both arms lowered, the right its right arm raised; right top corner, a crowned rose; left top corner, and uncrowned rose.

    Notes: One of the 'Royal' series. Christie's Interiors - Oak Edition, South Kensington (Sale 5369), 4 November 2008, lot 257 (£3,250).

    Inscription: KH

    Arms: Tudor Royal (prob. Henry VIII)

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

    Current location: not known.

  10. 1196

    christy_1908_fig10.png
    ~897 x ~638 mm

    Description: Quasi-rectangular shape; twisted rope edging (top and sides); 'W' in top corners, between which are a line of five stamps: a 'renaissance' style shield bearing a rose and crown, between two rose stamps, and a rectangular stamp bearing a griffin at each end; below each dragon stamp, a 'W' preceded by a reversed 'P'; below this, the line of five stamps repeated.

    Notes: The shield and griffin stamps have been seen on other firebacks, associating them with a common producer; the 'W' may be apotropaic and symbolic of the Virgin Mary. Illustration from Christy 1908 who noted the fireback at Guildford, Surrey.

    Inscription: W W / qW qW

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

    Current location: not known.

    Citation: Christy, M., 30 May 1908, 'The Old Flat Hearth and its Appliances, III - The Fire-back', The Crown, The Court and County Families' Newspaper, XCIX, Vol. 8, No. 9, pp. 383-6.