Firebacks

Description: Arched rectangular shaped central panel with bead edging; seated, semi-naked female figure, with laurels leaves about her head, holding a bunch of grapes in her raised right hand; she is sitting on a stool; to her right is what appears to be a pile of stones; to her left a vase of tulips with a tree behind; above centre, is the word TERRA (earth - Latin); above is a swag of drapery enclosing a scallop shell; outside the panel is a narrow border of the same shape with fillet edging; the fireback is surmounted by a scallop shell between two outward-facing sea serpents.

Notes: One of a series of four designs of the classical elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: TERRA

Description: Arched rectangular shaped central panel with bead edging; naked figure of Poseidon/Neptune holding a a trident in his raised left hand, his right arm extended; he is sitting on a bridge over a flowing stream; to his right a merman, half immersed, blows a shell trumpet; above centre, is the word AQUA (water - Latin); above is a swag of drapery enclosing a scallop shell; outside the panel is a narrow border of the same shape with fillet edging; the fireback is surmounted by a scallop shell between two outward-facing sea serpents.

Notes: One of a series of four designs of the classical elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: AQUA

Description: Arched rectangular central panel with additional arch above; bead and fillet edging; pictorial scene of, on the left, a tree next to a female and, in the centre, a male figure, both in eastern dress, a page behind holding a train, and to the right a short obelisk surmounted by a crescent, behind which is the head of a figure with a camel; behind is a small building also surmounted by a crescent, with clouds above; the word, ASIA, is centre bottom; identical shaped border with cavetto-moulded edging; a pomegranate on top with descending swags of drapery; at the sides, overlapping bunches of foliage suspended from ribbon bows; at the bottom, a central cartouche between fruit bunches; on top, a pomegranate with a descending serpent on each side, and a pomegranate on each shoulder of the plate.

Notes: A pastiche of the EUROPA design based on an engraving c.1642 of Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg, and his wife, Luise Henriette of Oranje-Nassau, by Mathias Czwiczek, with the figures adopting very similar poses in an oriental setting; one of series depicting allegories of the four continents, in this instance Asia. A recasting.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: ASIA / MB

Description: Arched rectangular central panel with beaded edging, containing an image of a semi-naked adult male with feathered headdress and 'grass' skirt and holding a club in his left hand; beside hima an adult female also wearing a 'grass' skirt and with a bird perched on her left hand, while holding with her right hand a standing child; within an arched rectangular border with fillet edging, descending from draped foliage on each side, swags or what appear to be coconuts or gourds, and at the bottom a cartouche between swirled foliage; on top, the mask of a putto with dolphins descending on each side.

Notes: One of a series portraying allegories of the four known continents - Europe, Asia, Africa and America; each comprises a pair of adults and a child dressed stereotypically, in this case representative of America. The images were derived from other media, such as paintings or engravings.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Description: Arched rectangular central panel with 'nutshell' over fillet edging; pictorial image of a partially clothed female figure, holding an upraised wreath in her left hand, standing on a ground, with a gadrooned vase containing flowers and leaves to the right, and above swagged drapery and sun rays; arched rectangular fillet border with descending leaves and flowers suspended from a wreath, top centre, and a wreath in each top corner; on top, mirrored sea monsters; bottom centre, initial N in a cartouche between swirling fronds.

Notes: The figure is an allegorical representation of Agriculture, one of the Iconologia originally published by Cesare Ripa in 1613.

Inscription: N

Description: Arched rectangular shaped central panel with hollow bead edging; to the right, a seated male figure beside a wellhead, pointing towards a standing female resting a ewer on the wellhead over which a rope hangs, and behind the male figure is a tree, and above, swagged drapery; arched rectangular shaped border with fillet edging; swirled flowers and tendrils symmetrically arranged, with SHR monogram at centre bottom; two mirrored stylised sea serpents on top; to each side a vertical extension with bead edging, of the same decoration as the side borders.

Notes: The frame of the central panel and the enclosing border are identical to those noted on another fireback displaying a figure of Pluto (see fireback no. 164), while the pictorial scene, of Jesus and the Woman of Samaria (St John 4: 5-28) is more typical of continental firebacks and stoveplates. This may be an example of an image from one casting being superimposed within the frame of an earlier fireback. The central image is sharper than the surrounding border.

Inscription: SHR

Description: Arched rectangular central panel with fillet edging; central seated female with an infant in her arms, a swan at her feet and a standing child on each side, the one to her left facing the front and holding aloft a flaming heart, its foot on a ball; the child to her right facing the woman, holding aloft a branch in its left hand, all on a ground with an overhanging tree to the right; arched rectangular border with fillet edging with descending festoons of acanthus flowers on each side, the date and initials at the bottom and, at the top on each side, a pair of acanthus flowers descending from a heart-shaped terminal of a strapwork frame; above, mirrored swirls of foliage.

Notes: The central pictorial scene is a crude pastiche of a panel portraying an allegory of Charity frequently used on firebacks produced in the Siegerland of north-west Germany for the Dutch market in the second half of the seventeenth century. The swirled foliage on the top is typical of English 'Dutch' style firebacks of the early-eighteenth century and the numerals are also more typically English in style.

Inscription: 17 . IAK[?] 31

Description: Arched rectangular shaped central panel with hollow bead edging; draped male figure standing on undulating ground with two small trees, holding a bar, flaming furnaces behind, drapery suspended from above; Arched rectangular shaped border with fillet edging; swirled flowers and tendrils symmetrically arranged, with monogram at centre bottom; symmetrical arrangement of foliage on top.

Notes: The figure is of Pluto, one of a set of 'Eight Deities' engraved by Hendrick Goltzius (1592), after Polidoro da Caravaggio; a recasting, there is a larger (420mm x 640mm) but more corroded version in Hastings Museum. The faint initials SHR are probably those of the pattern-maker. The image is of a copy; original castings are correspondingly larger.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: SHR

Description: Arched rectangular central panel with bead on broad fillet edging; pictorial scene of a figure in a chariot on left, drawn across clouds by two peacocks; above, a putto and a bird flying in clouds; to the right, a tree; arched rectangular border with fillet edging; symmetrical undulating oak fronds descending from a loop; at the bottom, the letter W in a cartouche between swirled foliage; on top, mirrored swirled foliage descending from a loop.

Notes: The figure is likely to be that of Hera/Juno, who is traditionally associated with peacocks. The initial 'W' probably identifies the pattern maker; a single vertical line right of centre indicates the join between two boards that formed the pattern. The 'W' initial probably denotes the pattern maker.

Inscription: W

Description: Arched rectangular central panel with bead-on-fillet edging; pictorisl scene of a central cross-shaped pillar entwined with a snake; two pavilions to the left with human figures lying before them; two standing figures to the right, one holding a staff; above, clouds with snakes descending from the sky; arched rectangular border with fillet edging; on each side, descending festoons of fruit entwined with ribbon; at the bottom, a central cartouche between palm fronds; on top, foliate swirls.

Notes: The scene is an illustration of the plague of serpents visited upon the children of Israel by God (Numbers 21: 6).

Copies of this fireback are known.