Firebacks

Description: Arched rectangle; ovolo, egg-and-dart moulded edging; shield, helm, coronet, crest and mantling; curved inscription panel below shield.

Notes: The heraldic devices on the shield, and the form of the helm and crest suggest this may be a continental achievement of arms; the style of the fireback is, however, is more characteristic of English types.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: ... D HADRIANI ... EQVITE DOM DE HE.. / ... M.. ... ... [?]

Arms: not known

Description: Arched rectangular shape; ovolo-moulded edging; Tudor royal shield within a cartouche, garter, crown, motto and supporters (crowned lion and dragon); Tudor rose to right of lion’s head, portcullis to left of dragon’s head.

Notes: The cartouche enclosing the shield is an unusual feature. A recasting. Mallam's auction, Abingdon, 9 Aug 2014, lot 1208 (£100).

Inscription: Garter and Royal mottoes [not legible]

Arms: Tudor royal (prob. Elizabeth I)

Description: Arched rectangular shape; twisted rope edging (top and sides); 'concentric' arrangement of 29 'grape bunch' stamps inside the rope edging, a further six inside them horizontally at the top; within those, five lengths of an undulating vine strip angled approximately to fit the curved shape; within them, 24 'grape bunch' stamps, with a single vine strip inside them horizontally at the top and a further line of seven 'grape bunch' stamps horizontally below that; below them, another vine strip horizontally; below that four vine strips placed vertically interspersed with three columns of five 'grape bunch' stamps.

Notes: Both the vine strips and the 'grape bunch' stamps are seen on other firebacks in the same series; the complexity of this arrangement of stamps is paralleled on a fireback recorded at Grayswood, Surrey (no. 72). Mallams auction, Oxford, 22 Feb 2023 lot 94 (£200).

Description: Arched rectangular shape; ovolo-moulded edging; top centre, oval shield of arms within a cartouche, supported by two unicorns rampant reguardant, their hooves resting on a scrolled compartment; behind the shield is the cape of the Président à mortier of the Parliament; above the shield, a velvet cap or mortar board of office within a coronet.

Notes: Blazon: azure, on a maltese cross argent a chevron gules between two mullets sable, and in base a rose gules. Louis-Michel Lepeletier, Marquis de Saint-Fargeau (1760-93) was a French parliamentarian. Having voted for the execution of Louis XVI Lepeletier was assassinated by a former guard of the king. The fireback dates from 1789 or later when Lepeletier was elected Président à mortier.

Arms: Louis-Michel Lepeletier, Marquis de Saint-Fargeau

Description: Arched rectangular shape; rope edging (top and sides); Tudor royal shield, garter, crown and supporters (crowned lion and dragon); date split by crown; lower right, initial formed of twisted rope with fleur-de-lys terminals; small fleur-de-lys stamp repeated 14 times across top edge and arch; fleur-de-lys cross repeated six times across lower part of plate.

Notes: Identical arms can be seen on at least two other firebacks; minor variations in the position of individual elements indicate that the garter and shield, crown, and each supporter were separately stamped. The lack of definition in the decoration suggests that this is a recast plate.

Inscription: 1595 / I H

Arms: Tudor royal - Elizabeth I

Description: Arched rectangular shape; fillet edging; shield, helm, crest and mantling of the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths (see Fig. 3); date in top corners; initials at bottom, below mantling; two planklines.

Notes: One of the hooked ‘1’ series; a copy from an evenly impressed original.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: 16 50 / I M

Arms: Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths

Description: Repeated rectangular panels each bearing an anchor with coiled rope between two fleurs de lys, below which are two roses and a grape bunch beneath; the two rectangular side panels each comprise a vertical stem with six grape bunches surmounted by a smaller bunch; above, a semicircular arch contains the initials between two roses as in the central panel, with the date above; where the arch meets the central panel there is an arc across each corner; the top and sides panels are edged with simulated twisted rope.

Notes: One of an unusual series formed from separate panels arranged, in this instance, with each vertical panel repeated.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: 1588 / IFC

Description: Arched rectangular shape; ovolo moulded edging; plain panel at bottom; Tudor royal shield, garter, crown, motto and supporters (crowned lion and dragon), temp. Elizabeth I; the top of the lion's crown and the dragon's ear overlap the edging.

Notes: Another version has a rose and portcullis either side of the crown, and the top of the lion's crown and the dragon's ear do not overlap the edging.

Inscription: [Garter] HONI SOIT QVI MAL E PENSE / [motto] DIEV ET MON DROIT.

Arms: Tudor royal

Description: Arched rectangle; dentil ovolo-moulded edging; shield, supporters, coronet, helm, crest, mantling and motto of Viscount Montague; quarterly Browne, Albini, Fitzalan, Fitzalan of Clare, Warren, Maltravers, Nevill, Montagu, Monthermer, Inglethorpe, Burghe, Delapole, Bradeston, Tiptoft, Charleton and Kent (Plantagenet); supporters: two bears collared and chained; the crest: an eagle, the wings elevated and displayed.

Notes: The arms of either the 2nd (Anthony-Maria Browne, succ. 1592-1629) or 3rd viscount (Francis Browne succ. 1629-1682) - the 1st viscount was a Knight of the Garter and no garter is shown.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: VERITATE DUCE [Be led by Truth]

Arms: Viscount Montague

Description: Arched rectangular shape: ovolo-moulded edging; pictorial scene of St George in armour, mounted on a horse, spearing a dragon which lies beneath the horse; in each top corner, a rose.

Notes: A portrayal of St George and the Dragon in bold relief that owes something to the famous modelling by Benedetto Pistrucci of 1817; however, the figure of St George is disproportionately large in relation to the horse.