Firebacks

Description: Arched rectangular shape with fillet edging and a repeated line and concentric semi-circle design; wicker enclosure with gate at bottom, overlaid with a lion rampant surmounted by a crown.

Notes: The enclosure is the Garden of Holland (Hollandse Tuin) and the lion the badge of the States General of the Netherlands; on the shoulders of the plate, and on three other positions equally spaced around the arch, repeated small fleurs-d-lys.

Inscription: ...E HOV...

Description: Arched rectangular shape; fluted pilasters supporting a lintel with nine evenly spaced flowers arranged horizontally; central standing female figure, holding a basket of flowers, a child upon her back, another child by her side, and a sheep to her left; on top, a symmetrical arrangement of an anchor, two paddles and two cornucopiae.

Notes: The figure would seem to represent Charity. One of a series with a distinctly Empire style.

Description: Arched rectangular shape; no edging; raised central square surmounted by Royal Arms of Great Britain and Ireland, with Garter, crown and lion and unicorn supporters; surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped, twisted floral wreath, within which the inscription is printed in capitals. Above the arms a raised rectangular fillet is surmounted by two suspended floral swags, one above the other, comprising roses and oak apples. On each side of the fillet are two Tudor roses, one above the other.

Notes: Dated to between 1714 and 1801. The inscription is the visible part of an abbreviated version of the formal title of the monarch, ‘By the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, Duke of Brunswick and Lünenburg, Arch Treasurer and Prince Elector of the Holy Roman Empire’.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: MAG BRIT FRA ET HIB REX F D BRUN ET LUN DUX / HONY SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE

Arms: English Hanoverian royal

Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto-moulded edging; figure in mid-17th century armour, sword in belt, riding a prancing horse; initials split, below corners of arch, in front of horse’s head and behind rider’s back.

Notes: Probably intended to represent Charles I in memorial, as other firebacks in this style date from the end of the Commonwealth period.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: [C missing] R

Description: Arched rectangular shaped with narrow shoulders; fillet edging; date in individual numerals across arch.

Notes: A smaller version is different in the spacing of the numerals and the proportions of the plate.

Inscription: 1658

Description: Arched rectangular shape; fillet edging; blank arched rectangular central panel with rebated fillet edging; on top, above a cone of laurel leaves, a crown supported by two putti, each holding a plant stem; on each side, a flower and fruit festoon suspended on a ribbon from a ring; at the bottom , inscription on a scroll.

Notes: A border panel, usually incorporated with a separate pictorial central panel.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: [...]O 1695

Description: Arched rectangular shape; fillet edging; top centre, stamp formed of a carved domestic scene of a family around a table; in top corners, repeated small stamp of St George and the Dragon; below, repeated stamp of a pineapple in a pot; centre; small stamp of the royal arms of the united Kingdom c.early 1800s.

Notes: The domestic group has been formed from a decorative iron mantelpiece ornament portraying the tale of the goose that laid golden eggs. Having killed the goose, the family are lamenting the loss of their bounty (see Ames, 1980, p.94). The style of the fireback suggests a pastiche using designs suggesting the past. The same mantelpiece group and pinepapple stamps can be seen as decoration on the kitchen range at Petworth House, West Sussex.

Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto-moulded edging; English royal coronet with three ostrich feathers rising from within; below, a motto scroll with inscription.

Notes: The badge of the Prince of Wales; the initials, CP, are probably for Carolus Princep; the motto is mis-spelled in error for 'Ich Dien' - I serve, which is more likely a mistranscription rather than a deliberate slur. The apparent crack in the angle of the arch and the top left of the fireback is an impression, indicating that this is a recasting.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: C P/ICH LIEN

Description: Arched rectangular shape; twisted rope edging with inaccurately parallel arched rectangular fillet inside, enclosing repeated small fleur-de-lys stamps along sides and top; initials in triad in each of the internal top corners; date in arch.

Notes: The initials probably relate to a couple whose surname begins with C, the husband's forename initial being R and the wife's I (or J).

Inscription: RCI/ 1675 / RCI

Description: Arched rectangular shape with base plinth; astragal and fillet edging (top and sides) with overlapping leaf pattern; mirrored wave pattern on plinth; shield, supporters, motto scroll and coronet of the 1st Earl of Ashburnham; the arms are Ashburnham (quarterly Ashburnham, Holland, Kenn and Vaughan) impaling Barry.

Notes: John, 1st Baron Ashburnham married Lady Jemima Grey in 1724, and was elevated to the Earldom in 1730. A sketch of an example of this fireback was made by J. Starkie Gardner c.1891 and is in his collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Archive of Art and Design (AAD/2014/8).

Copies of this fireback are known.

Arms: John, 1st Earl of Ashburnham