Firebacks

Shape: arched rectangular

207 results

  1. 761

    va_37.jpg
    910 x 880 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular; astragal edging with simiulated ribbon pattern; inscription on a banner in arch; crowned roundel bearing the arms of France between two angel supporters carrying trumpets; below, a triumph of arms; on the bottom, a plain extension panel.

    Notes: The motto, translated, reads 'Alone against all'; other firebacks bear the motto, 'Victorieux contre tous' (Victorious against all).

    Inscription: SEVL CONTRE TOVS

    Arms: France modern

    Manufactured: in the late 17th century in France.

    Current location: Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, Kensington & Chelsea, Greater London, England.

    Museum number: M.3-1918 (part of the Victoria & Albert Museum museum group)

    Citation: Carpentier, H., 1912, Plaques de Cheminées (Paris & Florange, published by the author).

  2. 765

    va_41.jpg
    815 x 810 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular; fillet edging with darts on the inside; circular arms of France within the chains of the Ordre d'Esprit and the Ordre de St Michel, with crown above, all resting on a framework compartment, with olive leaf sprays on each side ofn the shield.

    Notes: Typical form of the arms of France of the period of Louis XIV.

    Arms: France modern

    Manufactured: in the late 17th to early 18th century in France.

    Current location: Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, Kensington & Chelsea, Greater London, England.

    Museum number: M.1132-1926 (part of the Victoria & Albert Museum museum group)

    Citation: Carpentier, H., 1912, Plaques de Cheminées (Paris & Florange, published by the author).

  3. 775

    va_50.jpg
    565 x 685 mm

    Description: Arched rectangle; ovol-moulded edging; pictorial scene of a begowned figure waving to figures standing beneath a portico with a sun behind, other figures opening a door to his left, above which is the shape of the man in the moon; blottom left, a computer; bottom right, a painter's palette.

    Notes: A farewell gift to William Vaughan, Reader in Art History at University College, London (later professor of the History of Art at Birkbeck College).

    Inscription: WILLIAM VAUGHAN / 1972 UNIVERSITY 1986 / COLLEGE

    Manufactured: in 1987 in England.

    Current location: Victoria & Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, Kensington & Chelsea, Greater London, England.

    Museum number: M.15-1994 (part of the Victoria & Albert Museum museum group)

  4. 1063

    va_e4376-2000.jpg
    ~790 x ~745 mm

    Description: Composite of three elements; central panel has a complex ‘knot’ pattern with a fillet edge; side panel, repeated on either side of the central panel, contains a vase of flowers, possibly stylised thistles, within an arched frame and fillet edge; arched panel above, also with fillet edge, contains the date and inscription; the spandrels of the side panels, and the arched top panel, contain a series of circular motifs comprising concentric rings deepening towards the centre.

    Notes: ‘Knot’ patterns were popular in gardens of the period. The garden theme is continued with the side panels. An example of the same design, noted at Linchmere, West Sussex, is a different casting, the top panel with the date and initials being slightly askew. From a photograph in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; photographed at Mapesbury House, Willesden in 1904.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: 1598 / IM IB

    Manufactured: in 1598 in the Weald area of England.

    Current location:, not known.

    Museum number: E.4376-2000 (part of the Victoria & Albert Museum museum group)

  5. 778

    waldron,_heronsdale.jpg
    1450 x ?1120 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto/cyma recta moulded edging; plain rectangular panels at sides; top centre, bull’s head and neck issuing from a marquesal coronet, a baronial coronet above.

    Notes: The crest of the Barons Bergavenny, although it should issue from a ducal, rather than a marchesal, coronet, and the rose normally placed on the neck is missing. The carved crest was affixed to a board of similar shape but smaller dimensions to the board with the moulded edging, indicating that the moulded board could have been used for other firebacks. Believed to have formerly been at Maresfield Park, Sussex.

    Manufactured: in the early 18th century in the Weald area of England.

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

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

  6. 153

    warnham,_westons place 2.jpg
    760 x 650 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular; gadrooned edging (top and sides); three spondles as stamps - one centre top, and a different one on each side to left and right of arch base - initials and date split either side of top spimdle.

    Notes: The distinctive edging and use of spindles or bobbins is seen on other firebacks; similar initials and date suggest a common source; the initials may relate to John Weston, of Warnham, Sussex (d. 1642). A rectangular fireback of the same date and also with three identical spindles is at Ewhurst Place, Ifield.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: I W / 16 32

    Manufactured: in 1632 possibly at Cuckfield Furnace in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, Warnham, West Sussex, England.

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

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2012, 'Pre-Restoration Iron Firebacks', Journal of the Antique Metalware Society, 20, pp. 2-15.

  7. 94

    westerham,_squerryes court 01.jpg
    960 x 750 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; ovolo moulded edge all round; the fireback is divided, unequally, into three Old Testament scenes. Centre left: Joseph is pushed into a well shaft by one of his brothers; above, six other brothers, wearing cloaks and sober puritan hats, look on; below, one of Joseph’s brothers presents Jacob with Joseph’s coat; Joseph utters the words, ‘Ah it is my son’s coat’ in a speech bubble above. Top right: Isaac kneels on a wooden pyre; behind him, Abraham holds Isaac’s head with his left hand, and raises a cleaver above his head with his right hand; above Abraham, an angel stays his hand; to the right of Isaac a ram stands beside a bush. Bottom right: beneath a pergola Jacob lies on his deathbed; his twelve sons gather round his bed.

    Notes: The scenes depicted are derived from, respectively, Genesis 38: 20-24 & 32-33, Genesis 22: 6-13, and Genesis 49. The distinctive pictorial subject, the naïve figuration, as well as a number of minor features, such as the use of an ‘S’ scroll, draw parallels with the Lenard fireback, and the pattern may have been the work of the same wood carver, suggesting that it may share the same source. Another, probably contemporary, example is at Hampton Court.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: AH IT IS MY SONES COT [Genesis 38: 33]

    Manufactured: in the early to mid 17th century possibly at Brede Furnace in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Squerryes Court, Westerham, Kent, England.

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2007, 'A Godly chimney plate and other firebacks from Brede', Wealden Iron, 2nd ser., 27, pp. 18-26.

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

    Citation: Robertson, W. A. S., 1886, 'Squerryes Court, the Camp and the Pictures', Archaeologia Cantiana, 16, pp. 134-141.

  8. 788

    westerham,_squerryes court 02.jpg
    565 x 695 mm

    Description: Rectangular central panel bearing an anchor with coiled rope between two fleurs de lys, below which are two roses; this arrangement is repeated alongside; 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 the vertical panel repeated.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: 1588 / IFC

    Manufactured: in 1588 in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Squerryes Court, Westerham, Kent, England.

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

  9. 1009

    westland_ltd 9961 400x480a.jpg
    400 x 480 mm

    Description: Narrow, arched rectangular central panel with bead edging; a standing female figure in flowing robes, facing forward, holding in her right hand a slanting inverted anchor, a poorly modelled left arm apparently beckoning; arched rectangular border with cavetto-moulded edging enclosing, on each side of the central panel, a festoon of acanthus suspended from a ribbon bow; along the base is a line of acanthus leaves; under the arch, descending foliage.

    Notes: The figure is likely to be an allegory of Hope. A recasting, hence the loss of image definition.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Manufactured: in the late 17th century in England.

    Current location: Westland Ltd, St Leonard's Church, Leonard Street, Shoreditch, London, England.

  10. 791

    whiligh_1.jpg
    ~600 x ~550 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto-moulded edging; central, two handled, gadrooned vase with swirled, fruited vines issuing from the neck, and a bird on each side perched within the vines; out of the neck, a naïve human figure with arms outstretched, grasping vines on each side.

    Notes: The figure emerging from the vase has a symbolism which has yet to be explained; more than one version of this fireback exists.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Manufactured: in the mid to late 17th century in the Weald area of England.

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