Firebacks

Description: Carved wooden fireback pattern. Arched rectangular shape with fillet and cavetto-moulded edging; a canopy with swagged drapery descending from ribbon bunches, beneath which stand two figures: behind, a female angelic figure, right breast exposed, blowing a trumpet held in her left hand and holding an arched rectangular shield in her right hand; in front, a classically dressed male figure wearing a face mask; slatted extensions to the side and bottom; two battens to the rear of the pattern, visible at the top.

Notes: The significance of the scene has not been identified. Christie's auction 3 Jul 2002 lot 160 (£588).

Description: Plain rectangular plate; shield, garter, helm, mantling and supporters of the Blount family, Lords Mountjoy; above, a Garter enclosing a sun charged with an eye, all surmounted by an earl's coronet; decorative edging of the arch in low relief.

Notes: The arms are those of Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy (1563-1606), who was invested Knight of the Garter in 1597. He was created 1st Earl of Devonshire in 1603 and the original fireback, of which this is probably a copy, therefore dates from between 1603 and 1606. Blazon: 1. (Blount) Barry nebuly of six Or and Sable; 2. (Ayala) Argent, two wolves passant Sable on a bordure of the first eight saltires Gules; 3. (Mountjoy) Or a tower Azure; 4. (Gresley) Vair. The fireback was made by taking a worn casting of the Mountjoy arms (for a clearer example see no. 740) and using it as a pattern, adding an extension above with the decorative edging and the crowned Garter and sun, the detail of which is sharper than the armorial below. The Garter and sun as a badge of Charles Blount has been noted on two contemporary book bindings. The fireback may have come from Dedisham Manor in West Sussex, which belonged to a cadet branch of the Blount family from 1545 to 1636 and which, in the latter year, was sold to Richard Onslow who later built Clandon Park.

Inscription: Garter motto [mostly illegible]

Arms: Charles Blount, KG, 8th Baron Mountjoy, Earl of Devonshire

Description: Arched rectangular shape; no edging; three 'daisy' flowerheads, top centre and in each shoulder; central plume of six ostrich feathers issuing from what appears to be a wreath surmounting a tree stump.

Notes: Excavated from the ruins of Cloughoughter Castle in County Cavan, which had been rendered uninhabitable in a siege of 1653. Until the early 16th century the castle had been in the hands of the O'Reilly family. On some versions of the O'Reilly arms the crest is shown as a plume of ostrich feathers, although this may be a misrepresentation of the usual crest of a tree with a snake entwined about it.

Description: Arched rectangular shaped; cavetto moulded edging; male figure in dress of the period, right hand on hip, left hand holding reins, astride a prancing horse; date and inscription (letter 'N' reversed) follow inside top edge.

Notes: Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron (1612-1671), commander of the New Model Army, which probably prompted the epithet, conqueror. 1649 was the year of Charles I's execution, to which Fairfax was opposed.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: 1649 LD FAIRFAX COVNQVIROR

Description: Arched rectangular shape; fillet edging; central rose with stem and two branches with leaves, surmounted by a crown.

Notes: The rose is more naturalistic than heraldic. Criterion Auctions, Bath, 10 Sep 2016 lot 168.

Description: Arched rectangular shape with a 'flame' on each shoulder and a broken one on top of the arch; fillet and cavetto-moulded edging; lower centre, shield with impaled arms, dexter two bars in high relief, sinister a crowned lion rampant, all in front of a foliate cartouche terminating in mirrored swirls below the shield; above, a beaded coronet; in the arch, the date split either side of mirrored foliate swags suspended from a bow and from a flower in each shoulder, with a short central vertical swag above the coronet.

Notes: A fireback in high relief with an inserted date.

Inscription: 16 62

Arms: not known

Description: Arched rectangular shape; plain edge with 49 large beads parallel with top and sides; upper centre, date in bold Arabic numerals; below date, raised rectangular panel with chamfered sides and corners and fillet edging, and a symmetrical sunburst and rainbow design in low relief.

Notes: Modern, quasi-Art Deco design

Inscription: 1995

Description: Arched rectangular shape; gadrooned edging (top and sides); initials, in separate stamps, at top of arch; date in separate stamps, split by central spindle, below; two different spindles used as stamps, one centrally between splitting initial stamps, the other repeated twice on each side, slightly lower; above each spindle a fleur-de-lys stamp.

Notes: The same base board was been used for other firebacks dating from 1622 and 1632, and the central spindle can be be seen on another firenback of 1644. Purchased by J. H. Every at Bigges Farm, Cuckfield, Sussex, in 1918.

Inscription: W B / 16 44

Description: Arched rectangular shape; rope edging (top and sides); Tudor royal shield, garter, crown and supporters (crowned lion and dragon); date above crown; empty motto compartment with initials below.

Notes: Identical arms can be seen on fireback formerly at Baynards Park, Cranleigh, and in private hands at Maresfield, but without the motto compartment; minor variations in the position of individual elements indicate that the garter and shield, crown, and each supporter were separately stamped; the initials are likely to be those of Henry Bowyer, ironmaster (d.1588), the fireback perhaps being made in his memory.

Inscription: 1588 HB

Arms: Tudor royal (Elizabeth I)

Description: Rectangular with twisted rope edging top and sides; central arch with twisted rope edging; date in arch (8 with flattened top); initials repeated in top corners.

Notes: An unusually large plate to have such simple decoration.

Inscription: 1648 / TK TK