Firebacks

Shape: arched rectangular with curved shoulders

  1. 1248

    plaistow,_quennell_house.jpg
    940 x 740 mm

    Description: Central arched rectangular shape with rounded corners; ovolo moulding all round; oval Tudor royal shield with garter surrounding, topped with a royal crown; dragon and greyhound supporters; initials split by crown; all details below shield illegible; rectangular extension panels on each side, with twisted rope edging; quasi mirrored arrangement of twisted rope lengths to form (from the top) a cross, a vertical pointing arrow, and a diamond shape with a central vertical line.

    Notes: The detail of the extension panel is sharper than the armorial, indicating that the panel was cast with a worn copy of the armorial. Illustrated in Weaver, 1914, p. 16.

    Inscription: E R [+ Garter, Harvo and royal mottoes, all illegible]

    Arms: Tudor royal (prob. Henry VIII)

    Manufactured: in the late 16th to early 17th century in the Weald area of England.

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

    Citation: Weaver, L., 1914, Small Country Houses: their repair and enlargement (London, Country Life).

  2. 604

    ripley_013.jpg
    1200 x 900 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular with curved shoulders; cavetto-moulded edging (top and sides) with twin scrolls on inside corners, and scalloped bottom edge; armorial; shield (32 quarters), mantling, supporters (bull and crowned lion), coronet, motto, 2 helms and crests (a bear’s head erased and ducally gorged, and a bear and ragged staff).

    Notes: The impaled arms appear to be those of the Earldom of Huntingdon. The crests are of Hastings and Dudley, suggesting they are of Henry, 3rd Earl (c.1535-95), and his wife, Katherine (1548-1620), daughter of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. She was a child when they married in 1553. This is an incomplete casting, the full version of which includes a bottom panel with a repeated guilloche design. Christie's Masters and Makers Sale, South Kensington, 30 Nov 2010, lot 516 (£4,375).

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: IN VERITATE VICTORIA (illegible, but verified on other castings)

    Arms: Hastings, earl of Huntingdon, impaling Dudley

    Manufactured: in the late 16th century in England.

    Current location:.

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

  3. 1116

    ticehurst,_authentic reclamation 07.jpg
    660 x 670 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape with ovolo-curved shoulders; astragal eding (top and sides); central stepped cross with initials separated to each side above the date similarly separated.

    Notes: The crucifix suggests a Roman Catholic source; the letters and numerals appear to have been inscribed with a pointed instrument or finger.

    Inscription: AR / 17 61

    Manufactured: in 1761 in France.

    Current location: Authentic Reclamation, Lymden Lane, Ticehurst, East Sussex, England.