Firebacks

1040mm wide

  1. 262

    christies_4-11-08 1040mm x 840mm.jpg
    1040 x 840 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); top centre, crowned Tudor royal shield (over-pressed) between a leopard passant guardant sinister (on the left) and a leopard passant (on the right); below, crowned shield bearing initials, KH, above a fleur-de-lys, between two crowned roses; below each leopard, a pair of 'imp' figures, the left of each with both arms lowered, the right its right arm raised; right top corner, a crowned rose; left top corner, and uncrowned rose.

    Notes: One of the 'Royal' series. Christie's Interiors - Oak Edition, South Kensington (Sale 5369), 4 November 2008, lot 257 (£3,250).

    Inscription: KH

    Arms: Tudor Royal (prob. Henry VIII)

    Manufactured: in the mid-16th century in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: not known.

  2. 1232

    hook_1040x570.jpg
    1040 x 570 mm

    Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging on top and sides; date placed slightly right of centre near top.

    Notes: A similar fireback with slightly different proportions has the same date using the same numerals.

    Inscription: 1679

    Manufactured: in 1679 in the Weald area of England.

    Current location:, not known.

  3. 369

    lewes,_sussex arch soc 004.jpg
    1040 x 660 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Quasi-rectangular shape; rope edging on top and sides; central inscription panel; repeated trailing vine decoration from impressed wooden strips — one horizontal line at top, three vertical strips at each side, one horizontal strip below panel, plain panel at base.

    Notes: A series of firebacks all bearing the inscription carved onto a panel and included with other stamps in the casting of the iron graveslab covering the tomb of Anne Forster (Foster) in St George’s church, Crowhurst, Surrey. Formerly in the John H. Every Collection, for which it was purchased in 1921 at Isfield Place, Sussex.

    Inscription: HER : LIETH : ANE : FORST/ R : DAVGHTER : AND : / HEYR : TO : THOMAS : / GAYNSFORD : ESQVIER / DECEASED : XVIII : OF: / IANVARI : 1591 : LEAVYNG / BEHIND : HER II : SONES : / AND : V : DAVGHTERS

    Manufactured: in the late-16th century possibly at Pounsley Furnace, Framfield in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Anne of Cleves House, Southover High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, England.

    Museum number: 1944.24.043 (part of the Sussex Archaeological Society museum group)

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

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2018, 'The Anne Forster Firebacks', Surrey Archaeological Collections, 101, 99-114.

    Citation: Hughes, G. B., Sep 1929, 'Old English Firebacks in the Collection of Mr John H. Every', Old Furniture, 8, pp. 28-32.

  4. 683

    sevenoaks,_absaloms farm 01.jpg
    1040 x 510 mm

    Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); top left and right, Tudor rose surmounted by a crown (separate stamps); right of centre, irregular pentagram formed of a repeated length of twisted rope enclosing a Tudor rose; on either side of top point of pentagram, a triple-loop stamp irregularly spaced.

    Notes: The pentagram has both Christian and occult symbolism. The fleur and the rose and crown have been seen on another fireback.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Manufactured: in the late-16th century possibly in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: in private hands, Sevenoaks, Kent, England.

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