Firebacks

374mm wide

  1. 492

    michelham_006.jpg
    374 x 540 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular central panel; fillet and ovolo edging; a ring suspended with drapery, supporting a bird, its wings displayed and inverted, looking to the right, with a small roundel below it in each corner; arched rectangular border with fillet edging, and symmetrical drapery in the arch; and indistinct figure on each side, and indistinct foliage below; on top, a scllop shell between two descending serpents.

    Notes: A bird, usually a parrot, perching on a suspended ring can be seen on other firebacks produced in the Siegerland for the Dutch market in the latter part of the 17th century.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Manufactured: in the late 17th century in the Siegerland area of Germany.

    Current location: Michelham Priory, Arlington, East Sussex, England.

    (part of the Sussex Archaeological Society museum group)