Firebacks

Description: Arched rectangular shape; fillet edging; shield, crest and motto in relief in a recessed arched rectangle.

Notes: The arms are of Weston, of West Horsley, Surrey: Sable, a chevron or between three leopards heads erased argent crowned or and langued gules; crest: a wolf passant ducally gorged or; motto: Gloria sat Deus unus - God alone is sufficient glory; the Westons were at West Horsley Place from the mid 18th century.

Inscription: GLORIA SAT DEUS UNUS [God alone is sufficient glory]

Arms: Weston family of West Horsley, Surrey

Description: Arched rectangular central panel with bead on broad fillet edging; pictorial scene of Neptune/Poseidon, a trident in hand, in a chariot drawn through the waves by two 'sea horses', above are clouds and three birds; arched rectangular border with fillet edging; diagonal grid forming squares, in each one of two types of flower arranged in alternate lines; at the bottom, the letter W in a cartouche between swirled foliage; on top, mirrored swirled foliage issuing upwards from a mythical creature on each shoulder.

Notes: There is some question as to whether this is a later pastiche of an early-eighteenth century style,

Inscription: W

Description: Quasi-arched rectangular shape; fillet edging, indented on the inner edge; pictorial representation of a phoenix rising from flames, date split either side of its neck; the lateral edges are wide in relation to the top, from which the arch rises from two loop and is surmounted by a fleur-de-lys; above each shoulder of the plate, a roundel.

Notes: The looped fillet edging is rarely seen and does not seem to be diagnostic of a particular pattern-maker.

Inscription: 16 77

Description: Arched central panel with fillet edging; figure in classical dress standing on a mound in front of a leafless tree; u; ninterrupted side and bottom border with straight fillet edges; at sides, mirrored low-relief undulating tendril design; at bottom, central leaf design; on top, central plume with hanging flower, between mirrored low-relief foliate swirls.

Notes: The figure is probably an allegory of Humility. Another example of this fireback bears the date 1746.

Description: Arched rectangular shape with arch on top; rebated fillet edging; below mirrored putti holding crossed fronds, the figure of St George slaying the dragon; on each side a flame-topped column.

Notes: The central panel of what would otherwise have been a typical bordered fireback intended for the Dutch market.

Description: Arched rectangular shaped central panel with bead-and-pellet edging on a broad fillet; Jupiter in his chariot drawn by eagles; above are clouds, below is a landscape; arched rectangular shaped border with fillet edging, with a symmetrical scrolled wire design; the monogram, SHR, bottom centre; above is a symmetrical design of scrolled floral tendrils.

Notes: The design is derived from a personification of the planet, Jupiter, in 'Planetarum effectus et eorum in signis zodiaci', by Marten de Vos (1585).

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: SHR

Description: Arched rectangular shape with small triangular protrusions in each top corner; fillet edging (top and sides); top centre, date stamp, over-pressed on right side; top corners, single fleur-de-lys stamp; below date, initials in triad.

Notes: The fleur-de-lys is of a distinctive form; the small triangular protrusions are not seen on other firebacks. Wilkinson's, Doncaster, auction 26 Feb 2017 lot 272. A fireback with the same date stamp is at Newark Park, Ozleworth, Gloucestershire.

Inscription: 1634 / RCS [triad]

Description: Quasi-rectangular with canted top corners; twisted rope edging (top and sides); centre top, quartered shield between two vertical carved stamps of a billet with five oval shapes.

Notes: The arms are probably of Thomas Wriothesley, who was Henry VIII's last Lord Chancellor and created Earl of Southampton in 1547; he married c.1533 so the arms could date to before then, but the same arms are displayed on his enamelled stall plate in St George's Chapel, Windsor, of 1545, and in stained glass in a window in the parish church at South Warnborough, Hampshire. The shield is, quarterly, 1. Wrythe or Wriothesley quartering Dunstanville and Pink, 2. Drayton, 3. Crocker and 4. Peckham. A candidate for the earliest English fireback with an example of personal arms. It is possible that this casting is the one formerly at Warnham Court, Sussex, which was illustrated by J. Starkie Gardner in Country Life in 1907. A similar fireback is no. 334. William Smith Auctions, Plainfield, NH, 20 Nov 2024, lot 424 ($250).

Arms: Wriothesley (Earl of Southampton)