Firebacks

650mm wide

  1. 205

    bonhams,_chester, lot 567 8 sep 09 650x720.jpg
    650 x 720 mm

    Description: Canted rectangle; simulated rectangular chain link moulded border, with bead edging inside (top and sides); Tudor royal shield surrounded by circular inscription with fillet edging; above, an English royal crown.

    Notes: The unconventionality of the motto may indicate a particular purpose, e.g. thanksgiving; the edging is not known on other firebacks. Bonhams sale, Chester, 8-9 September 2009, lot 567.

    Inscription: VIVAT·REGIN··A·DIV·:·PA CE [Long live the Queen ... peace]

    Arms: Tudor royal

    Manufactured: in the late 16th century in England.

    Current location:.

  2. 1193

    crowther_05_650x875.jpg
    650 x 875 mm

    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

    Manufactured: in 1662 in France.

    Current location: English Salvage Ltd, North Road, Leominster, Herefordshire, England.

  3. 591

    richmond,_ham house 03.jpg
    650 x 650 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shaped; cavetto-moulded edging; on each side a column of large overlapping leaves above a pedestal with a single rose; issuing from the top of each column two ribbons, in figure-of-eight with grenade terminals, fly across the arch; within an arched central panel with bead edging three naked children disport about a swag of fruit, with a central pomegranate, suspended from the top of each column; one figure sits on the top, facing right, the other two hang symmetrically from below; along the base is a line of acanthus leaves; on top a sea serpent is curled on each end.

    Notes: The design may have been inspired by the paintings of Jan Pauwel Gillemans the younger (1651-1704); he may have worked in London in the 1670s. Another version has a central finial on top and different proportioned fruit and figures.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Manufactured: in the mid to late 17th century in England.

    Current location: Ham House, Richmond, Surrey, England.

    Museum number: NT/HAM/XX/607 (part of the National Trust museum group)

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

  4. 638

    ripley_058.jpg
    650 x 595 mm

    Description: Rectangular with cavetto curves rising to corners and a ‘pediment’ top; fillet edging with low-relief, alternate regularly-spaced semi-circles and triangles inside; two-handled flower vase with gadrooned upper surface and symmetrical flower design in relief below; trailing vines and flowers issuing from top and descending through handles to base; human face at top; second half of date to right of vase base.

    Notes: Another version, probably by a different pattern-maker, is dated 1662; a recasting; an earlier casting measures 665mm x 610mm

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: [...] 52

    Manufactured: in 1652 possibly at Brede Furnace in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: Mark Ripley Forge & Fireplaces, Northbridge Street, Robertsbridge, East Sussex, England.

  5. 640

    ripley_060.jpg
    650 x 470 mm

    Description: Rectangular; ovolo-moulded edging (top and sides); repeated guilloche pattern inside top and side edges; upper centre, lozenge stamp with ovolo edges and recessed daisy flower in centre, between buckle stamps repeated twice.

    Notes: The lozenge stamp is a design also seen on domestic interior panelling; the buckles suggest a Pelham family association; the buckle and lozenge are separate stamps, and in each example their relative positions differ slightly; the guilloche design appears to have been carved on the base panel; an example at The Star Inn, Alfriston, Sussex measures 665mm x 480mm.

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

    Current location: Mark Ripley Forge & Fireplaces, Northbridge Street, Robertsbridge, East Sussex, England.

  6. 989

    unknown_88 650x780.jpg
    650 x 780 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular shape with fillet edging; within an arched rectangular border alternating repeated acanthus leaves, and a floral cartouche, a heart-shaped shield of the royal arms of France, surmounted by a royal crown and within splayed olive branches.

    Arms: France Royal

    Manufactured: in the late 17th century in France.

    Current location:.