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 (£1,776).

    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:, not known.

  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 1675-8. Another version (no. 575), probably by the same pattern maker, 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: 1140116 (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:, not known.

  7. 1067

    va_57b.jpg
    >650 x 810 mm

    Description: Fragment; rectangular shape; ovolo-moulded edging (top and sides); six stamps, in two columns of three, taking the form of a long-pointed arrow head within a circlet of small curls.

    Notes: The stamps are of an unfamiliar type with some similarity to the heraldic symbol for ermine. Because only the left part of the fireback has survived it is not known how many original columns of this stamp there were.

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

    Current location: Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, Kensington and Chelsea, London, England.

    Museum number: M.148-1915 (part of the Victoria & Albert Museum museum group)