Firebacks

665mm wide

  1. 28

    burwash,_batemans 06.jpg
    665 x 740 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Rectangular with pediment raised on inverted consoles; ovolo, egg and dart edging; shield, garter, helm, mantling, crest and motto of the English House of Stuart; date split either side of garter buckle.

    Notes: One of several firebacks, all of the same date, but varying in size, framing style and moulding; all have stylistic features in common and will have been the work of the same pattern maker, who was also responsible for carving royal coats of arms in three West Country churches.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: HONY SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE / 16 18 / DIEV ET MON DROIT

    Arms: English Stuart royal (James I)

    Manufactured: in 1618 possibly in the Forest of Dean area of England.

    Current location: Bateman's, Burwash, East Sussex, England.

    Museum number: 761132 (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).

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2017, 'Church Armorials and Firebacks: Evidence of an Early 17th-Century Woodcarver', Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, 135, pp. 213-223.

  2. 221

    buxted,_ridgeway.jpg
    665 x 455 mm

    Description: Rectangular; plain plate; inscription in capitals split between top corners, ‘I’ crossed.

    Notes: The letters are likely to have been formed by tracing their shape in the casting sand using a pointed implement.

    Inscription: I R

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

    Current location: in private hands, Buxted, East Sussex, England.

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

  3. 295

    gainsborough_old hall 01.jpg
    665 x 722 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Five-facetted arched shape; ovolo-moulded edging comprising two separate lengths of moulding repeated to form sides and arch; shield of Hickman (per pale indented argent and azure) impaling Nevile (?gules a saltire argent) within repeated laurel leaves inside a scrolled cartouche; date top centre.

    Notes: William Hickman of Old Hall, Gainsborough, 2nd Baronet (1629-82), married Elizabeth Neville of Mattersey, Nottinghamshire, c.1652. The multi-facetted arch calls to mind a series of firebacks cast in the Weald which are also associated with the Nevills (see 1589 series), although they are of earlier date.

    Inscription: 1658

    Arms: Hickman impaling Neville; Sir William Hickman

    Manufactured: in 1658 in England.

    Current location: Gainsborough Old Hall, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England.

    (part of the English Heritage museum group)

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

    Citation: Peacock, E., 1881, [note on Iron Slab with armorial bearings found at Blyton, near Gainsborough], Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, 2nd series, 8, pp. 44-5.

  4. 843

    ilkley,_old manor house.jpg
    665 x 655 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Canted rectangular shape; double fillet edging (top and sides) with alternating roses and diamonds between the fillets; pictorial scene of Adam and Eve, both naked, taking fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, between them, around which is entwined the serpent.

    Notes: Boldly sculpted, stylised figures; the serpent is shown with a human face.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Manufactured: in the late-16th to early-17th century possibly in the Lorraine area of France.

    Current location: Old Manor House, Ilkley, West Yorkshire, England.

    (part of the Bradford Museums and Art Galleries museum group)

  5. 628

    ripley_045.jpg
    665 x 360 mm

    Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); twisted rope length stamped eight times in a mirrored double rhombus pattern with a central cross; a crude human figurine stamped irregularly four times, two on each side of the rope design.

    Notes: An uncharacteristically small fireback for its likely period.

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

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

    Citation: Easton, T. & Hodgkinson, J. S., 2013, 'Apotropaic Symbols on Cast-Iron Firebacks', Jnl. of the Antique Metalware Soc., 21, pp. 14-33.