Firebacks

Description: Arched rectangular shaped; astragal edging; shield bearing a saltire, beneath a baron’s coronet; date and initials split by shield.

Notes: The shield, coronet and initials may be those of George Nevill, 12th Baron Bergavenny (1665-95); the Neville arms has a rose in the centre but if the shield were a painted carving, the rose may have been painted and not carved.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: 16 72 / G B

Arms: George Nevill, 12th baron Bergavenny

Description: Arched rectangular with plain edges; arched rectangular inset with cavetto edging and armorial design in low relief: circular garter enclosing an ornate Tudor royal shield, surmounted by a crown; date inside top of arch; initials inside top corners of rectangle; a rose in each bottom corner of rectangle; inscription in a separate rectangular panel below, split by garter buckle.

Notes: The earliest dated fireback in the English style. Molland was a Devon manor belonging to the Courtenay family. Noted as having been at Wells Deanery, Somerset, in 1845; a variant without the motto, the existence of which was noted in 1840, was illustrated by Llewellin (1863); the west country provenance for both of these firebacks suggests an origin in those parts.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: 1553 / E R / HONV SOIT QVY MALE V PENCE / MOL LAND

Arms: Tudor royal - Edward VI

Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); initials in top corners; below the initials, a saltire formed of possibly two straight lengths of twisted rope.

Notes: The saltire is likely to have an apotropaic purpose; the hollows in the risers of the letter 'H' and the end of the left line of the saltire may have been formed by gas bubbles in the molten iron during casting.

Inscription: N H

Description: Rectangular with two mirrored scrolls on top, a lion’s face between; ogee-moulded edging; central pilaster with vine scrolling, Corinthian capital, a diamond on the pedestal; on either side, an arched alcove with fillet edging, each with a halberdier in mid-17th century clothes, their feet pointing to the middle.

Notes: A more common version has different edging and a pattern-maker’s mark. Formerly part of the J. H. Every collection.

Description: Arched rectangular with plain edges; arched rectangular inset with cavetto edging and armorial design in low relief: circular garter enclosing an ornate Tudor royal shield, surmounted by a crown; date inside top of arch; initials inside top corners of rectangle

Notes: Discovered by Mr Anthony Hill of the Plymouth ironworks, Glamorgan, in the 1820s, and believed by David Mushet, in his 'Papers on Iron and Steel' to have been cast at the early furnace on the opposite side of the River Taff; a variant of the same date (no. 288) has an inscription on the bottom panel and roses in relief at the bottom corners of the rectangle; the west country source for both of these firebacks suggests an origin in those parts.

Inscription: HONV SOIT QVE MALE V [illegible]

Arms: Tudor royal - Edward VI

Description: Rectangular; ovolo moulded edging (top and sides); at top, date split by initials (with dot between).

Notes: A bold, elegant plate with characters in high relief. The character set is known to have been used for another fireback cast at Heathfield Furnace, Sussex. Sold at Christie's Masters and Makers auction, 30 November 2010, lot 521 (£1000 part with no. 601, no. 637 and no. 634).

Inscription: 17 I·P 54

Description: Fragment, left side missing; arched rectangular shape; fillet edging (top and sides visible); initials IG widely spaced in arch.

Notes: Previously at Bream Court Farm, Newland, Gloucestershire.

Inscription: I G