Firebacks

679mm wide

  1. 548

    pet-m-102.jpg
    679 x 830 mm

    Description: Arched rectangular central panel with bead edging; female figure, a crown above her head, holding two snakes; arched rectangular border with fillet edging; top centre, knot of ribbon with festoons of pomegranates suspended therefrom via a ring on each shoulder of the plate; at the bottom, two crossed palm fronds; on top, symmetrical arrangements of swirled foliage; on each side, a plain rectangular panel with fillet edging.

    Notes: Possibly the allegorical figure of Democracy; the form of the palm fronds and the swirled foliage on top suggest a common pattern-maker with the TAN series and the Mayfield 'Dutch' series. Mitford collection, Petworth House.

    Manufactured: in the early-18th century in England.

    Current location: Petworth House, Petworth, West Sussex, England.

    Museum number: NT/PET/M/102 (part of the National Trust museum group)

  2. 895

    vero_beach, fl.jpg
    679 x 540 mm

    Description: Quasi-arched rectangular shape, semi-circular protrusions on top corners; cavetto-moulded edging looped at top; two mirrored scrolls inside arch; a phoenix in flames, its wings displayed and inverted; date, in two parts, in top corners; initials in bottom right corner.

    Notes: On a copy (no. 590) the loop at the top is missing and the date and the initials have been erased. Copies of this fireback were advertised in Bratt Colbran Ltd.'s (London) catalogue in the early-20th century.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: 16 50 / IM

    Manufactured: in 1650 possibly at Brede Furnace in the Weald area of England.

    Current location: not known.

    Citation: Hodgkinson, J. S., 2014, 'A Seventeenth-Century Sussex Woodcarver: The Evidence of Cast Ironwork', Regional Furniture, 28, pp. 39-48.