Firebacks

897mm wide

  1. 29

    burwash,_batemans 07c.jpg
    897 x 490 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Rectangular; cavetto moulded edging; initials in top left corner; date in top right corner.

    Notes: The style of lettering and numerals is reminiscent of those seen on firebacks associated with the Sidneys, Earls of Leicester, and may suggest a common source.

    Inscription: IB 1695

    Manufactured: in 1695 possibly in the Weald area of England.

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

    Museum number: 761128 (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).

  2. 1196

    christy_1908_fig10.png
    ~897 x ~638 mm

    Description: Quasi-rectangular shape; twisted rope edging (top and sides); 'W' in top corners, between which are a line of five stamps: a 'renaissance' style shield bearing a rose and crown, between two rose stamps, and a rectangular stamp bearing a griffin at each end; below each dragon stamp, a 'W' preceded by a reversed 'P'; below this, the line of five stamps repeated.

    Notes: The shield and griffin stamps have been seen on other firebacks, associating them with a common producer; the 'W' may be apotropaic and symbolic of the Virgin Mary. Illustration from Christy 1908 who noted the fireback at Guildford, Surrey.

    Inscription: W W / qW qW

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

    Current location:, not known.

    Citation: Christy, M., 30 May 1908, 'The Old Flat Hearth and its Appliances, III - The Fire-back', The Crown, The Court and County Families' Newspaper, XCIX, Vol. 8, No. 9, pp. 383-6.

  3. 679

    saffron_walden museum 07a.jpg
    897 x 748 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Arched rectangular shape; cavetto moulding all round; spreading oak tree, with leaves and acorns, filling the whole plate; three royal crowns, one at the top of the tree, the other two symmetrically on the ends of branches towards the top corners; initials CR towards the bottom corners, the remaining inscription on a scroll across the base.

    Notes: The design is derived from the celebrated occasion when Charles II evaded his pursuers by hiding in an oak tree at Boscobel House, near Wolverhampton, following the final Royalist defeat at the battle of Worcester in 1651. This popular fireback has been copied frequently.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: C THE ROYALL OAK R

    Manufactured: in the mid 17th century in England.

    Current location: Saffron Walden Museum, Saffron Walden, Essex, England.

    Museum number: 1899-2 (part of the Saffron Walden Museum museum group)

    Citation: Butterfield, W. R., 19 Jan 1935, 'Charles II Fireback', Hastings and St Leonards Observer.

    Citation: Butterfield, W. R., 1916, 'Old Wealden Firebacks', The Connoisseur, 46, pp. 197-209.