Firebacks

Description: Arched rectangular shape cut away with symmetrical concave curves; ovolo moulding (top and sides); shield, helmet, crest and mantling of the family of Baker, of Mayfield, quartered with Farnden, of Sedlescombe: Quarterly, 1st and 4th, Argent, a tower between three keys erect sable (Baker); 2nd and 3rd, Purpure, a chevron vairy Or and gules, between three leopards’ faces Or (Farnden). Crest (Baker): on a tower sable an arm embowed in mail holding in the hand a flint-stone proper.

Notes: A carved armorial on a plain, edged base board; John Baker (1644-1723) married Ruth, daughter and co-heiress of Peter Farnden, in 1663; she died in 1691, thereafter the arms of Baker quartered those of Farnden; the arms of Farnden had been granted in 1634. The armorial design has been inadequately pressed into the sand bed.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Arms: Baker, of Mayfield, quartering Farnden, of Sedlescombe

Description: Rectangular; moulded fillet edging on top and sides; TCI, also arranged symmetrically, in a widely spaced triad; below, symmetrical layout of central rose and crown between two concentric roundels, with two fleurs-de-lys outside.

Notes: The style of rose and crown is similar to that used in gun founding in the Tudor period, suggesting that the furnace that was the source of this fireback may have been used for that purpose. Formerly at Baynards Park, Cranleigh, Surrey.

Inscription: 16 T C I [triad] 70

Description: Canted rectangular shape; cavetto-moulded edging (top and sides); across the top, double star stamp repeated nine times; below and top centre, date between initials in triad; below date, large hollow fleur-de-lys stamp repeated three times in a line between two triads of stylised fleur-de-lys stamps, with one of the same stamps in each bottom corner; lower centre, woodblock stamp repeated three times in a line.

Notes: The initials 'IIA' in triad probably relate to a couple whose surname initial was 'I' or 'J'; a fireback, dated 1659, with some of the same stamps is at the Dean Heritage Centre, Soudley, Gloucestershire, and another, dated 1667, has been noted at Upper End Farm, Hope Mansell, Herefordshire. Brightwells Auctioneers, Leominster, 27 Jul 2016, lot 694 (£480 inc. grate).

Inscription: IIA [triad] 1668 IIA [triad]

Description: Canted rectangle; twisted rope edging (top and sides); stamp of three ostrich feathers within a coronet, between the two parts of the date, with lion and unicorn supporters outside date.

Notes: The ostrich feathers are the badge of the Prince of Wales. There is no known significance of the year 1629 with that title, the birth of the prince (later Charles II) being in the following year. The date was probably added to a recasting of the plate. The lack of detail in the modelling indicates this has been recast several times.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: 16 29

Description: Plain rectangular plate; shield, garter, helm, mantling and supporters of the Blount family, Lords Mountjoy; above, a Garter enclosing a sun charged with an eye, all surmounted by an earl's coronet; decorative edging of the arch in low relief.

Notes: The arms are those of Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy (1563-1606), who was invested Knight of the Garter in 1597. He was created 1st Earl of Devonshire in 1603 and the original fireback, of which this is probably a copy, therefore dates from between 1603 and 1606. Blazon: 1. (Blount) Barry nebuly of six Or and Sable; 2. (Ayala) Argent, two wolves passant Sable on a bordure of the first eight saltires Gules; 3. (Mountjoy) Or a tower Azure; 4. (Gresley) Vair. The fireback was made by taking a worn casting of the Mountjoy arms (for a clearer example see no. 740) and using it as a pattern, adding an extension above with the decorative edging and the crowned Garter and sun, the detail of which is sharper than the armorial below. The Garter and sun as a badge of Charles Blount has been noted on two contemporary book bindings. The fireback may have come from Dedisham Manor in West Sussex, which belonged to a cadet branch of the Blount family from 1545 to 1636 and which, in the latter year, was sold to Richard Onslow who later built Clandon Park.

Inscription: Garter motto [mostly illegible]

Arms: Charles Blount, KG, 8th Baron Mountjoy, Earl of Devonshire

Description: Quasi-arched rectangular shape upon a moulded plinth; on a background comprising foliate swirls, a central shield, helm, coronet and elaborate mantling, with a crest of a forward facing centaur armed with a drawn bow pointed to the sinister side, and behind which are six pennons, three each side display in a v-shape; to the left, a triumph comprising a drum, draped flag on pole, concealing an arquebus, halberd and breastplate, and a broad-brimmed hat with feather; to the right, a triumph comprising a drum, a breast plate and tassets, a powder horn, and partially concealed arquebus, sword and spear, and a broad-brimmed hat with feather; at the base, a horizontal fillet with scrolled ends and squatting 'rodents'.

Notes: An uncharacteristic fireback designed and cast for the family of Joan Huydecoper (1625-1704). A variant without the base plinth and 'rodents' is in the collection of Museum Rotterdam (inv. 15224).

Inscription: ANNO 1647

Arms: Joan Huydecoper

Description: Canted rectangle; inset twisted rope edging (top and sides); stamp formed of a statuette of an standing angel with left hand at the waist, and holding a sceptre in the right hand; date split either side of angel; initials in triad above angel; small face stamp repeated three times, one each side of angel, and one below.

Notes: The identity of those to whom the initials refer is not known; the use of the angel statuette is a rare inclusion of a religious motif on an English fireback. A variant of this fireback is at the Lygon Arms Hotel, Broadway, Worcestershire (no. 1027).

Inscription: IHI [triad] / 16 33

Description: Rectangular; low-relief moulded edging along top, then down sides; double-looped 'lens' pattern stamp repeated six times across the top, inside the edging and, rotated, three times down each side; becapped human figure stamp, with his left arm raised to his head and his right arm akimbo, repeated in each top corner; between these, 'IE' monogram with continuous loop between the letters repeated five times, two in line above and three below, the centre one slightly raised; the date between the top two; a lifting handle on each side.

Notes: Said to have been at Horsham, Sussex; on another fireback, at the Old Manor, Upper Beeding in Sussex, cast with the same stamps, and also dated 1617, the monogram stamp is clearly carved on a 'renaissance' shield, indicating that in this instance the stamps were not impressed as deeply. Drawing by J. Lewis André in the J. Starkie Gardner Collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, Archive of Art and Design (AAD/2014/8). Possibly the fireback referred to by Lewis André in 1882 as belonging to a Miss Alman, of East Street, Horsham (Sussex Archaeological Collections XXXII, p.76).

Inscription: IE 1617 IE / IE IE IE

Description: Rectangular with three arches; twisted rope edging (top and sides); in each of the two outer arches, initials 'WKE' in triad; in the central arch, which is higher than the two outer ones and bordered at the base by twisted rope, the date 1630.

Notes: The triple arched form is unusual. The initials are presumed to refer to a husband and wife whose surname began with 'K'

Inscription: 1630 / WKE [triad] WKE [triad]

Description: Plain plate with scrolled side edges; canted arched rectangular astragal and fillet top moulding; central shield, crest and motto of the hardy family.

Inscription: ARMEE DE FOI HARDI

Arms: Hardy