Firebacks

950mm wide

  1. 380

    lewes,_sussex arch soc 015.jpg
    950 x >585 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Damaged rectangular plate; no edging; a buckle stamp repeated eight times in alternate horizontal and vertical pairs in four columns.

    Notes: The buckle closely resembles that used to decorate glazed bricks on the walls of Laughton Place, Sussex, built by Sir William Pelham in 1534.

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

    Current location: Anne of Cleves House, Southover High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, England.

    Museum number: LH000.912 (part of the Sussex Archaeological Society museum group)

    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.

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

  2. 421

    lewes,_sussex arch soc 056.jpg
    950 x 550 mm
    Image subject to copyright

    Description: Rectangular; flanged edge; central pictorial panel illustrating Mordecai arriving before King Ahasuerus, Haman hanging from the gallows behind; two floral side panels, at the top of each a monogram within a cartouche: on the left KS, on the right H?D.

    Notes: Stoveplate; the scene illustrates a scene from Esther 7: 10 and 8: 1. Formerly part of the J. H. Every collection.

    Copies of this fireback are known.

    Inscription: KS H[?]D

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

    Current location: Anne of Cleves House, Southover High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, England.

    Museum number: 1944.24.040 (part of the Sussex Archaeological Society museum group)

  3. 642

    ripley_062.jpg
    950 x 650 mm

    Description: Rectangular; twisted rope edging (top and sides); length of twisted rope parallel with, and equal to, top edge; length of rope, equal to side edge, repeated twice slanting from near top middle to bottom corners.

    Notes: Very simple design using only two lengths of rope.

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

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

  4. 958

    sutton,_greenhill.jpg
    950 x 790 mm

    Description: Rectangle with triangular arch; twisted rope edging (top and sides); centre top, initials in triad, E above; two twisted rope crosses irregularly spaced below initials.

    Notes: The initials, probably of a husband and wife, show minimal extension in the horizontal, although the 'I' has a stud halfway; the crosses almost certainly have an apotropaic purpose; the depth of the casting varies between the top, where it is thickest, and the bottom. Bellman's auction, Wisborough Green, 13 Oct 2021, lot 589 (£420).

    Inscription: IEL [triad]

    Manufactured: in the late-16th to early-17th century in England.

    Current location: in private hands, not known.