Firebacks

Description: Arched rectangular shape; ovolo-moulded edging; shield, Garter, crowned helm and mantling of the English royal arms to 1603 with crowned lion and griffon supporters standing on separate rectangular cartouches containing the word 'ANNO' and the date '1662'; above the mantling are the initials 'I R'

Notes: The date appears to have been altered from 1602. The initials 'I R' for Jacobus Rex (James I of England) are inappropriate for the date in both its original and its altered form; also the griffon supporter on the sinister side is incorrect, a dragon being correct for the arms of Elizabeth I in 1602. There is a vertical plankline left of centre.

Inscription: I R / HONI SOIT QVI MAL I PENSE / ANNO 1662

Arms: English Tudor royal

Description: Arched rectangular shape with a 'flame' on each shoulder and a broken one on top of the arch; fillet and cavetto-moulded edging; lower centre, shield with impaled arms, dexter two bars in high relief, sinister a crowned lion rampant, all in front of a foliate cartouche terminating in mirrored swirls below the shield; above, a beaded coronet; in the arch, the date split either side of mirrored foliate swags suspended from a bow and from a flower in each shoulder, with a short central vertical swag above the coronet.

Notes: A fireback in high relief with an inserted date.

Inscription: 16 62

Arms: not known

Description: Rectangular with cavetto curves rising to corners and a ‘portico’ top; fillet edging with bas-relief, alternate regularly spaced semi-circles and triangles inside; two-handled flower vase with acanthus bas-relief, trailing vines issuing from top, with pomegranate and hop(?), descending through handles to base; lion’s head at top; date split either side of vase base.

Notes: The bas-relief edging also appears on other firebacks, suggesting the same pattern maker. The date was probably added separately. Formerly in Dallington, East Sussex. Burstow & Hewett auction, Battle, 3 Apr 2019, lot 1706 (£35).

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: 1662

Description: Rectangular; Twisted rope edging (top and sides); top centre, date; initials in triad in top corners; a double fleurs-de-lys between date and each set of initials, and two rotated down each side of the plate.

Notes: Formerly at a cottage in Bradford's Lane, Newent, Gloucestershire. Illustration from Bick 1987.

Inscription: TRD / 1662 / TRD

Description: Arched shape with ovolo egg-and-dart edging; crown surmounting a shield, a quartered shield with an escutcheon impaling a crowned lion rampant with an escutcheon; text along the bottom.

Notes: The arms have not been identified; LOVEN is the town of Leuven, capital of the province of Brabant, which, in 1662, was in the Spanish Netherlands.

Inscription: LOVEN 1662

Description: Composite; arched rectangular shaped, armorial fireback, cavetto edging, with Stuart Royal arms, garter, supporters, crown and motto, and 1662 date above crown; this overlies a rectangular plate with fillet edging; top centre in the space each side of the central shield, an initial letter - A to left, B to right - each above a fleur-de-lys, its stem terminating in a small buckle.

Notes: Several firebacks have incorporated the same Stuart royal shield, which probably originally dated to 1619, but with the date altered. A similar fireback, but without the initials and fleurs-de-lys, dated 1661, and reputed to have come from the Totsey, the old guildhall at the market cross in Gloucester, is illustrated in Ames, 1980, 23; possibly the same fireback was reported by the late David Bick to be at The Grange, Minsterworth, Gloucestershire (demolished in the late 1960s).

Inscription: 16 62 / [Garter motto (illeg.)] / A B

Arms: English Stuart royal

Description: Arched rectangular central panel; bead-on-fillet edging; wickerwork Garden of Holland (Hollandse Tuin) within which is seated a berobed female figure holding a cap of freedom on the end of a long pole; before her is the crowned heraldic lion of the States General of the Netherlands, clutching a sheaf of arrows in its left front paw; above are the words, Pro Patria; arched rectangular border with cavetto-moulded edging, with the word, Hollandia, in the arch, suspended from which are festoons of flowers and fruit and the date within a scroll on the bottom; on top, a scallop shell between two mirrored serpents.

Notes: An overtly patriotic theme with symbols of Dutch nationhood.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: HOLLANDIA / PRO PATRIA / ANNO 1662

Description: Rectangular; cavetto-moulded edging; shield, crown and supporters of King Philip IV of Spain, incorporating the arms of Castille and Leon, Aragon - Sicily, Granada, Portugal, Austria, Burgundy and Brabant; around the shield is the chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece; at the top, the date split by the crown; behind, crossed lilies.

Notes: By 1662 the arms of Portugal were redundant on the Spanish royal arms, but were retained until after the death of Philip IV; the word, LOVEN, indicates the particular association of this plate with the town of Leuven, the capital of Brabant in what was, at the time, part of the Spanish Netherlands.

Inscription: 16 62 / LO VEN

Arms: King Philip IV of Spain

Description: Canted rectangle; fillet edging (top and sides); top centre, initials, above date, between repeated fleur-de-lys stamp; from top corners to bottom corners, repeated V-shape pattern formed of stamped short fillets, with an L-shape inserted between the top two Vs on each side.

Notes: The fleurs de lys are of a distinctive style seen on a small group of firebacks.

Inscription: RH / 1662

Description: Composite; Arched rectangular shaped, armorial fireback, cavetto edging, with Stuart Royal arms, garter, supporters, crown and motto, and 1662 date above crown; this overlies a rectangular plate, with rope-effect, fillet edging; a pattern of four rosettes surrounding a fleur-de-lys, its stem terminating in a small buckle, is repeated on each side of the central armorial fireback, with the initials above; each rosette is stamped separately.

Notes: A variant, bearing the same date, but the initials, A B, and without the rosettes, is at Norton Manor, Malmesbury, Wiltshire.

Copies of this fireback are known.

Inscription: 16 62 / C P / HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE / DIEV·ET·MON DROIT

Arms: English Stuart royal