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FIREBACK

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 418 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FIREBACK , the name given to the ornamented slab of See also:

cast See also:iron protecting the back of a fireplace. The date at which firebacks became See also:common probably synchronizes with the removal of the See also:fire from the centre to the See also:side or end of a See also:room. They never became universal, since the proximity of deposits of iron ore was essential to their use. In See also:England they were confined chiefly to the iron districts of See also:Sussex and See also:Surrey, and appear to have ceased being made when the ore in those counties was exhausted. They are, however, occasionally found in other parts of the See also:country, and it is reasonable to suppose that there was a certain See also:commerce in an appliance which gradually assumed an interesting and even See also:artistic See also:form. The earlier examples were commonly rectangular, but a shaped or gabled See also:top eventually became common. See also:English firebacks may roughly be separated into four See also:chronological divisions—those moulded from more than one movable See also:stamp; armorial backs; allegorical, mythological and biblical slabs with an occasional portrait; and copies of 17th and 18th See also:century See also:continental designs, chiefly Netherlandish. The fleur-de-lys, the rosette, and other motives of detached See also:ornament were much used before attempts were made to elaborate a homogeneous See also:design, but by the See also:middle of the 17th century firebacks of a very elaborate type were being produced. Thus we have representations of the Crucifixion, the See also:death of [acob, See also:Hercules slaying the See also:hydra, and the See also:plague of serpents. Coats of arms were very frequent, the royal achievement being used extensively—many existing firebacks See also:bear the arms of the Stuarts. About the See also:time of See also:Elizabeth the coats of private families began to be used, the earliest instances remaining bearing those of the Sackvilles, who were lords of a large portion of the See also:forest of See also:Anderida, which furnished the See also:charcoal for the smelting operations in our See also:ancient iron-See also:fields. To the armorial See also:shields the date was often added, together with the See also:initials of the owner.

The method of casting firebacks was to cut the design upon a thick slab of See also:

oak which was impressed See also:face down-wards upon a See also:bed of See also:sand, the molten See also:metal being ladled into the impression. Firebacks were also common in the See also:Netherlands and in parts of See also:France, notably in See also:Alsace. At See also:Strassburg and See also:Metz there are several private collections, and there are also many examples in public museums. The museum of the See also:Porte de See also:FIREBRICK See also:Hal at See also:Brussels contains one of the finest examples in existence with an equestrian portrait of the See also:emperor See also:Charles V., accompanied by his arms and See also:motto. When See also:monarchy was first destroyed in France the See also:possession of a plague de eheminee bearing heraldic insignia was regarded as a See also:mark of disaffection to the See also:republic, and on the 13th of See also:October 1793 the See also:National See also:Convention issued a See also:decree giving the owners and tenants of houses a See also:month in which to turn such firebacks with their face to the See also:wall, pending the manufacture by the iron foundries of a sufficient number of backs less offensive to the See also:instinct of equality. Very few of the old plaques were however removed, and to this See also:day the old chateaux of France contain many with their backs outward. Reproductions of ancient See also:chimney backs are now not infrequently made, and the old examples are much prized and collected.

End of Article: FIREBACK

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