A pair of Charles II style enamel brass and cast-iron armorial firedogs, in the manner of Anthony Hatch and Stephen Pilcherd.
Richly decorated with vivid green, red, white and blue enamels, each firedog displays the royal arms of the Stuart monarchs above finely modelled male supporters flanking a vase of flowers. The lower section formed as convex floral-decorated discs, supported by wrought iron backs.
England, circa 1890.
These remarkable firedogs (andirons) are modelled after a celebrated 17th century example in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (inv. no. 416&A-1905).
Once associated with the “Surrey Enamels,” their manufacture has since been re-attributed through documentary research to the London workshops of master craftsmen Anthony Hatch and Stephen Pilcherd, eminent members of the Armourers’ and Braziers’ Company. The firedogs are from a distinct group of 17th-century cast and enamelled brasswares that include stirrups, mirror-frames, firedogs, sconces, badges and sword-hilts distinguished by their method of production: the fields to be enamelled were cast in the original moulds and not, as was more common, engraved (champlévé) or enclosed (cloisonné).
Representing the revival of seventeenth-century English decorative arts during the late Victorian period, the present firedogs demonstrate the historical significance and rarity of this distinctive form of English enamelled metalwork. A pair of comparable 19th century examples are in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. no. 42.17.1, .2).
Blair, Claude, “Surrey Enamels Reattributed: Part 1”, Journal of the Antique Metalware Society, Volume 13, June 2005, pp. 2-9.
Blair, Claude, and Patterson, Angus, “Surrey Enamels Reattributed: Part 2, An Illustrated List of Known Types”, The Journal of the Antique Metalware Society, June 2006, vol. 14, pp. 10-21.
By appointment only.
