HOUSE DECORATION 
 SERIES 
 
 GUY 
 CADOGAN 
 
 HOTHERY
 
 tJWV. OF CALIF. LIBRARY. LOS ANGBUBB 
 
 LIBRARY OF 
 
 ARCHITECTURE AND 
 
 ALLIED ARTS 
 
 The Heirs 
 
 of 
 R. Germain Hubby, A. I. A
 
 Cbe Bouse Decoration Scries 
 
 CHIMNEYPIECES AND INGLE NOOKS
 
 THE HOUSE DECORATION 
 SERIES 
 
 Ceilings and their Decorations 
 Chimneypieces and Ingle-nooks 
 Staircases and Garden Steps 
 House Antiquities and Curios 
 Porches 
 Windows
 
 CHIMNEYPIECES AND 
 INGLE NOOKS 
 
 THEIR DESIGN AND ORNAMENTATION 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 "CEILINGS AND THEIR DECORATIONS" 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 FREDERICK A, STOKES COMPANY 
 PUBLISHERS
 
 "Ceilings and Their Decoration" is valuable not only because it 
 deals with a subject of considerable interest, but also because, in 
 treating of the various styles ... it helps us to realise the inherent 
 defects of certain modern methods which we are apt to idly acquiesce 
 in. ... (a) Should appeal to all householders . . . He supplies a 
 terse but admirable and in every way adequate description of the 
 history of his subject . . . (i) ... Related in a fluent and agreeable 
 manner sufficiently technical to be of practical use to the student . . . 
 and yet not too detailed to bore the general reader . . . (c ) Mr 
 Rothery is a master of his subject . . . the book makes its first appeal 
 to the artist and architect . . . treated from an original point of view 
 . . . with criticism which is essentially stimulating. (</) The name 
 of Mr Rothery will be familiar to many of our readers and . . . 
 they will be aware how thoroughly he gathers his facts and how ably 
 he presents them, (e) May be very warmly recommended to students 
 of arch ecture and to all who are interested in the house beautiful. (/) 
 
 (a) Morning Post. (d) The Field. 
 
 (t) Bookman. (e) The Decorator. 
 
 (t) Scotiman. (/) Aberdeen Free Press.
 
 Plan 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE decided revival in the interest taken 
 in designing and decorating chimneypieces 
 makes it desirable that we should review 
 the whole subject. 
 
 In writing this book the aim has been to 
 trace the development of the fireplace and 
 what we may call its facade, and to point 
 out the chief features characterising suc- 
 cessive periods and different countries. It 
 will be seen that in Northern Europe the 
 fireplace has been, at least since the i2th 
 century, a fairly good index of the genuine 
 art appreciations of the age in which they 
 were built and beautified.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. BEGINNINGS AND EARLY DEVELOP- 
 MENTS I 
 
 II. ROMANESQUE AND EARLY GOTHIC 
 
 EXAMPLES 17 
 
 III. THE MIDDLE GOTHIC .... 30 
 
 IV. LATER GOTHIC AND EARLY RENAISS- 
 
 ANCE 45 
 
 V. HUMAN FIGURES IN GOTHIC AND 
 
 RENAISSANCE WORK ... 69 
 
 VI. THE TUDOR PERIOD . . . . 84 
 
 VII. THE JACOBEAN . i . * . IO5 
 
 VIII. LATER RENAISSANCE . . . 113 
 
 IX. NEO-CLASSIC . * . .... 132 
 
 X. THE NINETEENTH CENTURY . .139 
 
 XI. CURRENT PRACTICE . . . .150 
 
 xii. THE "INGLE-NOOK" . . . .181 
 
 XIII. NOTES ON FIREPLACE FURNITURE . 2O8 
 
 XIV. THE STOVE 219 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 227 
 
 INDEX 233 
 
 Vll
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Design attributed to Grinling Gibbons, for 
 Hampton Court Palace, (In Soane 
 Museum) Frontispiece 
 
 Stone and Brick Chimneypiece, from 
 Prittlewell. English I5th Century. 
 (Victoria and Albert Museum) . . Page 4 
 
 Florentine Stone (pietra serend) Chimney- 
 piece, 1 5th Century. (Victoria and 
 Albert Museum) 10 
 
 Italian Carved Stone Work, i$th Century. 
 
 (Victoria and Albert Museum) . . 16 
 
 Romanesque Stone Chimneypiece, Conis- 
 
 borough Castle 19 
 
 Italian Carved Stone Chimneypiece, early 
 i6th Century, with fire-dogs. (Victoria 
 and Albert Museum) ,,20 
 
 Romanesque Stone Chimneypiece, Cashel 23 
 
 Carved Stone Italian Chimneypiece, early 
 1 6th Century. (Victoria and Albert 
 Museum) 28 
 
 Flemish Coloured Marble Chimneypiece, 
 from Antwerp, i6th Century. (Victoria 
 
 and Albert Museum) .,34 
 
 ix
 
 x LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Gothic Hooded Chimneypiece, Cascina 
 
 Mirabello, Milan Page 40 
 
 Early Renaissance Chimneypiece from the 
 Palais de Justice, Bruges. (Model in 
 Victoria and Albert Museum) . . . 46 
 
 English 1 7th Century Chimneypiece, from 
 Old Palace, Bromley - by - Bow. 
 (Victoria and Albert Museum) . . 52 
 
 Tudor Renaissance Work, Weston Hall, 
 
 Warwickshire 58 
 
 English 1 7th Century Work, Holland 
 House, Kensington. (From C, J. 
 Richardson) ,64 
 
 Tudor Carved Chimneypiece, Combe 
 Abbey, Warwickshire. (From C. J. 
 Richardson) 70 
 
 English 1 7th Century Panel Work, from 
 
 Great Yarmouth ,,76 
 
 Tudor Carved Chimneypiece, with fire- 
 dogs, from Loseley, near Guildford . 84 
 
 Strapwork and Heraldry, in the Great 
 
 Hall, Haddon Hall, Derbyshire . . 92 
 
 English Late Renaissance Enamelled 
 Chimneypiece, from Governor's Par- 
 lour, Charterhouse. Detail of lower 
 panel of overmantel ,,98 
 
 English 1 7th Century Carved Stone 
 Chimneypiece, from Norwich. French 
 1 8th Century Marble and Ormolu 
 Chimneypiece, with carvings by
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xi 
 
 Clodion, and embossed iron fireplace 
 lining. (Victoria and Albert Museum) Page 106 
 
 Designs for " Continued " Architectural 
 
 Chimneypieces, by Inigo Jones . . ,,114 
 
 Designs for " Continued " Architectural 
 
 Fireplaces, by William Kent . . ,,122 
 
 Designs by Grinling Gibbons for Hampton 
 
 Court Palace. (Soane Museum) . . ,,128 
 
 Designs of Grecian Chimneypieces, by 
 
 Robert Adam. (Soane Museum); . 136 
 
 Design for Chimneypiece and Fire-Grate, 
 by Robert Adam. Design for Neo- 
 Classic Chimneypiece, by Sir William 
 Chambers. (Soane Museum) . . . 144 
 
 Design for Grecian Chimneypiece, by 
 Robert Adam. Design for Neo- 
 Classic Chimneypiece, by Sir William 
 Chambers. (Soane Museum) . . . ,,152 
 
 Design for Withdrawing Room, Mansion 
 House, London, by Dance. (Soane 
 Museum) , 160 
 
 Turkish Faience Chimneypiece, from Con- 
 stantinople, 1 8th Century. (Victoria 
 and Albert Museum) ..,... 164 
 
 Field-Stone Cottage Fireplace, American 
 
 Design ,,167 
 
 Brick and Field-Stone Fireplace, American 
 
 Design ,,169
 
 xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Brick and Woodwork Chimneypiece, with 
 Iron Fire-Back, by Mr Cecil Burns, in 
 Tunbridge Wells and County Club Page 172 
 
 Brick Fireplace on Landing, by Mr A. 
 Winter Rose. (Photo from "The 
 Modern Building Record ") . . . . ,,172 
 
 Brick Angle Fireplace, by Mr A. Winter 
 Rose. (Photo from " The Modern 
 Building Record ") ,,178 
 
 Ingle-nook, Hengrove, by Mr P. Morley 
 Horder. (Photo from "The Modern 
 Building Record ") ,,182 
 
 Ingle-nook, Marrowells, by Mr A. Winter 
 Rose. (Photo from "The Modern 
 Building Record ") ,,190 
 
 Kentish Cottage Brick Ingle-nook, with 
 Sussex iron fire-back, by W. A. 
 Forsyth (j I9 8 
 
 Monumental Chimneypiece, Dorchester 
 House, Mayfair, by Alfred Stevens. 
 (Original model, Victoria and Albert 
 Museum) M 204 
 
 Old Sussex Andiron ,210 
 
 Armorial Sussex Fire-back ,,212 
 
 Sussex Fire-back, from Sutton Hurst . . ,,213 
 
 German Stove in Faience. (Victoria and 
 
 Albert Museum) i} 220
 
 CHIMNEYPIECES AND INGLE 
 NOOKS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BEGINNINGS AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS. 
 
 So much romance attaches to the phrase 
 " hearth and home," so deep is the sentiment 
 connected with it and all that it conjures up 
 to the imagination, that it is extremely 
 difficult to realize how new are those things 
 known to us as fireplaces and chimney- 
 pieces. We are apt to take them very much 
 for granted, and regard them as coeval with 
 the dawn of civilization in northern climes. 
 They appear to us so necessary, such a 
 natural outcome of structural design. Yet 
 the truth is, they possess no great antiquity, 
 as antiquity is measured by the long strides 
 of human progress. 
 
 It is doubtful whether either the Greeks 
 or Romans in spite of the fact that their 
 dwellings were often large, elaborately 
 planned, and provided with many luxuries
 
 2 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 of the utilitarian and the purely artistic kinds 
 had even rudimentary chimneys in their 
 houses until quite a late period. Such 
 remains of buildings as have come down 
 to us outside of Pompeii, afford no evidence 
 of their use, and no direct evidence is to be 
 gathered from contemporary writers. Pal- 
 ladio certainly mentions two ancient fire- 
 places, one at Baiae and the other near Civita 
 Vecchia. He describes them as standing in 
 the middle of the rooms, columns supporting 
 architraves, whereon were placed the pyra- 
 mids or funnels through which the smoke 
 was conveyed away. It is true frequent 
 mention of fire and smoke is made by both 
 Greek and Roman authors when referring to 
 home life, but always in a somewhat vague 
 way. Homer makes Ulysses, when in 
 Calypso's grotto, express the fervent desire 
 that he might see the smoke ascending from 
 Ithaca; in other words, he was home-sick, 
 and longed for the family hearth. But 
 although there can be no smoke without a 
 fire, there can be both smoke and flame 
 without a fireplace or chimney. Indeed, 
 in most cases poets and prose writers alike 
 refer to the nuisance of smoke and the in- 
 convenience of the resulting soot ; it is only
 
 EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 3 
 
 in a secondary sense that smoke stands as 
 the emblem of home. Putting aside those 
 writers chiefly concerned with history, cus- 
 toms, and manners, we may go, as more 
 germane to our present inquiry, straight to a 
 technical authority. 
 
 Now, we find Vitruvius in his chapter on 
 " Stucco " saying : 
 
 11 Some cornices are of plain, others of 
 carved work. In small private rooms, or 
 where fire or many lights are used, they 
 should be plain, to allow of being more 
 easily cleaned ; in summer rooms and ex- 
 cedra, where the smoke is in such small 
 quantity that it can do no injury, carved 
 cornices may be used ; for white works, from 
 the delicacy of their colour, are always 
 soiled, not only with the smoke of the house 
 itself, but also with that of the neighbouring 
 buildings." In another chapter, while still 
 on the topic of decoration, he adds : 
 
 " In winter triclinia, neither large pictures 
 nor delicate ornaments in the cornice, under 
 the vault, are to be introduced, because they 
 are soon injured by the smoke of the fire 
 and of the quantity of lights used therein." 
 
 Clearly all this, from the pen of a master 
 builder, points to the non-existence o
 
 4 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 chimneys. We are face to face with a 
 system of heating very deficient, one creat- 
 ing smoke and dependent on the hypaethral 
 opening in the roof, or on the doors and 
 windows for its escape. He held that fires 
 for the purpose of warming apartments must 
 of necessity destroy decorations. Vitruvius, 
 who, it must be remembered, wrote as late 
 as the first century of our era, is so minute 
 in his instructions to builders that it is in- 
 conceivable that he should have omitted to 
 mention fireplaces and chimneys had any 
 been in common use in his days. This 
 seems conclusive enough, but we may go 
 further. 
 
 Much of our knowledge of the general life 
 of Greece and Rome, or at all events, of its 
 interesting details, is derived from a close 
 study of contemporary pictures. These are 
 mostly painted on pottery, specimens of 
 which exist from the archaic to the latest 
 periods. We have also mural paintings and 
 some mosaics, these belonging to the age of 
 Imperial luxury. Taken altogether, these 
 afford at once a valuable and an abundant 
 source of information, particularly so as 
 regards the pottery, a great deal of which 
 was made to supply the everyday wants of
 
 15th Century Chimney piece from Prittlewell.
 
 EARLY DEVELOPMENTS $ 
 
 households, and was naturally adorned with a 
 heterogeneous gallery of pictures, now touch- 
 ing upon great events the doings of gods, 
 demi-gods, and heroes anon condescending 
 to record the most trivial of domestic affairs. 
 Details that were far too familiar for writers 
 to note have come down to us, thanks to 
 the graphic touches of the humble painter. 
 It is therefore very significant that both 
 pottery designs and mural paintings are 
 scanned in vain for any representation of the 
 fireplace as we understand the term, or any 
 sign of a chimney. On the other hand, 
 we are given plenty of pictures showing fires 
 alight in the open, being used for purposes 
 of religious ceremonial, military routine, or 
 that most important domestic duty, cooking. 
 We also see brasiers, or foculi, introduced 
 into the home circle, these great dishes, 
 filled with embers or flaming wood, resting 
 on their lower rim or standing on tall feet, 
 and forming the centre of groups intent 
 on gossip or culinary efforts. 
 
 Brasiers are, of course, essentially a device 
 of a chimneyless people, invented to mitigate 
 the inconvenience of smoke in more or less 
 close confined apartments, and to overcome 
 the impossibility of having open hearths in
 
 luxuriously equipped rooms. They were 
 used mainly for bringing glowing embers 
 from great wood fires kindled outside, in the 
 courtyards or kitchens, and subsequently 
 were replenished with prepared charcoal, the 
 ligna cocta or coctilia of the Latins. This 
 was a means of warming that commended 
 itself to a people dwelling in countries blessed 
 with ardent summers, genial springs and hot 
 autumns, where the winters were short-lived 
 inconveniences. The use of brasiers per- 
 sisted long in many lands. They were 
 common in Greece up to the i8th century, 
 were retained even longer in Italy, practi- 
 cally over the whole of Spain and much of 
 France. In most of these countries the 
 open brasier prevailed. We read of Antonio 
 Magliabecchi, the famous librarian of the 
 Grand Duke of Tuscany, that he used to 
 move about among his books with a kind of 
 warming pan attached to his arms, so that 
 he might warm his hands during the cold 
 days of a Florentine winter. Paintings by 
 the great Spanish masters give us a good 
 idea of the large, ornate brass dishes, on low 
 legs, full .of live coals, so commonly used 
 even in the richly upholstered and carpeted 
 palaces. France, where the Emperor Julian
 
 EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 7 
 
 was nearly poisoned as the result of burning 
 coals being brought into his Parisian winter 
 quarters, was up to comparatively recently 
 the land of the chauffrette, or closed -in 
 brasier, the foot warmer. 
 
 From the same rich sources of painted 
 pottery and walls we also gather some fairly 
 comprehensible details concerning the hypo- 
 causta, or hot air basement stove, used both 
 in public baths and in private houses, 
 wherefrom one or two rooms, even a whole 
 house, could be warmed. Authors are also 
 definite enough upon this method. The 
 hypocausta was a stove placed in the base- 
 ment of a building, and was connected with 
 one or several chambers above by means of 
 channels in the thickness of the walls, and 
 intended to convey hot air, from which 
 smoke itself could not always be excluded. 
 According to Seneca, these channels opened 
 into chambers by way of a lion's or a 
 dolphin's head, whose gaping mouth could 
 be closed by means of a trap. In this way 
 hot air was admitted or excluded as desired. 
 It is to be observed that these channels do 
 not appear to have been carried upon a level 
 with or above the roof in order to emit 
 smoke after the gases had stored their heat
 
 8 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 in the brick conduit. The idea was rather 
 to conserve heat to the fullest extent, so 
 that, when the chamber outlets were closed, 
 the tubes began and ended in the stove. 
 Of course smoke must have escaped into the 
 apartments, and may be one of the reasons 
 for Vitruvius's cautions. No doubt by care- 
 ful choice of fuel, wood soaked in water and 
 then dried, dressed with oil lees, or the use 
 of coctilia, or again by keeping a brisk fire 
 with closed traps until the brickwork was 
 hot and the fuel reduced to embers, the 
 smoke nuisance may have been considerably 
 mitigated. Horace seems to draw a dis- 
 tinction between the warming of houses of 
 the well-to-do and the makeshift expedients 
 adopted in wayside inns, which brought 
 water to his eyes. The hypocausta was 
 clearly a matter of luxury and not of common 
 use. 
 
 In addition to the pictorial records of the 
 ancients, and the less satisfactory cursory 
 remarks of their authors, the study of archi- 
 tectural vestiges affords occasional useful 
 information. Winkelmann, in describing his 
 discoveries at Herculaneum, says : 
 
 " Of chimneys in apartments no traces are 
 to be seen. Charcoal was found in some of
 
 EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 9 
 
 the rooms in the city of Herculaneum, from 
 which we may conclude that the inhabitants 
 used only charcoal fires for warming them- 
 selves. ... In the villas, however, which 
 were situated without Rome, on eminences 
 where the air was purer and colder [than in 
 the city],]the ancients had hypocausta, which 
 were perhaps more common than in the city. 
 Stoves were found in the apartments of a 
 ruined villa when the ground was dug up. 
 . . . Below these apartments there were 
 subterranean chambers, about the height of 
 a table, two and two under each apartment, 
 and close on all sides. The flat top of these 
 chambers consisted of very large tiles, and 
 was supported by two pillars, which, as well 
 as the tiles, were joined together, not with 
 lime but some kind of cement, that they 
 might not be separated by the heat. In the 
 roofs of these chambers there were square 
 pipes made of clay, which hung half-way 
 down into each, and the mouths of them 
 were conveyed into the apartment above. 
 Pipes of the like kind built into the walls of 
 the lower apartment rose into another in the 
 second storey, where their mouths were orna- 
 mented with the figure of a lion's head in 
 burned clay. A narrow passage, of about
 
 io CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 two feet in breadth, conducted to the sub- 
 terranean chambers, into which coals were 
 thrown through a square hole, and the heat 
 was conveyed from them by means of the 
 before-mentioned pipes into the apartment 
 immediately above, the floor of which was 
 composed of coarse mosaic work, and the 
 walls were encrusted with marble. This was 
 the sweating apartment. The heat of this 
 apartment was conveyed into that on the 
 second storey by the clay pipes enclosed in 
 the wall, which had mouths opening into the 
 former, as well as the latter, to collect and 
 afford a passage to the heat, which was 
 moderated to the upper apartment, and could 
 be increased or lessened at pleasure." 
 
 However, as we have said, the hypocausta 
 in private buildings was the exception, not 
 the rule. Apart from the brasiers, the most 
 general way of warming apartments with the 
 ancients was by means of a fire of wood or 
 charcoal built up on a hearth, a flat stone or 
 a concave depression, placed in the centre of 
 rooms, the smoke from which was conveyed 
 away through an opening in the roof, or 
 simply by way of the doors and windows. 
 Sometimes such hearths were placed close 
 to walls. When the Roman villa was dis-
 
 Florentine Stone, about 1450.
 
 EARLY DEVELOPMENTS n 
 
 covered at Bognor in Sussex, a hearth of 
 this kind was found. It was formed of a 
 stone slab and some bricks, firmly clamped 
 together by means of iron ties in such a way 
 as to provide a well-like enclosure. In fact, 
 this luxurious dwelling was provided with 
 just such a device as is adopted by campers 
 and humble picnickers anxious to boil a 
 kettle or broil a bird. In this instance there 
 were no signs of any chimney connection, 
 and there were no traces of any superstruc- 
 ture. 
 
 A limited qualification is here necessary. 
 We have mentioned above that Pompeii 
 must be excepted from our general remarks. 
 It is a fact that in one or two instances an 
 elementary type of fireplace and chimney has 
 been found in that buried city, and if Palladio 
 is correct, in two other instances elsewhere. 
 In the buried cities the fireplaces are seen in 
 the shape of a cavity, formed of an elliptical 
 truncated cone of brick, and surmounted by 
 pipes, or smoke channels in earthenware. 
 These are extremely rare, and probably 
 formed part of the kitchen equipment, for 
 they have a somewhat close resemblance to 
 the present local fornello, or small solid 
 structures of brick or stone masonry, with
 
 12 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 a tiny depression for burning charcoal. The 
 point is that even this quite rudimentary 
 type is only met with in a very few instances 
 at Pompeii, and a still more rudimentary 
 stage suggested in still rarer cases, as at 
 Bognor. 
 
 Now, this brings us into contact with the 
 primitive methods of semi -nomadic tribes 
 and hut dwellers. Mr E. Way Elkington 
 in his book, "The Savage South Seas," 
 writing about the wooden huts of the coastal 
 villages in New Guinea, which huts are built 
 on piles over the sea and roofed with palm 
 leaves, says that specially hard timber is 
 chosen for the flooring. " One log tougher 
 than the rest is placed in position by the 
 door, and on this a fire will probably be 
 burning and a woman squatting by it, cook- 
 ing her lord and master's evening meal. 
 The rank, yellow smoke which curls round 
 her does not inconvenience her in the least. 
 She takes no heed of it, but blows away 
 at the embers. She never fears that the fire 
 will spread and burn down her home." But 
 while the smoke-grimed interior of tents and 
 huts are commonplaces to travellers among 
 savage and barbaric people, in certain 
 regions local exigencies brought about a
 
 EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 13 
 
 refinement. Where fuel was scarce some 
 method of conservation of heat must have 
 early been hit upon. This is peculiarly true 
 of treeless and bushless lands, where the 
 droppings of herds and cattle form the 
 principal source of fuel. Experience must 
 have soon taught that the building up of 
 a protecting wall at back and sides was 
 necessary, both for economy and comfort. 
 The next step would be to partly cover in 
 the structure with stones, turf, or mud, 
 leaving an opening in front to feed the fire, 
 and another at the top for the escape of 
 smoke or the reception of a cooking vessel. 
 In this we have undoubtedly the prototype 
 of the mound-like enclosed stoves of Central 
 Asia and the northern regions of our 
 Continent. Enclosure would, of course, 
 bring about the necessity for a smoke 
 channel, a chimney, either central and more 
 or less vertical, or lateral, underground, and 
 horizontal. The development of the stove 
 as a means of house-warming must be dealt 
 with at length at a later stage. 
 
 A desire to provide safeguards against 
 conflagration rather than the idea of con- 
 servation of heat was the guiding principle 
 responsible for the evolution of the semi-
 
 I 4 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 enclosed fireplace and the chimney. Field 
 practice taught the advantages of building 
 up a fire within the confines of a back wall 
 and two side wings, rather than on a mere 
 slab, so the central position of the hearth 
 was changed for that of a space against a 
 chamber wall, often with disastrous results. 
 This experience would lead to a lining of 
 the wall at the back, especially when much 
 wood, or merely reeds and mud were used 
 in construction. We have examples of this 
 even so late as in the rebuilding of Bolsover 
 Castle by the Cavendishes in the i7th 
 century. The "training up of the side wing 
 enclosures would follow the provision of a 
 back plate, and then the benefits to be 
 derived from a side opening in the outer 
 wall, and some means of directing the smoke 
 towards it, would sooner or later become 
 evident, and thus the fireplace and chimney 
 came into existence. We can see all this 
 in the early examples of Romanesque 
 buildings. 
 
 A development which seems so self- 
 evident, a method which appears quite 
 natural to the merest tyro in log-hut build- 
 ing was, however, long delayed. It assuredly 
 did not reach us from Egypt, a land where
 
 EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 15 
 
 the principle of the hot-air stove, not only 
 for baking, but for incubating eggs, was well 
 understood. Nor did it come from Greece 
 or Rome. It probably suggested itself to 
 builders in wood ; but even so, it was a 
 very late invention. 
 
 With us, as we have seen, the Roman 
 invaders used the brasier and the open, 
 chimneyless hearth, so that it is evident they 
 cannot have found any superior device of 
 native contrivance. Indeed, what we know 
 of Celtic England shows us a country of 
 single chamber dwellings, later having cell- 
 like excrescences, with the central hearth 
 stove beneath a hypaethral opening. Among 
 the Saxons the brasier was also used, 
 probably descending from Latium through 
 the intermediary of the Romanised Britons. 
 But the prevailing style with them was 
 not modelled on the Roman villa or military 
 castle. With them, as with the Celts, the 
 single chamber, be it a small room or a large 
 hall, was the rule, and therein a fire was 
 built up on a central hearthstone, placed 
 beneath the roof opening. 
 
 That this method was general down to 
 a late period is evidenced by the institution 
 of the curfew, the Norman couvre-feu, a
 
 16 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 measure instigated, no doubt, largely by 
 political motives, yet based on the un- 
 questionable policy of public safety. That a 
 law should be enacted obliging everybody 
 to cover over the house fire at the approach 
 of night, whether that fire was built in a 
 pit or piled up on a flat or raised hearth- 
 stone, would be understandable enough, 
 because it provided against the danger of 
 conflagration resulting from unattended open 
 fires, while conserving the heat that would 
 still be given out from the embers. In- 
 cidentally, of course, the institution of the 
 curfew made the detection of secret as- 
 semblies an easy matter, but the law had 
 to be based on a more obvious requirement 
 of the commonweal to make it possible. It 
 is significant, as we shall see in the next 
 chapter, that the curfew should have been 
 abolished by Henry I. in uoo, when the 
 chimney, with all that it implied, was be- 
 ginning to make its appearance. Which, at 
 all events, demonstrates how political benefits 
 may result from progress in the arts of 
 peace. Certainly the change of an open 
 hearth into the fireplace was an immense 
 step towards comfort and a great artistic 
 gain, as the following pages will show.
 
 Italian, 15th Century.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ROMANESQUE AND EARLY GOTHIC EXAMPLES. 
 
 IN the Romanesque we have a sterner ren- 
 dering of that phase of Roman architecture 
 adopted for military and semi- military edi- 
 fices. Many of the earlier examples of the 
 Romanesque give us tower-like structures, 
 with a single chamber to each floor. Some- 
 times such keeps form a corner of a more 
 imposing building, with main hall and other 
 clustered apartments. In these halls usually 
 the flat hearthstone, chimneyless, and placed 
 in the centre, prevailed. Several instances 
 of this arrangement have come down to us. 
 At Penshurst Place, Kent, the Banqueting 
 Hall has a central fireplace, a mere platform 
 of stones with an octagonal kerb. 
 
 The Bayeux tapestry, though dealing with 
 a military adventure, gives us views of 
 several interiors, yet while we frequently
 
 i8 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 see preparations for feasting, as well as 
 conclaves held, there are no indications of 
 fireplaces or of chimneys. Other pictorial 
 records afforded by illuminated MSS. are 
 equally negative as to evidence on these 
 points. On the other hand, we find authors 
 as early as 1069 referring to caminata, a 
 term which has been interpreted by many 
 as denoting rooms provided with chimneys, 
 probably on the ground that Papias the 
 grammarian, writing in 1051, defined fum- 
 arium as caminus per quern exit fumus. But 
 it may be that this fumarium, this highway 
 for the escape of smoke, was something of 
 the nature of a hood or funnel, arranged 
 somewhat after the manner of the hypocausta 
 pipes described by Winkelmann, only having 
 an opposite function that is, the conveying 
 away of smoke from open hearths, of which 
 we have still many examples. Then we 
 would regard caminata as chambers having 
 hearths, but provided with hypaethral or 
 other openings, with some structure training 
 the smoke towards the opening : an improve- 
 ment on mere dependence upon windows and 
 doorways. It was a considerable step for- 
 ward, which was to be developed successfully, 
 for we find regularly-designed fireplaces with
 
 ROMANESQUE & EARLY GOTHIC 19 
 
 rudimentary chimneys making their appear- 
 ance with the later Romanesque builders. 
 Conisborough, Rochester, Newcastle - on - 
 Tyne, Tonbridge, and Somerton Castles, 
 Clifford's Tower and Durham Abbey kitchen 
 in England, and Cashel and Kilmallock in 
 Ireland, bear witness to this. 
 
 LOWER CHIMNEYPIECE, CONISBOROUGH CASTLE. 
 
 Of these, Conisborough possesses peculiar 
 interest, both to the archaeologist and the 
 architect, in this particular connection, be- 
 cause two of the keep's chambers contain 
 fireplaces which are characterised by very
 
 20 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 instructive transition features. That is to 
 say, the hearths are here of a primitive 
 type, but are provided with astonishingly 
 well developed frames and hoods, as well 
 as with quite effective chimneys. This keep, 
 which was built for William de Warren under 
 license from William Rufus, and therefore 
 dates back to the last decade of the nth, 
 or the early years of the i2th century, is a 
 tower rising from a spreading base, has im- 
 mensely thick walls, and only one chamber 
 on each floor. On the first floor is the 
 principal chamber, and here is seen a large 
 fireplace, the hearth against the wall, but 
 not recessed, coming, indeed, well into the 
 room. In order to secure draught and the 
 escape of smoke, the wall behind the hearth- 
 stone slopes backwards from base upwards, 
 where it is connected with a shaft. The 
 jambs are in the form of wing walls of 
 moderate projection just covering the hearth, 
 and are ornamented in front with a cluster 
 of three non - engaged columns. These 
 columns stand on a single base, have plain 
 shafts, with individual and slightly foliated 
 capitals. Another interesting detail is that 
 the chimney lintel or architrave, which is 
 straight, is formed of large dressed stones,
 
 Italian, Early 16th Century.
 
 ROMANESQUE & EARLY GOTHIC 21 
 
 the centre one being wedge-shaped, with 
 cut-in sides on the lower half. The stones 
 on both sides are hipped on their face 
 towards the keystone and cut-in on their 
 outward side, thus the whole row is joggled. 
 A method of keying such as this is often 
 resorted to, with modifications in the details 
 of jogglings. At Cashel, where we have a 
 fine example of Norman work, the same style 
 is adopted, while in a much later example at 
 Edlingham Castle, Northants, circa 1330, in 
 the Decorated style, the long narrow stones 
 are given a curious wavy form, something 
 like the nebuld line in heraldry. Joggling 
 was a system of gaining strength possessing 
 distinct artistic merits. But to return to 
 Conisborough. The architrave of our speci- 
 men supports a moderately proportioned 
 flat-topped hood. In the upper chamber 
 the fireplace is constructed on the same 
 principle, also having a sloping back, wing 
 walls, and three clustered columns, only it is 
 rather smaller, with flat, hoodless top. In 
 both examples, while the hearth is in the 
 room, the smoke is trained away from the 
 interior towards the throat, where it joins a 
 shaft carried upwards to the ramparts. It is 
 conjectured that some form of top or stack 
 
 c
 
 22 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 may have existed originally. It will be seen 
 that in these we find utilitarian details turned 
 conscientiously to decorative account. It 
 is with us the advent of the chimney- 
 piece. 
 
 Rochester Castle, which was built by 
 Bishop Gundulph about the same time as 
 Conisborough, is a more pretentious edifice, 
 but possesses rather more primitive fire- 
 places. They are placed against the walls, 
 are slightly recessed in circular form, have 
 semi-circular arched openings, with two 
 columns at side, a tall breast, and small, flat- 
 topped hood, the whole being nearly flush 
 with the walls. The hearths, sides, and 
 backs form a sort of conical cavity, reaching 
 outwards to a loophole opening, placed 
 uniformly with the regular loopholes. A 
 zigzag or chevron ornamentation is cut as 
 a border to the arched opening. 
 
 At Colchester Castle the fireplaces, con- 
 trived against the walls, are recessed, have a 
 lower stone-course, with brickwork above. 
 The bricks are rather narrow, and are laid 
 slanting, first to right, then to left, but not in 
 regular herring-bone style, inasmuch as we 
 find three courses to the left, then two to the 
 right, and so on. The backs are shallow,
 
 ROMANESQUE & EARLY GOTHIC 23 
 
 but slope upwards, while the openings are 
 arched. 
 
 At Newcastle-on-Tyne, built in 1172-77, 
 the arched opening is segmental, and is 
 adorned with the Norman billet. 
 
 CORNER FIREPLACE, CASHEL. 
 
 At Penshurst one of the ancient stone 
 fireplaces has a raised hearth, slender jambs, 
 flat breast, with crenelated base, and pointed 
 hood. Britton gives a picture of a Norman 
 fireplace from Winwall House, Norfolk, of
 
 24 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 uncertain date. It is placed against the 
 wall, has a raised, slightly recessed hearth, 
 wing walls of moderate projection, slightly 
 decorated lintel, and conical hood carried to 
 the ceiling. The back has the angles filled 
 in, thus presenting a five- sided chamber. 
 
 In Ireland we have found examples of 
 Norman work at Kilmallock and at Cashel. 
 The latter is curious, because it is built in an 
 angle, one wall forming the back, which is 
 given an upward slope from the base, while 
 the other wall is utilised as the enclosing 
 wing. There is a broad, joggled lintel, and 
 a truncated, pointed hood. A very quaint 
 feature is the curved masonry arm, like a 
 horizontal flying buttress, carried from the 
 side lintel to the wall. 
 
 In France regularly constructed fireplaces 
 seem to have come in with the i2th century. 
 They were placed against the walls, were 
 provided with jambs to enclose the hearths, 
 were crowned by architraves supporting 
 well developed hoods connected with smoke 
 outlets. 
 
 In Flanders the change appears to have 
 developed much earlier. At the Chateau 
 des Comtes, Ghent, there are three very 
 instructive examples hidden away in the
 
 ROMANESQUE & EARLY GOTHIC 2$ 
 
 basement, They are little more than arched 
 recesses in the walls, though in one case the 
 back is circular, and the arch is made to 
 spring from the floor base with slight pro- 
 jection, so that we find rudimentary jambs. 
 Other similar fireplaces are seen in several 
 houses in the town. Then, in a fine old 
 merchant's house in the rue Basse, possess- 
 ing a very primitive recessed arrangement 
 in the basement, we come upon something far 
 more advanced on the first floor, the fire- 
 place being provided with jambs and pillars, 
 the summits spreading out into corbels 
 adorned (if that is the fitting word for the 
 hideous mask) with a human face. These 
 belong to the loth and nth centuries. At 
 Bruges, in the gatehouses of the Porte 
 de Gands and the Porte Ste Croix, we find 
 quaint, recessed fireplaces, with -circular 
 backs, mouldings round the openings, but 
 no jambs, the lintels triangular, with long 
 bases. In the first example the top of the 
 lintel is outlined for nearly its whole length 
 with a course of upright bricks. In the 
 second there is a semi-circular course of 
 bricks some few inches above the lintel. 
 These additions can have no other than a 
 decorative object.
 
 26 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 With us other rudimentary fireplaces have 
 been recorded at Clifford's Tower, York ; at 
 Tonbridge Castle, built by Richard de Clare, 
 temp. William II.; in the keep of the 
 late Norman period at Middleham Castle, 
 Yorks (provided with smoke shafts) ; at the 
 Jews House, Lincoln, circa 1150, where the 
 fireplace is built on an arch over the en- 
 trance door, and is provided with a semi- 
 external smoke flue rising to the eaves ; 
 at the Pottergate Arch, Lincoln, temp. 
 Edward I. ; at Somerton Castle, Lincoln- 
 shire, built by Antony Bek (subsequently 
 Bishop of Durham), who had licence from 
 Edward I. in 1281 to crenelate his castle; 
 and at Boothby Pagnall, also in Lincoln- 
 shire. This last has a fireplace against the 
 wall, the hearth being enclosed by a raised 
 masonry kerb with rounded ends ; it has no 
 jambs or wing walls, but a hood juts out 
 from the wall above the hearth, and is con- 
 nected with a smoke channel. 
 
 This form of construction at Boothby 
 Pagnall is, of course, a transition device, 
 a variation of the roof funnel hood, placed 
 over the central hearths in large halls and in 
 kitchens. 
 
 In the Monasticum Gallicum a Roman-
 
 ROMANESQUE & EARLY GOTHIC 27 
 
 esque kitchen roof is pictured. It appears 
 as a conical mound, having three rows of 
 conical chimneys, one row above the other, 
 each chimney shaped somewhat like a 
 miniature kiln or bottle ; at the top is a 
 rather larger chimney, belching forth smoke. 
 No details are given, but elaborate as it is 
 this does not necessarily entail a regular fire- 
 place or even a smoke funnel. What was 
 usually done was to build the roof over the 
 hearth in the form of a cupola, this being 
 louvred, or provided with chimneys. To 
 facilitate the removal of smoke and create 
 draught the hood was sometimes added. 
 The pierced hood cupola was certainly 
 adopted at the great kitchen of the Roman- 
 esque monastery of Fontevrault, which has a 
 tall pyramidal octagon dome with chimney 
 at top and a few openings lower down. At 
 a much later period the Great Hall at West- 
 minster School was provided with a central 
 brasier, placed under a mere louvred pro- 
 jection in the timbered roof. The roof hood, 
 however, was frequently in the form of an 
 inverted funnel, suggesting the hood of the 
 chimneypiece as seen in the examples above 
 described. 
 
 We may take this as the general rule,
 
 28 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 though the examples referred to show that 
 the chimney and smoke flues were early 
 utilised. Nevertheless, regular chimney 
 flues, consisting of square or cylindrical 
 masonry shafts carried above the roof ridge, 
 and provided with a more or less ornamental 
 opening, did not come into anything like 
 wide use with us until the reign of Henry 
 III., when architectural art had made great 
 strides, especially in the development of 
 details tending towards a combination of 
 comfort with decoration. 
 
 This was the period of the Early English 
 or Lancet style of Gothic, with its develop- 
 ment of deep recesses, lancet form of arches 
 and openings, adoption of small slender 
 pillars, often several slender ones being 
 grouped round a larger one, and moderate 
 use of foliage as decorative motifs. 
 
 At Aydon Castle, Northants, we have two 
 chimneys, which, though belonging to the 
 year 1270 or thereabouts, have little of the 
 Gothic feeling. One, however, with a square 
 opening and no lintel, has a rounded hood 
 supported by a group of slender pillars on 
 each side. The second has also a square 
 opening, crowned by a broad lintel and 
 square hood.
 
 Italian Early 16th Century.
 
 ROMANESQUE & EARLY GOTHIC 29 
 
 At Abingdon Abbey, Berkshire, a Wes- 
 sex foundation of the 7th century, rebuilt in 
 the 1 3th century, there is a fine chimney- 
 piece in the Prior's room. It is against the 
 wall, has a deep, circular recess with brick 
 back, jambs formed of stone pillars with 
 foliated capitals, supporting a tall, stone 
 hood. The throat, covered by the hood, 
 is in direct communication with a flue, 
 carried up and ending in a chimney closed 
 by pretty gables, each pierced for the escape 
 of smoke. This is a practical adapta- 
 tion of the older louvre, itself an improve- 
 ment on the mere hypaethral opening, much 
 in vogue both here and on the Continent. 
 
 Stokesay, Shropshire, provides us with 
 another example, very similar to that at 
 Abingdon, but with less elaborate chimney.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE MIDDLE GOTHIC. 
 
 WITH the general advance in domestic 
 architecture there came about a correspond- 
 ing development of the fireplace. It had 
 suffered somewhat as a social centre when 
 the hospitable but inconvenient open hearth 
 was removed to a side wall, and there more 
 or less cut off by wings and dimmed by a 
 low hanging hood. There was a certain 
 exclusiveness in this arrangement, but as, 
 indeed, the change had been introduced with 
 a view to the exclusion of smoke, the advan- 
 tages of an effective framing for the hearth 
 were recognised. As the separate parts 
 that go to make up the complete chimney- 
 piece the jambs or wing- walls, the archi- 
 trave or lintel, the smoke collector or hood, 
 were studied, it was seen that they possessed 
 decorative possibilities. The removal of the 
 30
 
 THE MIDDLE GOTHIC 31 
 
 fireplace from the centre of the hall to the 
 middle of one of the walls, or even to an 
 angle of a room, as at Cashel, did not 
 necessarily entail dwarfing. Builders were 
 designing boldly, and chimneypieces as one 
 of the chief interior features began to be 
 built on a big scale. Everything tended 
 towards this end, for spaciousness was aimed 
 at in the Hall or other principal room. But 
 then considerations of comfort and ex- 
 pediency brought about a fashion of dividing 
 up a Hall, almost of placing a room within a 
 room. There was the raised platform, with 
 some kind of dais for the great folk ; the 
 carved screens often of considerable mag- 
 nitude and closed in at the top to cut 
 off direct communication with outer lobby 
 and domestic offices ; f^ir oriels, with or 
 without raised floors, and partly enclosed 
 recess closets, forming useful withdrawing 
 rooms; also minstrel and service galleries. 
 All this led to the chimneypiece being 
 developed along lines which made it at once 
 a conspicuous detail, yet a further sub- 
 division of a great assembly centre. 
 
 To some extent the practice of deep 
 recessing, of building the fireplace within the 
 wall's thickness, was abandoned or modified.
 
 32 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 A long and deep hearth jutted well out into 
 the room, first on a level with the floor, then 
 raised. This was enclosed by wing walls, 
 forming the jambs, pillars when they existed 
 being merely used for purposes of adorn- 
 ment. These wings were often brought out 
 at right angles from the wall, then turned at 
 right angles again, so as to form niches 
 within the fireplace. From wing to wing an 
 arch was thrown, or a lintel formed, fre- 
 quently carefully keyed by some such 
 picturesque form of joggling as already 
 mentioned. This supported the great hood 
 above or formed part of the breast, a hood 
 which was frequently carried up close to the 
 wall cornice. This was intended at once 
 as a smoke collector and a draught inducer, 
 training air and smoke towards the throat of 
 the chimneypiece, which was the immediate 
 opening to the smoke shaft. So great were 
 the proportions given that a man could stand 
 upright on a hearthstone, or sit in com- 
 fort protected by the jamb and its inward- 
 curving wing. 
 
 This was the general character of chimney- 
 piece design and is found influencing the 
 construction even in quite moderate sized 
 dwellings. Of the magnitude they could
 
 THE MIDDLE GOTHIC 33 
 
 assume we may judge by examples still 
 existing, and by that horrible story told by 
 Froissart. He was staying at Foy in the 
 winter of 1388, when Ernauton the Bastard 
 of Spain, another guest, strolled into the 
 crowded courtyard, and picking up a donkey 
 with its panniers filled with logs, carried them 
 into the Hall, and scattering the assembled 
 men - at - arms and knights, threw wood, 
 baskets, and struggling donkey, its legs 
 kicking in the air, on to the andirons amidst 
 the flaming mass, "to the great joy of the 
 Comte de Foix and all who were there," the 
 chronicler concludes. Let us hope that 
 such cruelty was not of frequent occurrence, 
 although tales of babes cast into the great 
 fiery caverns are told with suspicious re- 
 currence with us, in France and in Germany. 
 Eckhart tells us, too, that in religious houses 
 the scourge hung on the chimney hood, and 
 culprits were tied to the jambs to be flogged, 
 no doubt owing to the conspicuous position 
 of the chimneypiece and this being the usual 
 headquarters of Abbot or Prior. 
 
 Usually, however, the chimney corner was 
 the place where the elders sat, entertaining 
 guests, instructing the young, gossiping with 
 neighbours, and confabulating over private
 
 34 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 matters. In fact, the chimney corner was a 
 refuge from the hurly-burly of the common 
 meeting room, of it, yet set apart, a kind of 
 privy closet associated with all that is most 
 sacred connected with home, the Lares and 
 Penates of Northern people. And so there 
 grew into the French language that delight- 
 fully domestic phrase, Sous le manteau de la 
 cheminte, to describe some friendly counsel 
 quietly given, some semi-secret circulating 
 in undertones among the family or inner 
 circle. 
 
 Thus the fireplace became even more the 
 spot where the host was found than the 
 hospitable board itself. A rallying point like 
 this, looming large, with conspicuous features, 
 attracting the eyes of all who entered the 
 room, naturally became the subject for care- 
 ful thought, liberal handling and even lavish 
 decoration. 
 
 Carved stone was the usual material for 
 chimneypieces up to well in the i6th century. 
 Such material as was locally at hand was 
 commonly chosen. Thus we have hard 
 building material in Derbyshire and North- 
 umberland, white and greyish yellow chalk 
 in Kent and Sussex, hard but easily handled 
 sandstone and the more brittle, greyish
 
 Flemish Coloured Marbles, 16th Century.
 
 THE MIDDLE GOTHIC 35 
 
 black slate in Italy, the soft stones in Nor- 
 mandy and Brittany. Bricks, however, were 
 constantly utilised for backs and cheeks, 
 possibly owing to their being cheaper, but 
 also on account of their more or less re- 
 fractory character as compared with many 
 stones, and their capacity for storing and 
 reflecting heat. Brick was also occasionally 
 used for the decorative parts of the super- 
 structure. Brick and stone were practically 
 the only combination resorted to by builders 
 at this period. 
 
 The carving often showed great technical 
 skill. Incised lines, slight rounding, deep 
 cutting, and complete relief were all used. 
 But as a rule broad effects were aimed at, 
 the carving alternating with large plain 
 surfaces. These surfaces, however, were 
 frequently painted in vivid colours, with 
 the same bold lavishness as bright tints 
 in daring contrast were applied to the stone 
 walls, carved pillars and roofs of medieval 
 ecclesiastical and domestic building. For 
 reasons that are sufficiently evident, chimney- 
 pieces were more often cleaned than walls 
 or ceilings, and consequently only tracings 
 of such colouring have come down to us, 
 though the indications are sufficient to show
 
 36 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 how these monumental adjuncts to the Hall 
 and the private apartments shone and 
 glowed when the fires were lighted. 
 
 So great were the Halls at this period 
 and in the following century that frequently 
 one fireplace was not considered enough. 
 We find some Halls provided with two, 
 placed apart against the same wall ; occasion- 
 ally placed on opposite walls. The more 
 usual course, however, was to increase the 
 width of the hearth, and divide them into 
 two or more fires. At Linlithgow Palace 
 there is a very wide fireplace with four sets 
 of pillars, thus dividing it into three hearths. 
 At the Palais des Comtes, Poitiers, in the 
 West of France, division is even more 
 thorough, for the huge fireplace has not 
 only four sets of columns, but these are 
 backed by partitions, at right angles to the 
 back, but communicating at the breast with 
 the same smoke outlet. At Mont St. Michel 
 there is another great chimneypiece covering 
 three hearths. In the Salle des Preuses, 
 Chateau de Coucy, Picardy, the hearth is 
 doubled by a single dividing wall. This is 
 a huge structure, with a wide but somewhat 
 low opening, with columns and massive wing 
 walls, the whole being of considerable pro-
 
 THE MIDDLE GOTHIC 37 
 
 jection. The overmantel is a square 
 structure, adorned with nine figures of 
 heroic proportions, carved in high relief, but 
 otherwise the decoration is subdued, indeed 
 somewhat rough in character. 
 
 In the Durham old Convent Kitchen, built 
 in 1368, there is more than one fireplace, 
 as was natural, placed against the wall as in 
 other examples of even much later date, 
 where we find hearths placed opposite each 
 other in circular and octagon chambers. 
 But these usually communicated with the 
 same smoke shaft, though at Durham, where 
 the hearths are deeply recessed, and have a 
 wide arch formed of carved stone, each fire- 
 place has a separate shaft carried up to the 
 parapet. At St. Cross Hospital near Win- 
 chester, built by Cardinal Beaufort about 
 1450, the large fireplace has also an external 
 stone shaft on the front wall. 
 
 A very interesting example of mixed stone 
 and brickwork of this period, coming from 
 Prittlewell in Essex, is to be seen at the 
 Victoria and Albert Museum, South Ken- 
 sington. The whole structure is about four- 
 teen feet high. The lower part is of carved 
 stone, and from the breast upwards of red 
 brick. It is quite irregular in design, no 
 
 D
 
 38 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 attempt at balancing being made, which may 
 have been due to its position in a peculiarly 
 shaped room. On the left the wing wall is 
 a straight slab ; on the right the lower part 
 is cut away, leaving a slight projection at the 
 top, like a console. The ornamental carving 
 is quite simple. Over the slightly arched open- 
 ing there are two narrow pendentive panels, 
 filled with low relief foliated design, little 
 more than indicated. Under the hood, on 
 the left, there is a stone seat. The brick- 
 work entablature is square built, with curi- 
 ously battlemented top, but lower on the 
 left than on the right. The flat surface is 
 adorned with a great sunken panel, marked 
 out by heavy raised round mouldings, within 
 which is an arch, sheltering a triple arch, the 
 middle section being given special promi- 
 nence, and below this is an arcade loft, 
 with three equal-sized arched tops, the 
 soffits ornamented with multifoil tracery. 
 The two upper pendentives are filled with 
 trefoils in tracery, having two huge lobes 
 and a small one. There are no pillars, but 
 under the arches are indications of long 
 stalks with trilobed flowers. This square 
 panel is placed slightly to the right, and 
 flanking it on the left is a narrow sunken
 
 THE MIDDLE GOTHIC 39 
 
 trilobed arched panel. This whole form of 
 decoration is most peculiar, and raises inter- 
 esting problems as to the original condition 
 of such a unique monument of our domestic 
 architecture. 
 
 In the same collection there is a Florentine 
 example belonging to the second half of the 
 1 5th century. It is a massive sandstone 
 structure with well carved figures, showing 
 considerable superiority in design and work- 
 manship over the Prittlewell specimen, and, 
 indeed, over much of the more pretentious 
 French and Flemish work of the same 
 period. 
 
 Far more Gothic in feeling is the large 
 conically hooded fireplace on the ground 
 floor in the Cascina Mirabello on the out- 
 skirts of Milan. It is of plastered stone, 
 strikingly coloured. The opening is wide 
 and tall, there is a good lintel, and the 
 breast is covered by a great pointed hood, 
 excellent in outline, decorated with boldly 
 drawn coat-of-arms, specially interesting on 
 account of the overbalancing disproportion 
 of the crest, which marked heraldic work of 
 this period generally ; a fashion which con- 
 tinued in Teutonic countries even much 
 later. Another curious point is that these
 
 40 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 are the arms of the Visconti, though of dif- 
 ferent tinctures, affording an instance of an 
 overlord granting his bearings, with suf- 
 ficiently distinctive modifications, as a mark 
 of favour. 
 
 The fashion of adorning the chimney 
 architrave or the hood with armorial in- 
 signia was coming in at this period, though 
 heraldic embellishments were not then used 
 so lavishly as they were at a later date. 
 This was probably due to the fact that the 
 armorial fighting and jousting shields were 
 still in general use, and were hung up on the 
 walls. A happy introduction of heraldic 
 symbols on a more modest scale than this 
 Italian example is to be seen on a monu- 
 mental chimneypiece at Tattershall Castle, 
 Lincolnshire, which Ralph, Lord Cromwell, 
 rebuilt about 1650. He placed his official 
 badge as Treasurer of the King's Exchequer, 
 a purse with gold tassels, in the middle of 
 the handsomely carved architrave. 
 
 Coming back to more ambitious efforts we 
 may refer to several Continental examples. 
 
 In the Salle des Gardes, in the Palace of 
 the Duke of Burgundy at Dijon, belonging 
 to the end of the I5th century, there is a 
 very large fireplace with a raised hearth-
 
 Gothic Work. Milan.
 
 THE MIDDLE GOTHIC 41 
 
 stone. The jambs are adorned with 
 clustered diamond-shaped columns with plain 
 shafts. There is a great projecting hood, 
 providing quite a roomy chamber for the 
 hearth. Above the pillars are two niches of 
 Gothic tracery and pointed floreated fleches, 
 affording asylum for two knights in armour. 
 The central panel of the chimney breast 
 is filled with excellent open tracery, partly 
 geometric and partly foliated work, surround- 
 ing fleur de Us badges. It is a very fine 
 example of this style. 
 
 The Flemings were also building large 
 chimneypieces at this time, the Gothic being 
 of the decorated type, with a certain Bur- 
 gundian broadness in outline. In the Salle 
 des Pas Perdus, at the Hotel de Ville, 
 Mons, there is a carved blue stone chimney- 
 piece on a colossal scale. The jambs are 
 severely plain, half the front space being 
 occupied by octagonal pilasters with inter- 
 laced capitals. The frieze or lintel is broad, 
 composed of large stones, richly joggled, the 
 stones having elaborate outwardly curved 
 and sharp incurved outlines for the purpose 
 of keying and decoration. The chimney- 
 breast is massive, divided into three panels 
 by four columns topped by foliated finials,
 
 42 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 the panels being covered with geometric 
 tracery. At the Mont de Pie'te', Malines, 
 there is another noteworthy example. It is 
 of very considerable size, but has slender 
 jambs with flat mouldings, and an engaged 
 pillar with flat moulding. As in much of the 
 Flemish work of this type, in place of a 
 capital, the pillar and top part of the jamb is 
 curved outward, to form an apparent support 
 for the lintel, which is brought forward, is 
 straight, broad, and adorned with elaborate 
 mouldings, consisting of hollows, rounds and 
 flat bands. Above this is a recessed frieze, 
 with two notched shields placed in the 
 centre leaning against each other. This 
 is topped by a cornice. Over this is a fine 
 overmantel of carved wood panels, with a 
 central niche, the whole being crowned by 
 an outwardly spreading fan canopy with 
 delicate mouldings and foliated rosettes. 
 Another chimneypiece with the same form 
 of base is to be seen at Oudenarde, but 
 the shafts of the pillars are octagonal. The 
 shelf has a slightly projecting edge, finished 
 off as a three-tier cornice, strongly carved. 
 Above the flat broad frieze there is a well cut 
 wreath of leaves, above which is a projecting 
 cornice forming a shelf supporting small
 
 THE MIDDLE GOTHIC 43 
 
 pedestals in the centre and at each corner, 
 with elaborately carved foliated pendants 
 hanging from them. There is a trun- 
 cated conical hood above, the centre part 
 brought forward, the wings recessed. In 
 the centre is a niche with a carved figure. 
 
 In the Chateau de Meillant, near Bourges, 
 there is a very peculiar structure, reminding 
 one of the great built-up stoves of Germany. 
 It occupies nearly the whole of one end 
 of the room, projects far in, being built with 
 a broad front and two slanting wings, and 
 the whole carried up to the ceiling. The 
 fire opening is long and comparatively low, 
 framed by pillars and a straight lintel, the 
 hearth is raised. Above the lintel is a deep 
 frieze, the superstructure, quite straight, is 
 divided up into tiers of panels by a fillet and 
 pillars, the lower panels being filled with 
 figures sculptured in high relief. This quaint 
 structure is carved with great skill and is 
 painted. 
 
 We may bring our recital of examples to 
 an end with a description of one to be seen 
 in the National Museum at Florence, where 
 it was removed from the Hall in the Palace 
 of the Due de Atene. It has a raised 
 hearth, very slightly projecting jambs, with
 
 44 .CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 acanthus capitals. The lintel, in the form of 
 a carved frieze, supports a pointed hood. 
 On each side of the hearth is a stone bench, 
 slightly carved. 
 
 It will be seen that the characteristics of 
 this period are the monumental character 
 of the structures, the distinct hood, very 
 generally conical in form, the breadth and 
 depth of hearth, with the large opening, 
 often providing accommodation for persons 
 under the hood.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ) 
 
 LATER GOTHIC AND EARLY RENAISSANCE. 
 
 STONE of one kind or another was the 
 material chosen for chimneypieces anterior 
 to the 1 6th century, and continued to be 
 in vogue until the middle of that century, 
 when wood came into favour, gradually 
 usurping the primary place in England, 
 northern and middle Europe. In Italy, 
 however, wood was rarely used, except in 
 conjunction with rubble and good plaster 
 in some of the later examples of the hooded 
 Gothic. At this period hard woods, gener- 
 erally oak, though sometimes walnut, were 
 preferred. Decoration was carried to a high 
 pitch, carving, painting, and occasional 
 incrustations being called in to add beauty 
 to the examples. Although chimneypieces 
 continued to be monumental in size and 
 character, they did not project so much into 
 45
 
 46 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 the rooms as in earlier times, for the hearths, 
 as a rule, were deeply recessed, the framing 
 therefore, while retaining their towering 
 aspect, came more on a level with the wall, 
 often having little projection beyond that 
 of the carvings, mouldings, and panelling 
 on other parts of the walls. The hood was 
 gradually replaced by a square form of 
 structure covering the breast, often rising to 
 the ceiling, and sometimes being carried to 
 the upper floor, which acted as a foundation 
 or support to the hearth in the room above. 
 This last provision, indeed, is found in a 
 good many of the larger examples even 
 during the preceding period. 
 
 While so much pains were bestowed on 
 embellishing the frame with carving and 
 colour, greater attention began to be paid 
 to the embellishment both of the lining of 
 the fireplace and to its furniture. Hearths 
 were sometimes level with the floor, and 
 then not uncommonly surrounded by a stone 
 kerb, plain or moulded, as at Penshurst ; 
 or they were raised, forming a platform at a 
 slightly higher level than the rest of the 
 room. The hearthstone itself was some- 
 times decorated, either with carvings in low 
 relief, with incised tracery, or as in the early
 
 EARLY RENAISSANCE 47 
 
 1 6th century example at Lacock Abbey, 
 Wiltshire, were inlaid with a pattern in lead. 
 This was a prelude to the use of glazed 
 tiles, which were first used to line the backs 
 and wings. Tiles were introduced by the 
 Dutch, late in this century. But the greater 
 use of wood introduced into construction 
 brought about the use of iron fire-backs, of 
 which we shall have something to say later, 
 as well as of fire-dogs, or andirons. 
 
 The magnificent decoration so generally 
 prevailing is often alluded to in literature. 
 In a Cymbeline" Shakespeare makes lachimo 
 describe Imogen's chamber: 
 
 " The chimney 
 
 Is south the chamber, and the chimneypiece 
 Chaste Dian bathing ; never saw I figures 
 So likely to report themselves ; the cutter 
 Was as another nature, dumb ; outwent her, 
 Motion and breath left out. 
 
 "The roofo' the chamber 
 
 With golden cherubins is fretted : her andirons 
 I had forgot them were two winking Cupids 
 Of silver, each on one foot standing, nicely 
 Depending on their brands." 
 
 We will find plenty of instances of this in 
 the examples from different countries now 
 about to be described.
 
 4 8 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 In the Victoria and Albert Museum, South 
 Kensington, there is a charming little painted 
 panel room, taken from a farmhouse near 
 Alen^on, which is supposed to have been 
 used as a hunting-box by Henry IV. There 
 is no carving, but every inch of panelling is 
 covered with decoration in vivid colours. 
 The chimneypiece consists of a rectangular 
 projection into the room, carried from floor 
 to ceiling, and provided with moderate sized, 
 almost square opening, the hearth, back and 
 sides being lined with stone. Over the 
 breast is a panel picture of the Nativity, 
 and round this, and all over the surface, are 
 floral arabesques, with human and animal 
 forms introduced. The colouring and gild- 
 ing, though somewhat vivid, is good, but the 
 drawing is decidedly coarse. As an example 
 from quite a small country house, it is of 
 great value, showing how far the decorative 
 spirit was carried. 
 
 We must, however, hark back to earlier 
 and more monumental examples. 
 
 In Jacques Cceur's most beautiful and in- 
 teresting early Renaissance house at Bourges, 
 we find a great chimneypiece which in out- 
 line and feeling is really Gothic. It is of 
 carved stone, with stout wing walls, the
 
 EARLY RENAISSANCE 49 
 
 actual jambs being in the form of columns 
 supporting a broad frieze, the top of which 
 is embattled, and between the crenelations 
 appear bowmen taking aim at the people in 
 the Hall. Above this towers a large conical 
 hood, adorned with two pinnacled dormer 
 windows, with well carved figures looking 
 out. This was probably brightly coloured 
 when first put up. Another in the same 
 house has an arched opening, the lintel is 
 sculptured with figures in high relief, the breast 
 is composed of three painted arched panels, 
 above which are figures mountedonhorseback. 
 At the Chateau de Chenonceaux, which 
 was begun in 1515, there are several im- 
 portant chimneypieces, the two most remark- 
 able being in the Guard Room and the 
 Salle de Catherine de Medici. They were 
 probably decorated for Diane de Poitiers. 
 They are both huge affairs. The, latter has 
 broad pilasters with corbels supporting a 
 cornice, from whence springs the over- 
 mantel, reaching to the ceiling. It is 
 adorned with four colossal winged and partly 
 draped female figures, standing on couchant 
 lions, and holding scythes. The central 
 panel is filled with a painting showing a 
 recumbent Diana with stag.
 
 50 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 At the Chateau de Blois we have quite a 
 gallery of gorgeous chimneypieces. That 
 in the Salle des Gardes de la Reine, of 
 carved stone, has considerable projection. 
 The jambs are adorned with Corinthian 
 columns, fluted, the indents filled with broken 
 and counterchanged astragals. The carving 
 of lintel and cornices is very elaborate. The 
 breast is carved straight up to the ceiling, 
 and is provided with three decorated niches 
 in front and two at the sides. The whole of 
 the work here is of the very ornate Renais- 
 sance style. The columns are generally 
 fluted and have foliated capitals. Figures 
 are used, but usually ornamentally, being 
 placed in niches. The surface is generally 
 covered with rich scrollwork and arabesques, 
 often as a framing to heraldic or symbolic 
 devices. 
 
 In one instance of carved wood, almost 
 flush with the panelled wall, the jambs are 
 fluted pilasters supporting a lintel, frieze and 
 a shelf, which projects slightly. The 
 chimney breast is framed by two pilasters, 
 highly carved, the space between these is 
 filled with a graceful diaper of looped trellis, 
 enclosing fleur de Us and the letter H placed 
 alternately. This forms a background for a
 
 EARLY RENAISSANCE 51 
 
 large panel, enclosed by a wreath formed 
 round a crowned H and well carved ribbons. 
 
 Another specimen elaborately carved is 
 adorned with wonderfully rich Vitruvian 
 scrolls on the lintel. The breast has two 
 recessed panels, separated by columns 
 covered with arabesques. On the panels 
 appear respectively the crowned salamander 
 of the French King, and the crowned grey- 
 hound of the Counts of Blois. 
 
 In the Chambre du Roi the chimneypiece 
 is strongly carved, the lintel being covered 
 with rich arabesques, as a frame to the 
 Royal arms of France placed in the centre. 
 The breast is covered with an open diaper 
 of fleur de Us, forming a background to a 
 large foliated crowned H. The crowned 
 salamander, a good deal larger than life, we 
 hope, appears again on a chimney breast, 
 the panel being powdered with small flames. 
 In this instance the capitals of the columns 
 on the jambs are foliated scrollwork, 
 merging into winged beasts. This same 
 treatment of capitals is to be seen in the 
 Salle Louis XII., where the capitals on the 
 columns framing the chimney breast develop 
 into winged beasts with grinning, grotesque 
 heads. A marked feature here is the be-
 
 52 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 wildering mixture of orders, a weakness of 
 invention betraying that decadence which so 
 soon showed itself in Renaissance work. 
 This note of ill-considered exuberance is 
 also seen in the heterogeneous character of 
 the arabesques with leaves, flowers, fruits, 
 birds, beasts, monsters, shells and so on. 
 Yet the execution is perfect. This applies 
 to the purely architectural members, the 
 flora and fauna, and to the heraldic motifs. 
 Fleur de Us are largely used, and we also 
 see besides the salamander and greyhound, 
 the crowned porcupine, all of which make 
 very effective details in decoration, whether 
 employed as central motifs or as mere items 
 in the arabesque designs. One of these 
 porcupines occurs on a fine chimneypiece 
 with boldly moulded frieze, a painted Gothic 
 entablature, and also in conjunction with 
 well designed shields of the three fleur de 
 Us of France and the ermine shield of 
 Brittany, all carved in high relief. 
 
 In the Cabinet de Louis XII. there is 
 a very characteristic semi-Gothic heraldic 
 example. The jambs are peculiar. On the 
 inside they are straight, at right angles with 
 the back, but outside the wings are carried 
 at an oblique angle. There is a small
 
 English 17th Century Chimneypieee from Bromley-by-Bow.
 
 EARLY RENAISSANCE 53 
 
 column against the wall, and a larger one in 
 front of the jamb, but hardly impinging on 
 the fireplace opening, which is square. 
 These support a frieze and cornice with 
 strong rounded mouldings. The frieze is 
 decorated with large, well designed fleur de 
 Us. On the chimney breast there are two 
 men-at-arms kneeling, acting as supporters 
 of a large shield with three fleur de Us. 
 Behind this is an angl crowning the shield. 
 It should be remembered that legend says 
 ihefieur de Us was brought to Clovis by an 
 angel from Heaven ; which no doubt is 
 essentially true, if the Us is taken to be a 
 water iris, symbolical of spring and the duty 
 of the King to see that his land was fruitful. 
 This example is marked by bold, deep 
 carving, but the background of decoration is 
 of the simple foliated and geometric char- 
 acter belonging to Gothic design. 
 
 In the Muse*e de Cluny, Paris, which con- 
 tains an instructive collection of fireplaces, 
 there is one by Hugues Lallemand, brought 
 from Troyes. The jambs are quite char- 
 acteristic of a certain Renaissance work. 
 They are formed of flat pilasters, the bases 
 being enormous four-toed lions' paws, the 
 capitals, lions' heads. These support an 
 
 E
 
 54 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 elaborate architrave, deeply carved, the 
 subjects chosen being foliage and fruit sur- 
 rounding a central panel filled with a group 
 of human figures. In another example at 
 the Cluny, belonging to the same school, we 
 have termini pillars, while the chimney 
 breast is framed by two nude atlantes, 
 slightly bent under the cornice, but showing 
 little evidence of strain. 
 
 Belonging to an errly decade, to about 
 1540, is the handsome carved walnut chim- 
 neypiece in the Dining Room of the Chateau 
 d'Anet. It is the work of Philibert Delorme. 
 The jambs consist of two powerfully de- 
 signed armless atlantes as termini. They 
 are bent forward, supporting on their backs 
 the heavy entablature. In the centre is a 
 many-quartered coat-of-arms on a diamond- 
 shaped shield. 
 
 At Troyes itself there is, in the Grand 
 Salle of the H8tel de Ville, a fine example 
 belonging to the early decades of the 1 7th 
 century. It is due to J. H. Mansard, and 
 has much in common with the Lallemand 
 specimen, with its heavy built-up character. 
 It is of marble, which material began to be 
 used extensively all over Europe towards 
 the end of the i6th century, the mode
 
 EARLY RENAISSANCE 55 
 
 spreading from Italy, where marbles of 
 various kinds had been in favour some time 
 previously. Mansard designed his chimney- 
 piece like the fafade of a public building, or 
 a great commemoration monument. The 
 fireplace was somewhat low and small. The 
 jambs are adorned with diminishing pilasters 
 with lion feet bases and lion head capitals. 
 The enormous entablature with heavy 
 mouldings has pillars supporting a sub- 
 stantial pediment. In the centre panel 
 there is a medallion portrait of Louis XIV., 
 by Girardin. It is placed under a canopy, 
 is surrounded by trophies of flags, and rests 
 on an inscribed tablet, the top cornice of 
 which supports certain commemorative 
 medals. 
 
 In the Tribunal de Commerce at Alen9on 
 there is a chimneypiece of the reign of 
 Louis XIII. It has a wide, but low opening, 
 with straight lintel. The jambs are deco- 
 rated with falling sprays of flowers and fruit, 
 pendant by ribbons from foliated rosettes. 
 On the lintel there is a bulky swag of fruit 
 and flowers, almost without a curve in its 
 general outline, and therefore looking very 
 stiff. The chimney breast is flanked by two 
 caryatides as termini, the pilasters being
 
 56 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 foliated and decorated with flowers ; they 
 have their arms uplifted and support a heavy 
 projecting foliated frieze and cornice. The 
 centre panel is arched, and over this is a 
 pediment, formed by two winged figures 
 holding a scrolled cartouche. It is some- 
 what clumsy in design, though good as 
 regards finish and the treatment of detail. 
 
 Designed much on the same lines, though 
 more happy in its results, is the i;th century 
 carved oak specimen at the Chateau de 
 Cheverny. It is massive, of considerable 
 projection, with large square opening, but 
 with no attempt at providing the social 
 chambranle hearth. The pilasters are carved 
 with grotesque masks, and on the lintel are 
 two female termini, human down to the 
 waist, then foliated. The entablature, which 
 is very massive, has four caryatides, two 
 being placed on the front, flanking the central 
 panel, and one each on the side walls. 
 The central panel is framed for the reception 
 of a picture. Over the heavily carved 
 projecting cornice are two amorini holding 
 a coronet. It is a well-balanced composi- 
 tion, as good as a whole as it is in detail. 
 
 Before taking our leave of this prolific 
 period of French art, it is well to say that
 
 EARLY RENAISSANCE 57 
 
 much may be learnt from a study of ex- 
 amples at Fontainebleau (providing a fairly 
 wide range), where the dimensions are 
 usually as grandiose as the decorations, but 
 the projections slight. Versailles also fur- 
 nishes us with many subjects, as does the 
 Louvre, which forms a good complement to 
 the Cluny, containing many fireplaces de- 
 signed for the Palace as well as others 
 collected from elsewhere, but usually pos- 
 terior to the 1 5th century. 
 
 With the virile, home-loving Flemings so 
 happily self -expressive in their art, the 
 chimneypiece early received the full attention 
 that it deserved, and with them develop- 
 ment in this direction was rapid and notable. 
 Evidence of outside influence is, as might 
 be expected from the history of the people, 
 often apparent, though it can never be said 
 to be overmastering, even the strongest 
 Renaissance work being modified by local 
 feeling and tradition. We have seen in 
 previous chapters how rich Flanders is in 
 both Romanesque and early Gothic speci- 
 mens, and also the peculiar local develop- 
 ment of caryatic figures, but the period 
 covered by the i6th and i;th centuries was 
 even more astonishingly fruitful.
 
 58 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 We may not unjustly give pride of place 
 in this section to the huge chimneypiece 
 with its two wings designed for the Echevins 
 of Bruges by Lancelot Blondel in 1529, and 
 carved by Guyot de Beaugrand. It is to be 
 seen, restored, in the Hotel de Ville of that 
 town, while a full-sized accurate model can be 
 studied in the Castes Rooms at the Victoria 
 and Albert Museum. It is essentially a 
 composite construction, carried out in black 
 Dinant marble, alabaster and carved wood, 
 much of which is painted. It was built 
 to commemorate the capture of Francis I. of 
 France by the troops of the Emperor Charles 
 V. at the battle of Pavia in 1525. The fire 
 opening is a very wide one, about 7 feet 
 high and 12 wide, with clustered foliated 
 carved black columns supporting a straight 
 lintel. This part has a considerable square 
 projection. The lintel, in alabaster, has 
 elaborately carved panels giving the story 
 of Susannah and The Elders, below are 
 clustered pillars and two pair of cherubs. 
 Above is the carved and painted oak breast, 
 with projecting flat canopy. This portion 
 is more directly dedicated to Charles V., 
 who is shown as a colossal statue in 
 armour, holding aloft a drawn sword in his
 
 
 i=ll , ,,| IW.| ir=J| . I Joeal U-^-l| = 
 
 OaisgiLbTuSEa
 
 EARLY RENAISSANCE 59 
 
 right hand, and a royal mound in his left. 
 He is placed in a canopied throne niche in 
 the centre of the composition, flanked by 
 two smaller niches, with a great carved 
 column on each side, representing the Pillars 
 of Hercules, and symbolical of his Spanish 
 dominions. Round about him are Gothic 
 arched niches, with naked amorini holding 
 up armorial shields, and a vast profusion of 
 armorial shields, recording his many terri- 
 torial dignities and family alliances. On the 
 two ornamental pilasters enclosing the en- 
 tablature are three beautifully modelled nude 
 amorini, standing on decorated pedestals, 
 their uplifted arms supporting commemora- 
 tive medals. The two wings, which stand 
 back on a level with the wall panelling, are 
 also of elaborately carved and painted wood. 
 On the left, on a level with the chimney 
 breast, are effigies of Maximilian I., King 
 of the Romans, and his wife, granddaughter 
 of Charles. On the right are balancing 
 effigies of Ferdinand of Anjou and Isabella 
 of Castille. On both these wings there are 
 more armorial emblems, the whole com- 
 position being knit together by the Gothic 
 arches, tracery and foliage. The fireback is 
 a great plate of iron, bearing the arms of
 
 60 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 Brabant, supported by a wild man and a 
 wild woman of the woods. It is a splendid 
 bit of work that smacks of the barbaric, 
 no doubt, but is certainly imposing and of 
 great historic value. The curious iron 
 handles pendant from the lintel should be 
 noted, as we shall have more to say of them 
 presently. 
 
 Dated two years later, the carved white 
 stone chimneypiece in the Salle du Peuple, 
 at the H6tel de Ville, Oudenarde, is almost 
 equally monumental and characteristic. Its 
 jambs are composed of clustered columns, 
 supporting lions jutting out like corbels, on 
 which the straight lintel rests. This is 
 carved with armorial shields. The breast 
 is covered with Gothic geometric tracery, 
 having foliated terminals. There are three 
 canopied arches sheltering the Virgin, and 
 two allegorical figures. 
 
 Others belonging to the same class may 
 be seen at Kampen, Oudenarde, and Cour- 
 trai. That at Kampen is in the Salle des 
 Magistrats at the H8tel de Ville, and is 
 by Colyn van Cameryck. The jambs are 
 composed of a male and female termini, 
 supporting a lintel elaborately carved in high 
 relief, the panels, divided by small pillars,
 
 EARLY RENAISSANCE 61 
 
 containing figures. Over this is a shelf with 
 cornice, consisting of three superimposed 
 fillets, and adorned with two female figures 
 placed on pedestals at the ends, attended by 
 amorini. In the centre is a panel supported 
 by two cupids, and above is a statuette of the 
 Virgin and Child. In the hood are contrived 
 four shallow shell niches, with pillars between 
 each. In the centre niches are lions with 
 armorial banners, the outer niches sheltering 
 allegorical female figures. The pediment is in 
 the form of a shell-covered temple, flanked by 
 two satyrs playing on pipes. At Oudenarde 
 the chief fireplace in the Hotel de Ville 
 has a carved stone kerb round the hearth. 
 The jambs are composed of clustered 
 columns, resting upon which are couchant 
 lions, supporting a shelf with a double fillet 
 cornice. The lintel proper is broad, and 
 ornamented with three armorial shields. 
 The chimney breast is a mass of geometric 
 tracery with foliage, surrounding three 
 elaborately carved niches with foliated 
 finials, and enclosing religious figures. The 
 lining of the fireplace is of brick, with a cast 
 iron back. It is dated 1545. At the H6tel 
 de Ville of Courtrai two examples arrest 
 attention. In the Hall of the 6chevins the
 
 62 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 chimneypiece is of carved stone, with small 
 jambs, consisting of quite slender clustered 
 columns, turning over at the top to form 
 consoles, which support a straight lintel, 
 carved with floral scrollwork, armorial 
 shields, and two figures. On the architrave 
 there is a mass of carving, seven panels 
 being divided by ornamental columns. The 
 central panel forms a larger canopied niche 
 sheltering figures of the Virgin and Child. 
 The six other panels, sunk, surrounded by 
 tracery, and canopied, contain figures in 
 canonical dress, representing bishops of 
 neighbouring towns, each holding an ar- 
 morial shield. At each angle of the shelf, 
 standing under prominent canopies, is a 
 figure in civilian costume. Over all is a 
 canopy of three fan-shaped, semi-arches, 
 with beautiful tracery work, having sculp- 
 tured scriptural scenes in the pendentives. 
 This canopy forms a support for a chimney- 
 piece in the room above. The other 
 example is in the Council Chamber. Here 
 again the jambs are very slight, supporting 
 an important lintel, but the breast, in carved 
 oak, is one mass of decoration, designed 
 in three tiers, each tier having figures under 
 niches. There are three large niches on the
 
 EARLY RENAISSANCE 63 
 
 second tier, with Charles V. between the 
 Infanta Isabella and a figure of Justice. 
 Above this the niches are filled with figures 
 representing the virtues and vices. 
 
 At Brussels, in private houses, and also in 
 the Muse"e des Antiquite"s, there are many 
 interesting specimens, but perhaps the most 
 instructive is the very fine reconstruction to 
 be found in the room set apart in the HStel 
 de Ville for the Minister of Public Works. 
 It is in pure Gothic style, deep recessed, the 
 side columns highly decorated, straight lintel 
 with floral scrollwork, the breast being flat, 
 in three perpendicular and a top horizontal 
 panel, all carved, flanked by two bewitching 
 caryatides in mediaeval costume. This 
 chimneypiece has been evolved from archi- 
 tectural members and scraps rescued from 
 different parts of the Town Hall during 
 various works of remodelling and replanning, 
 and stands a spendid model of what the 
 truly inspired renovator may do. 
 
 A specimen of domestic Flemish work is 
 to be seen at the Victoria and Albert 
 Museum. It comes from Antwerp, is dated 
 1552, and possesses particular interest as 
 demonstrating the happy union of various 
 materials. The main material is black
 
 64 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 marble, the jambs are slender red marble 
 pillars, a red circular panel in the frieze is 
 just over the fireplace opening, while above 
 all is a red marble projecting cornice. The 
 fireback is remarkable. It is composed of 
 small glazed tiles, moulded in high relief 
 with figure scenes, each differing, evidently 
 designed to picture stories from the classics. 
 In the middle, on the top line, is a larger 
 tile embossed with the arms of the Emperor 
 Charles V. 
 
 A quaint misconception long existed that 
 Italian architects did not know how to 
 design chimneypieces, and that the Penin- 
 sula had nothing to teach us in this direc- 
 tion. No doubt this was the result of the 
 greater attention paid to the sunny parts of 
 the land, and also to the decidedly unhappy 
 references to the subject in books written by 
 the early Italian architects. That the notion 
 is a mistaken one observant travellers, espec- 
 ially in Lombardy, Piedmont, Venetia and 
 Tuscany, know. Moreover the fine repre- 
 sentative collection of i6th century work at 
 South Kensington bears this out. 
 
 First on our list is that quaint Gothic 
 example, still existing in the Casina Mira- 
 bello on the outskirts of Milan and already
 
 u
 
 EARLY RENAISSANCE 65 
 
 described. In Milan itself there is a good 
 example of Renaissance work with a linger- 
 ing feeling of the Gothic, to be seen, much 
 mutilated, on the ground floor of a house in 
 the Piazza Beccaria. It is recessed, has 
 slender columns with foliated capitals pro- 
 truding in the form of consoles supporting a 
 broad lintel, in the centre of which are two 
 well carved figures, with an armorial shield, 
 each supported by two figures, on both sides. 
 There is a well carved cable cornice, and 
 above the shelf a pointed hood. Yet an- 
 other from the same city has low pillars 
 with lions' feet, supporting kneeling nude 
 winged and armless syrens, crushed down 
 by the broad, heavily carved lintel. This 
 is carved in high relief with floral scrolls, 
 cupids, armorial symbols and a splendidly 
 outstanding eagle in the centre. There is 
 no hood, and the chimney breast is hidden 
 in the thickness of the wall. So liberal are 
 its dimensions that a modern and economical 
 generation has contrived to build on its 
 hearth and under its mantel two brickwork 
 charcoal fornacelli, leaving space enough in 
 the middle for an open wood fire, over 
 which a cauldron can be slung. 
 
 Now, let us turn to the South Kensington
 
 66 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 collection, which we can do with all the 
 greater benefit as some of these specimens 
 are illustrated in this book. Let us take 
 the Florentine first. One of these is dated 
 1500. It is of sandstone, the front of the 
 jambs being decorated with rather poor 
 arabesque carvings, but the broad lintel 
 presents excellent work, the bold floral 
 scrolls merging quite naturally into winged 
 monsters supporting a wreath surrounding 
 an armorial shield. This is arabesque very 
 nearly at its best, while the blending of the 
 heraldic shield brings out its decorative value 
 without incongruity. Much the same re- 
 marks may be quite fairly applied to the 
 more sumptuous inlaid marble chimneypiece. 
 It is white, with black panels inlaid in colours. 
 The decorations are foliage and flowers 
 merging into human masks. On the lintel 
 are two formidable griffins with foliated 
 tails, which act as supporters for a gold 
 shield with a sable eagle. An ambitious 
 piece in pietra serena has the jambs but- 
 tressed by scrolled consoles, the pilasters 
 being decorated with chainwork. The 
 lintel, supported by corbels, is decorated 
 with incised work and carving in low relief. 
 There is a closely packed circular bay leaf
 
 EARLY RENAISSANCE 67 
 
 wreath, of the Roman type, surrounding an 
 eagle. The pediment is in the form of two 
 scrolls with drapery, an armorial shield 
 serving as a boss. A carved stone example 
 of the early i6th century, ascribed to Tullio 
 Lombardi, has a recessed fireplace. The 
 jambs are rather fancifully outlined and 
 decorated, supporting respectively a crouch- 
 ing double-tailed mermaid and a merman, 
 bending forward as corbels sustaining the 
 broad lintel, with projecting cornice. This 
 lintel, front and sides, is most elaborately 
 carved with hundreds of figures, men on 
 horseback and on foot, dogs and game, all 
 cut d jour. It is a thoroughly animated 
 hunting scene. The projecting cornice bears 
 a dainty leaf moulding. A carved stone 
 example from Brescia has an atlantes and 
 caryatides, their lower parts terminating in 
 foliage, ornamenting the jambs, which are 
 also decorated with incised geometric pat- 
 terns, traced both on the inside and outer 
 surfaces. Another example of this inside 
 and outside decoration of the wing walls is 
 seen in a carved specimen from the early 
 part of the i6th century. Here the jambs 
 are ornamented in front by two slender nude 
 atlantes, standing painfully on tip-toe, their
 
 68 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 arms supporting a flat topped hood, with 
 arabesque and heraldically ornamented frieze. 
 From Savona we have an example in dark 
 slate. The heavy square jambs are carved 
 in high relief with vases and flowers. The 
 lintel is adorned with scrolls and two foliated 
 figures supporting an armorial shield. It is 
 evident that slate is not a happy medium for 
 the carver, as it flakes badly, not wearing 
 half so picturesquely as sandstone, or even 
 chalk. 
 
 In Northern Europe the Renaissance was 
 felt, no doubt, but as regards chimneypieces 
 the tendency was to adhere to the Gothic 
 hooded type or the rectangular stone. This 
 is evident even in work at Gripsholm Castle, 
 Sweden (1537), where we find many ex- 
 amples of hooded fireplaces placed in the 
 angles of rooms, a plan reminiscent of the 
 old, more or less turreted, type of castle 
 construction.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HUMAN FIGURES IN GOTHIC AND RENAISSANCE 
 WORK. 
 
 AMONG the builders and carvers who imme- 
 diately preceded the Renaissance, although 
 frequent use was made of the human figure, 
 this was largely for the purpose of orna- 
 mentation. I f we think of examples occurring 
 in old buildings it will be seen that, as a 
 rule, they were intentionally and obviously 
 decorative, having little structural meaning, 
 fulfilling no other purpose than the breaking 
 up of broad or tall surfaces, or the filling of 
 nooks. It is strangely significant, as we 
 shall presently see, that we have to make 
 exception not only for gargoyles, whole 
 figures or masks, but for the comparatively 
 rare employment of kneeling or crouching 
 figures supporting benches. In the case of 
 ecclesiastical work these last named may 
 be devils, squelched by, or angels put there 
 to sustain, the good fathers. 
 
 69 F
 
 70 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 In connection with chimneypieces we find 
 in quite early Gothic work human figures 
 used as capitals of pilasters or columns. 
 We do not recollect any instance of this 
 in England, but in Flemish work the feature 
 appears quite frequently. This is notably so 
 in 1 3th and i4th century examples. The 
 oldest specimens show the head only ; then, 
 as in the instance in the Bruges Museum, 
 we find head and arms, the bust merely 
 indicated, if not, indeed, totally suppressed. 
 They form the decoration to the corbel 
 termination of a pillar. Then we come upon 
 the whole figure, squatting, crushed as it 
 were between the supporting member and 
 the entablature, which they seemingly sustain 
 on their backs. Next the figure emerges 
 from this grinding position, and disports 
 itself more or less negligently on the face 
 of the jamb. In the Museum at Courtrai 
 we see a chimneypiece upright adorned with 
 a crowned and winged angel, which is dated 
 1372. Others at Ghent also belong to the 
 1 4th century. At Bruges a curious and 
 seemingly purely local manifestation of 
 sociability is to be seen in the fact that the 
 figures adorning each jamb are in pairs, 
 commonly man and woman side by side.
 
 Combe Abbey, Warwickshire.
 
 HUMAN FIGURES 71 
 
 They are bent forward on the corbelling, 
 quite free, in positions often the very anti- 
 theses of restrained. A chimney with two 
 pairs is cited at Damme ; others are to be 
 found in houses at Bruges and in museums* 
 The figures often bear armorial shields. 
 This leads to the introduction of heraldic sup- 
 porters, lions, birds, and mythical creatures, 
 either as corbels or adornments thereof. One 
 curious mixed example is to be seen in the 
 chimneypiece in the Salle de 1'Arsenal in the 
 H8tel de Ville at Ghent. On one jamb is a 
 bold lion bearing a shield emblazoned with 
 the arms of Brabant. On the opposite 
 support is the same shield-bearing lion being 
 fondled by a brave and fair maiden. We 
 have here the use of three figures. 
 
 When all is said, however, this use of 
 the human figure in Gothic structural 
 practice has but a limited range. Quite 
 another spirit came in with the Renaiss- 
 ance. 
 
 A study of the sorely mutilated remnants 
 of the better periods of Greek and Roman 
 architecture, but more especially of the re- 
 cently unearthed, and consequently better pre- 
 served, decorative work of an over-elaborated, 
 decadent Roman art, brought familiarity
 
 72 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 with the idea of the decorative possibilities 
 in the use of animal forms, more particularly 
 human and semi-human forms, for purposes 
 not merely of surface ornamentation, but 
 ostensibly as integral and essential features 
 of construction. Thus came about the intro- 
 duction, or rather re-introduction of the 
 sculptured figure, pillar or pilaster, and the 
 surface carving and painting of grotesques. 
 
 Warrant for the use of the human figure 
 as supporting member in architecture was 
 certainly to be found in ancient practice. 
 
 According to the classic school both male 
 and female figures were employed as sup- 
 porting members in buildings, the former 
 being called atlantes by the Greeks and 
 telamones by the Romans, or later Persians ; 
 and the latter caryatides. The legend runs 
 that the last two terms were adopted because 
 the Greeks employed slaves as models and 
 symbols in their architectural work. The 
 Vitruvian version says that the Greeks, 
 after the defeat of an aggressive alliance of 
 Persians and Caryans, took many Asiatic 
 prisoners, and slaying the men of Carya, 
 destroyed the city and carried off the women 
 into captivity. Both the men and women 
 were used as slaves, beasts of burden, and
 
 HUMAN FIGURES 73 
 
 porters, and their condition was perpetuated 
 by their condemnation in effigy to constant 
 hard labour. The Lacedaemonians are said to 
 have done the same by the Persians after 
 the battle of Plataea. Such figures are shown 
 perfect, nude or draped, upright or kneeling. 
 Apart from these, however, we frequently 
 find pilasters with architectural bases ter- 
 minated by human busts or heads. These are 
 properly called termini, even if employed as 
 caryatides, and correspond to the terminal 
 figures of the Romans and the Hermae 
 statues. The state of affairs which called 
 down the Scriptural curse on those who 
 removed their neighbours' landmarks, has 
 troubled most people. The Chinese say 
 that bournes near the estates of great men 
 develop legs and take long journeys at night 
 time. A similar propensity for illicit pere- 
 grination among Latin boundary stones 
 induced Numa Pompilius to proclaim the 
 existence of the god Terminus, who was to be 
 venerated in the terminal stones, placed under 
 his protection, and consequently eventually 
 decorated with his effigy, and to remove which 
 was desecration. By a natural transition the 
 highway boundary stones were dedicated to 
 Hermes, the god of travel and commerce.
 
 74 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 Then we have a third group, known as 
 canephori, the basket-bearers, seen as carya- 
 tides or termini,- with baskets of fruit and 
 flowers on their heads. They represent the 
 maidens who danced before the processions 
 in honour of Demeter, goddess of Spring and 
 plenty, and Athene, carrying baskets full of 
 flowers which they scattered in the pathway. 
 These, like the fish-tailed men and women, 
 were refinements of the atlantes type. 
 
 Of course the root idea is of very great 
 antiquity, and is better represented by the 
 terms atlantes and telamones, which give 
 concrete expression to the hoary belief that 
 the tangible world is built up by a Creative 
 Will and by physical effort. Atlas, who sus- 
 tains the weight of the world on his shoulders, 
 is represented among other peoples by the 
 fire-and-water snake or leviathanic monster, 
 or the tortoise. More directly, the notion of 
 a sustaining power received form as a mono- 
 lithic stone pillar, or as a living tree. The 
 stone pillars at the gateway and the tree 
 columns were useful structural members, but 
 also symbolical of the creative, virile, sus- 
 taining principle. Among the earlier gods 
 of fertility were the tree gods, protectors of 
 conifers, olive, date, and other fruit bearers.
 
 HUMAN FIGURES 75 
 
 Now, the use of trees for the benefit of man 
 entailed sacrifice, for the tree was the per- 
 sonification of a food and life-giving deity, 
 to whom compensation was due. So we 
 hear of sacrificed Osiris being confined in a 
 tree trunk, which was afterwards employed 
 as the pillar in a king's palace. So we hear 
 of the blood of victims, human or otherwise, 
 being mixed with mortar ; of sacrifices being 
 buried under foundations of buildings ; for 
 the blood sanctified, and the spirits of the 
 dead hovered about as protectors. This 
 accounts for the rude pillars, the great winged 
 bulls of Assyria and Sphinxes of Egypt. 
 Among the sacrificial victims were prisoners 
 taken in warfare, who, under milder dispensa- 
 tions, became porters and gatekeepers. 
 
 In a like manner the boundary stone, the 
 termini, were direct descendants of the 
 great stones set up by primitive people to 
 represent the gods watching over their fields. 
 Numa Pompilius did but revive an old 
 notion. It was quite fitting that they 
 should have human heads, and that they 
 should be garlanded with cereals, fruits and 
 flowers ; for some portion of the crops were 
 always offered to these "stocks and stones" 
 as representatives of higher things, the un-
 
 76 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 seen powers manifesting themselves in the 
 fruitfulness of Spring and Autumn. Such 
 offerings are yet made. The author has 
 seen in Corsica small wreaths and crosses 
 made from the straws and ears of wheat 
 placed on prominent stones after the harvest 
 was made, just as on the Ligurian coast 
 olive trees are, or were until lately, blessed 
 by the priests, and hung with chaplets. 
 
 Seeing this origin of these figures, it was 
 appropriate that they should be designed as 
 powerful creatures straining under the burden 
 of sustaining entablatures and cornices, though 
 the purely protective idea also suggested the 
 more graceful pose pervading the creations 
 of Greek art in its most perfect stage. 
 
 Isaac Ware, in his "Complete Body of 
 Architecture," discussing the topic of carya- 
 tides in connection with chimneypiece design 
 and structure, says : " Men of a rude genius 
 represented them as crushed and sinking 
 under the weight, and think it a high degree 
 of merit if they can figure in their sculpture 
 starting eyes or bursting sinews. The Greeks 
 detested such barbarity ; nor, I hope, are we 
 so justly censured for a love of cruelty that 
 such sights could please us." He quite cor- 
 rectly points out that the eye of spectators is
 
 HUMAN FIGURES 77 
 
 attracted by figures when placed in such a 
 situation, and he adds, "he must have a bar- 
 barous fancy who would wish to dispose 
 them in attitudes of horror. Everything 
 there should have an air of cheerfulness." 
 He therefore pleads for the later Greek 
 spirit. Ware was undoubtedly right when 
 he held that such figures should not be 
 treated as statues, but as parts of an order 
 of architecture ; put there, in fact, to supply 
 the place of columns. He required that this 
 should be done in a way that was pleasing, 
 that should not express effort or pain. A 
 difficult problem for the artist. Yet there 
 was justification for this. While the Greeks 
 made their atlantes, the Romans their tela- 
 mones, colossal beings of athletic develop- 
 ment, who appeared really to be sustaining 
 great weights, they also took the view of 
 people further East, that these figures were 
 guardians, protectors. This duality of feel- 
 ing appears to have come down through the 
 Romanesque to the Gothic workers. Many 
 of the early figures are visibly crushed be- 
 tween capital and cornice. Others come 
 before us as natural growths, like the bark 
 on a tree, without conveying an idea of 
 strain. Far too many figures of the non-
 
 78 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 straining character, however, are obviously 
 mere adjuncts. 
 
 Against this we have some admirable ex- 
 amples of complete blending without effort. 
 In the library of the Palace of Versailles there 
 is a quite simply designed chimneypiece in 
 white marble, with ormolu ornamentations. 
 On the flat pilasters of the jambs are two 
 termini, gracefully chubby, nude boys, 
 merging below into acanthus leaves, their 
 heads inclined forward, loose drapery falling 
 from their heads over their shoulders to their 
 waists. One has his arms folded, the other 
 holds the drapery under his chin with one 
 hand, while the other arm hangs negligently 
 at his side. Both are splendidly modelled, 
 and have pleasant smiles. In another case, 
 in the Dauphin's bedroom, also at Versailles, 
 there is a low chimneypiece in red and white 
 veined marble, with wide depressed arch and 
 ormolu decorations. At the angles of the 
 jambs are two termini, a maiden and a youth, 
 with nude bodies, surrounded by ribbons and 
 garlands. Their breasts and heads bend 
 forward, each has the outer hand on the hip, 
 the inner arm outstretched, which give them 
 the impression of lightness and happiness. 
 Then we may consider Alfred Stevens' bold
 
 HUMAN FIGURES 79 
 
 solution. In his Dorchester House chimney- 
 piece he has two figures, a maid and a youth, 
 who are in a crouching position on each 
 side. They belong to the design, yet are 
 doing very little absolute work. Possibly 
 here the wonderful sense of harmony is 
 gained by the splendid modelling of practi- 
 cally nude forms, with their evidence of 
 vigour and great dormant strength. In this 
 way, too, he has managed to utilise the 
 undraped figure without any incongruity for 
 so conspicuous a position in a room for 
 general assembly thus satisfying the de- 
 mands made both by Ware and Sir William 
 Chambers that the unnecessary freedom of 
 the later Renaissance should be restrained. 
 Ware gives a picture of a chimneypiece 
 adorned by two female figures designed by 
 Grignon, as caryatides, one completely 
 draped, the other only partially so, and he 
 justly prefers the former. The artist can, 
 indeed, put more vulgarity in partial drapery 
 than if he adopted the purely nude. 
 
 With the master exponents of a return to 
 classical canons and practice of art such 
 restraint was shown, but the exuberance 
 begotten of a too thoughtless imitation of 
 grotesque, did not lead to excess. Folklore
 
 80 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 and classic mythology gave warrant for 
 certain extravagances. We have explained 
 the architectural and foliated terminations of 
 pilaster and pillar figures. But beyond this 
 there were half- human, beast, or half -fish 
 figures, and, even more strange, the human 
 figure merging into the vegetable. This is 
 merely a rendering of such truth as underlay 
 the worship of trees. Osiris, we saw, was 
 identified after death, before his coming back 
 to life, with the date palm trunk. River 
 gods rose out of rushes, sylvan deities and 
 sprites faded into trees and bushes. We 
 have only to study the beautiful renderings 
 of old Greek tales by Bartolommeo Pinelli to 
 realise this feeling of the Renaissance 
 workers. Daphne flying from Apollo, her 
 arms uplifted to heaven, takes root as a tree, 
 her fingers sprout into branches. In another 
 plate we see Cyparisso being transformed 
 into a cypress, his body has become half 
 a rugged trunk, one hand is pressed to the 
 head, the other, uplifted, has become a 
 branch thick with the dark green leaves. It 
 was such tales as these that furnished motives 
 to the carver, and the Gothic root in a 
 population mainly of forest -dwellers gave 
 rise to other extravagances.
 
 HUMAN FIGURES 81 
 
 The pity lay in the fact that folklore, 
 when it became a mere legend, a weird tale, 
 lost its spiritual influence, but held the 
 artistic imagination ; so situations and types 
 become stereotyped and then degenerate. 
 Fancy without reverence at its back was given 
 a free hand, monstrosities growing apace 
 without much rhyme or reason. As regards 
 fireplace ornamentation, this is seen largely 
 in the third and fourth generation of Renais- 
 sance workers by the excessive use of fauns, 
 satyrs, and the employment of incongruous 
 adjuncts. 
 
 It was at this stage of development that 
 the canephori proved dangerously attractive 
 to the carver. These female figures, often 
 graceful enough in themselves, even when 
 treated as termini as they frequently were, un- 
 fortunately had very small baskets of flowers 
 placed on their heads, crushed under the 
 cornice or shelves, which was decidedly ugly 
 as well as absurd. With these figures, 
 perhaps more than with any others, freedom 
 combined with inevitableness are necessary 
 to success in design. 
 
 In England the Tudor period was rather 
 unhappy in this respect. While the carya- 
 tides and atlantes were but sparingly utilised,
 
 82 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 termini swarmed in most specimens. In 
 single chimneypieces one may have two, or 
 a couple of pairs of termini adorning the 
 jambs, two more on a large scale framing 
 the overmantel, while smaller ones are stuck 
 on every pilaster dividing the many panels. 
 Too often these are, as we said, a meaning- 
 less excrescence, not a natural growth of the 
 design or particular member. They are, also, 
 usually heavy, uncouth in execution as well 
 as ugly in design, the satyr type prevailing. 
 The terminals, too, are over-decorated with 
 geometrical and strapwork tracery, over 
 which is superadded floral wreaths. 
 
 In later, more direct return to an earlier 
 and better period of classic art, a severer 
 type of pillar figures was adopted. We 
 come to the chaste nudities of a Primaticcio, 
 the elegancies of a Caffieri, but also to quite 
 happy, rather naughty, but certainly inter- 
 loping cherubs of Grinling Gibbons, sporting, 
 no one knows why, amidst the flowers and 
 fruits which hang, equally without the key- 
 note of inevitableness, over and on the sides 
 of fireplaces. This phase was quite as bad 
 as the lavish peppering of small high relief 
 carved figures or little statuettes of the 
 previous generations.
 
 HUMAN FIGURES 83 
 
 In these days we do not bother much 
 about figures in the designing of our chimney- 
 pieces, but when we do, it is to the ideas of 
 a Primaticcio, of a Caffieri, of a Pilon, or 
 an Alfred Stevens, that we should give heed.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE TUDOR PERIOD. 
 
 IN architecture the Tudor period covers a 
 wide space of time and many varieties, 
 though it possesses a well defined general 
 character. In its earlier stages, which may, 
 indeed, be traced as far back as the middle 
 of the i5th century for like "Gothic" the 
 term is merely a convenient label, invented 
 "after the event" rather to describe a 
 tendency than a bare chronological fact it 
 was a softening of the ruder forms of the 
 prevailing style in order to secure domestic 
 comfort. We may see in it the result of an 
 intellectual as well as a material revolution, 
 an awakening, for it marked the rapid de- 
 cadence of feudalism, the spreading of the 
 base of social stability as a result of the 
 growth of the city, the rise of the petty 
 gentry and the greater prosperity among the 
 yeomanry. 
 
 84
 
 Dining Room, Loseley, near Guildford.
 
 THE TUDOR PERIOD 85 
 
 Few things are at once so amusing and 
 so instructive as to watch the struggles of 
 the heads of one social layer to attach 
 themselves to the tail of a higher one. 
 Wherever and whenever this tendency is 
 most active, then and there will intellectual 
 effort be most active, there and then will 
 come material prosperity, and there and 
 then will the existence of a really exclusive 
 aristocracy become more difficult. The 
 Tudor spirit marked just such a restless 
 stirring. In architecture the baronial castle 
 had become an anachronism, the rustic build- 
 ing and narrow town rabbit-warren imposs- 
 ibilities to men who felt themselves members 
 of a commonwealth. The Tudor style with 
 its richness, variety, occasional vulgarities, 
 but at bottom solid and sensible, admirably 
 represented this evolution ; we stand aside 
 and witness a flattening out of the Gothic 
 as applied to domestic requirements. It 
 was a spontaneous growth, touched by just 
 that leaning to heterogeneity one might look 
 for from a conglomerate people with so strong 
 an assimilative power as the English. 
 
 With reference to the spread of comfort 
 in the matter of buildings, we may cite the 
 oft-quoted passage from Harrison's view of 
 
 G
 
 86 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 England prefacing Holinshed's Chronicles. 
 He is writing of the early decades of the 
 1 6th century and says: "There are old 
 men yet dwelling in the village where I 
 remaine which have noted three things to 
 be marvellously altred in England within 
 their sound remembrance ; other three things 
 too too much increased. One is the multi- 
 tude of chimnies laterlie erected, whereas in 
 their young daies there were not above two 
 or three, if so manie, in most uplandish 
 townes of the realme (the religious houses 
 and manour places of their lords alwaies ex- 
 cepted, and peradventure some great per- 
 sonages) but ech one made his fire against a 
 reredosse in the hall, where he dined and 
 dressed his meat." 
 
 It is to be remembered that he is referring 
 to chimneys, not fireplaces ; for the latter did 
 not always connote the former, and his 
 notable exceptions must not be overlooked. 
 But there we have a just enough measure 
 of the prevailing degree of domestic comfort. 
 New houses, however, were being built, and 
 above all they were being better equipped, 
 not least with good fireplaces and proper 
 chimneys. 
 
 As for the flattening out process, this was
 
 THE TUDOR PERIOD 87 
 
 promptly and vigorously applied to chimney- 
 pieces. Far projecting, draught-compelling 
 hoods were discarded. Hearths were re- 
 cessed well into the walls, for better chim- 
 neys made drawing easier ; while, plastering 
 and panelling becoming general, there was 
 the less need for the cosy fireplace roomlet 
 within a hall. By flattening the jambs 
 and chimney breasts more space was secured, 
 as well as greater harmony with other decor- 
 ative features. Yet the fireplace lost nothing 
 of its importance or dignity, indeed its orna- 
 mentation received a fresh impetus and grew 
 apace. 
 
 Presently the Renaissance influence was 
 felt, though it was slow in coming to us. It 
 was received rather with condescension than 
 with open arms, certain of the features of 
 the new art being adapted to our own style. 
 Not unnaturally it was the richness and 
 grotesqueness of arabesques that attracted, 
 rather than the severer beauty of the Greek 
 and Roman orders. The arabesque was, 
 after all, allied to a certain lighter side of 
 Gothic, and so an exuberance of grotesque- 
 ness grew up, tawdry and meaningless 
 enough, but perhaps in closer touch with 
 Nature and more wholesome than the ex-
 
 88 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 acerbated imaginings of the decadent schools 
 on the Continent. In connection with chim- 
 neypiece adornment, the well-proportioned 
 column with base and capital had less 
 attraction than the pilaster, often of the 
 diminishing type, its face scarred with some- 
 what superfluous scrollwork. The grace of 
 caryatides and power of atlantes were apt 
 to be passed over in favour of the termini, 
 which lent themselves to grotesque treat- 
 ment, and somehow or other appeared to 
 blend with the geometric flat ribbon or strap 
 type of decoration. This strapwork, which 
 was a legacy derived in the first instance 
 from Celtic sources, from the pargetters and 
 so handsomely developed by the plasterers, 
 entered largely into the designs of carvers 
 both of stone and wood. 
 
 At the first stages of the style under con- 
 sideration stone was in general request. It 
 was part of the tradition. Then, towards 
 the middle of the i6th century, no doubt as 
 a result of panelling walls, wood came into 
 favour, sometimes for the whole visible parts 
 of the structure, at other times merely for 
 the architrave ; while much later there was a 
 lining of stone, thin jambs, and light lintel, 
 entirely framed with carved wood. Plaster
 
 THE TUDOR PERIOD 89 
 
 was also sometimes called into service, though 
 this was nearly always in combination with 
 wood employed in the entablature, the fire- 
 place frame itself being of stone. 
 
 Here and there the old simplicity of outline 
 and treatment of surfaces persisted ; for in- 
 stance in passage galleries, as in some parts 
 of Windsor Castle, in domestic offices, as in 
 the kitchens in Hampton Court Palace. As 
 a rule, however, all surfaces, whether flat or 
 round, received lavish decoration. This was 
 the case with pillars and pilasters, but we do 
 not find the geometrical mouldings them- 
 selves charged with running floral sprigs as 
 in ceiling and mural plasterwork of the same 
 period. 
 
 This over-elaboration, which, as we have 
 acknowledged, often sounded a note of vul- 
 garity, was to produce a reaction. John 
 Britton, who was not an admirer of the 
 period, writing about the Queen Elizabeth 
 fireplace in Windsor Castle, speaks with 
 contempt of " the shell-roofed niche, gro- 
 tesque pilasters with caryatides, etc., columns 
 having lower parts covered with foliage, and 
 upper parts fluted, with a jumbled mixture 
 of cherubims, birds and lions' heads, armorial 
 bearings, mythological hieroglyphics, etc.,"
 
 90 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 which " composed the heterogeneous designs 
 for the chimneypiece." The particular ex- 
 ample, no doubt, was not the happiest of the 
 kind, though it has its merits, and certainly 
 the general condemnation is far too sweep- 
 ing. This very piece is reproduced by Pugin 
 among his typical Gothic work, and it is 
 amusing to contrast his appreciation with the 
 tempestuous diatribe of the earlier scribe. 
 According to the great Gothic revivalist, it 
 is "impossible to deny the grand effect of 
 this elaborate composition, though nothing 
 could be more misapplied than the Doric 
 triglyphs and Ionic columns which appear 
 amongst the principal features. The most 
 striking fault was committed in placing two 
 such little spindling pilasters under the huge 
 mass of ponderous ornaments. We know 
 that they really have nothing to support, but 
 to the eye they appear loaded with the whole 
 work." This use of the spindling pilaster, 
 however, was quite characteristic of the 
 classic irruption into Tudor Gothic, and 
 must be accepted as a vital symbol of a real 
 mental twist, showing itself in that love of 
 attitudinising which we see even in an 
 Elizabeth or a Raleigh, that willingness to 
 place the satyric on a decked-out pedestal,
 
 THE TUDOR PERIOD 91 
 
 not only in literature and art, but in actual 
 practice, as we see differently expressed by 
 Henri of Navarre and the eighth Henry of 
 England. The chimneypiece immediately 
 under review is a huge affair, the fireplace 
 opening being 6 feet 5 inches, while the 
 lower part and entablature towers up over 
 ten feet. The decoration is largely heraldic, 
 with strapwork background, the crowned 
 falcon of Anne Boleyn appearing on the 
 pedestal of the upper order, the falcon, 
 heraldic tiger, the de Bohun swan, the 
 Tudor Red Dragon of Wales in the metope 
 of the Doric frieze. Elaborate carvings 
 appear on the bases of the columns, and the 
 pilasters, wondrously spindled and outlined, 
 with lions' heads, drapery, and bunches of 
 vegetation, are thoroughly unclassical Re- 
 naissance run mad. But there is the ground- 
 plan soberness of the splendid strapwork, 
 and the vigorous handling of all carved 
 decoration. 
 
 As an antidote to this we may describe, 
 though rather out of their chronological 
 order, the specimens already referred to as 
 existing at Windsor and Hampton Court. 
 In the former place we have in one of the 
 galleries two charmingly unobtrusive fire-
 
 92 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 places, attributed to the reign of Henry 
 VIII. The stone jambs and lintels, with 
 plain mouldings, are flush with the walls, 
 the lintels being in the form of slightly 
 pointed arches, or straight and crenelated, 
 marked, as we have said, with plain mould- 
 ings. In the small pendentives thus formed 
 are floral sprigs. The mouldings and scroll- 
 work differ in each case, though the general 
 outlines are identical, and remind one of the 
 beautiful Gothic work of the same approxi- 
 mate date in St. George's Chapel. At 
 Hampton Court, in the older part of the 
 Palace, are huge kitchens, assigned to Car- 
 dinal Wolsey's time. Here are to be seen 
 huge fireplaces, recessed in the thick walls, 
 with upward sloping backs, and outlined by 
 great blocks of dressed stone. The openings 
 are very wide, with short straight jambs, 
 supporting slightly pointed arches. In one 
 case there is a large_upright keystone. The 
 stone arches are outlined by a course of 
 bricks placed on end. This is the persistent 
 monastic type, already met with in the Dur- 
 ham Convent kitchen. 
 
 We will pass on to the consideration of 
 other typical examples, mostly to be found 
 in the positions where they were originally
 
 <,V-\/T .? . jrr 
 
 
 . W/Cagfe&.e;^ - '-' i& <.-<* \ ^^ 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 i 
 
 Haddon Hall, Derbyshire.
 
 THE TUDOR PERIOD 93 
 
 erected. Of some of these we give illus- 
 trations. 
 
 Our first example is from Weston Hall, 
 Warwickshire, and is dated 1545. It is a 
 great structure, 13 feet 6 inches high, of 
 carved oak. The jambs are tapering Ionic 
 pilasters, moderately carved, supporting an 
 elaborate entablature. The frieze is sup- 
 ported by long, tapering Ionic pilasters, 
 placed on high pedestals. These pilasters 
 are carved with foliated ornaments and the 
 family crest a sheldrake. The frieze, which 
 is divided up into arched panels by a series 
 of small caryatides supporting a continued 
 cornice, is adorned with portraits of courtiers 
 of Henry VIII. Over the lintel are two re- 
 cessed arched niches and an armorial shield. 
 The general design is classic, but the detailed 
 decoration distinctly Tudor. The fireplace 
 furniture belongs to a much later date. 
 
 This use of armorial insignia and of 
 portraits connecting the owner with his 
 particular duties in life are quite character- 
 istic of the age, and show the important 
 position occupied by fireplaces in the social 
 economy of the time. Many of these 
 " storied " chimneypieces have a genealogical 
 or personal interest, in a more intimate
 
 94 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 fashion than the royal examples already 
 described, and even than those having an 
 armorial shield or two in prominent parts. 
 They have something more personal to show ; 
 in a humbler fashion they may be compared 
 to that at Bruges, which tells its tale in an 
 inimitably grand way. 
 
 These "storied" chimneypieces form quite 
 a delightful class. Take, for instance, that 
 celebrated one at Speke Hall, belonging 
 to the year 1564. The overmantel is broad, 
 but rather low, and divided into panels by 
 dainty carved pilasters. On the frieze 
 painted canvas was stretched, giving the 
 pedigree of the Norris family. In the centre 
 panel a family party was rudely carved. 
 William Norris and his two wives (as a 
 matter of fact he married them successively 
 in the orthodox fashion) sat behind a table, 
 while their nineteen children stand in front. 
 Other figures were carved on the side panels. 
 Then at Barlborough, Derbyshire, we find a 
 handsomely carved stone chimneypiece, 
 having coupled Corinthian columns with 
 fluted shafts supporting the lintel ; above are 
 two richly carved pedestals on which stand 
 two caryatides, one representing Justice. 
 Now the owner, Rodes, was a Justice of the
 
 THE TUDOR PERIOD 95 
 
 Common Pleas. Three shields bear respect- 
 ively his own arms and those of his two wives. 
 Of the heraldic variety we have a good 
 example at Haddon Hall, Derbyshire. It 
 is in the Great Hall, and specially designed 
 to impress visitors. The arms of the builder, 
 Bess of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury, 
 appear in a lozenge, crowned with a coronet 
 and supported by two rampant greyhounds. 
 Curiously enough, in spite of the shield 
 being ensigned with the Countess's coronet, 
 the bearings are her paternal arms, which 
 piece of heraldic incongruity is quite char- 
 acteristic of that vigorous dame. The arms 
 are a beautiful piece of work, strongly carved. 
 Unfortunately, the blending with the sur- 
 rounding is not so happy as is usually the 
 case with Tudor treatment. The drapery 
 on the outside scroll with small medallions, 
 and the small swags with pendant fruit in 
 the frieze, distract the attention, though the 
 use of the cartouche is excellent. In the 
 same house there is another colossal structure 
 about 1 8 ft. high by 12 ft. wide. It is of 
 white and coloured marbles, rather severely 
 treated, there being little ornament except 
 the circular frame and statue in the centre of 
 the overmantel.
 
 96 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 In the old Manor House, Sheffield, there 
 was formerly a room, locally supposed to 
 have been a prison for Mary Queen of 
 Scots, with a richly moulded plaster ceiling 
 and frieze. The chimneypiece reached from 
 floor to ceiling, and was almost flush with 
 the wall. The hearth was raised ; the jambs 
 of stone, slightly chamfered, the heavy lintel 
 with moulded edge being supported by an 
 arch, the pendentives filled with foliage. 
 Above this were two handsome Corinthian 
 columns, with bases, plain shafts, and 
 acanthus capitals. The whole panel between 
 was occupied by a coroneted coat-of-arms 
 between two supporters. Precisely the same 
 treatment is seen in the huge specimen in 
 the picture gallery at Cobham Hall, near 
 Rochester. The fireplace is framed by two 
 termini, but the upper part is monopolised 
 by the large, boldly carved coat-of-arms, 
 coroneted, with two supporters and sur- 
 rounded by splendidly flowing lambrequin. 
 In the drawing-room at Glamis Castle there 
 is a very large carved stone fireplace. The 
 jambs are straight pilasters, panelled, having 
 raised mouldings with strong capitals, and 
 are carried up to the rounded and projecting, 
 richly carved frieze. The lintel is in two
 
 THE TUDOR PERIOD 97 
 
 tiers, straight and quite plain, divided by a 
 heavy projecting moulding. The chimney 
 breast consists of a panel decorated with 
 foliage and flowers, all springing from two 
 straight stems placed between two pairs 
 of termini, with diminishing pilasters, the 
 flutings en gaine, standing on carved 
 pedestals. In the centre there is a coat- 
 of-arms with a richly decorated frame. The 
 whole construction has very little projection. 
 A charming feature is that adjoining the fire- 
 place is a deep alcove, with raised floor, and 
 large window. 
 
 At Barsall, Sussex, we have a deeply 
 recessed fireplace, the chimneypiece, though 
 boldly carved, having hardly any projection. 
 The jambs and lintel, which are flat and 
 decorated with panels, are of stone, the 
 surround and overmantel of carved wood. 
 This framing consists of two slender pillars 
 on each side, standing one on the top of the 
 other on small bases reaching to the ceiling 
 cornice. These columns are fluted and 
 decorated. The overmantel is divided into 
 three panels by pilasters covered with scroll- 
 work, these panels being filled with armorial 
 shields. Between these and the lintel is 
 a panelled frieze in dainty inlaid woodwork.
 
 98 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 Two interesting examples of the use of 
 plaster are to be seen respectively at Little 
 Moreton Hall, Chester, and at Plas Mawr, 
 Con way. In the former case the fireplace 
 is deeply recessed, and is framed with carved 
 walnut pilasters, with foliated capitals ; the 
 lintel frieze is also decorated with foliage 
 conventionally treated. Above this is a 
 shelf with elaborate mouldings, supporting 
 two crudely moulded plaster figures of Justice 
 and Science, standing on pedestals. The 
 central panel, with egg moulding, contains a 
 quartered shield surrounded by lambrequin. 
 The frieze and cornice are well moulded and 
 highly decorated. At Plas Mawr the fire- 
 place in the entrance hall is surrounded by 
 a stone framing, the broad, straight lintel 
 being composed of large stones, curiously 
 joggled, the stones being cut alternately with 
 two large semi-circular swellings at the sides, 
 and with two corresponding depressions. It 
 gives the impression of a balustrade. The 
 overmantel in plaster is of a particularly 
 elaborate character. There are six quite 
 graceful termini, five coats-of-arms, a lion, 
 and a crowned fleur de /is, besides floral 
 decorations. In the drawing-room above a 
 similarly rude stone framing is some fine
 
 :-*' . . i 
 ^"'- 
 
 Gover-nop's Parlour, Chapterhouse. London. 
 
 _j
 
 THE TUDOR PERIOD 99 
 
 plasterwork, the centre panel being framed 
 by two termini supporting a carved cornice. 
 The panel contains, moulded in plaster, a 
 Tudor rose within a Garter, and the letters 
 E.R. The details of the plasterwork blend 
 with the similar treatment of the walls. In 
 Queen Elizabeth's Room we see a stone 
 fireplace with little moulding and hardly 
 any projection, and above the lintel a pro- 
 jecting chimney breast of plain plaster 
 carried straight up to the ceiling. These 
 are dated 1580. 
 
 At Wroxhall Manor House, Wiltshire, 
 there is an elaborately carved stone fireplace 
 of Renaissance design. It has two pairs of 
 female termini, nude to the waist. On the 
 architrave are niches sheltering small alle- 
 gorical figures. 
 
 At Loseley Hall, near Guildford, we have 
 a remarkable carved stone specimen, where 
 the struggle between the Gothic and Renais- 
 sance is rather two apparent. It belongs to 
 the year 1562, is in the dining-room, and 
 is 13 ft. 6 in. high and proportionately 
 broad, though with but small projection. 
 The jambs are decorated with lions' masks, 
 with swags of flowers and leaves in 
 their mouths. These are flanked by
 
 ioo CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 coupled Corinthian columns, with acanthus 
 capitals. 
 
 Shaw gives particulars of an oak chimney- 
 piece that existed in the drawing-room of a 
 house built in 1596 on the Yarmouth Quay. 
 It was well designed, simple in outline, but 
 with elaborately carved decorations. Coupled 
 Corinthian columns supported the lintel and 
 shelf, and above these were termini, ending 
 in foliage, supporting classic ornaments 
 symbolising Commerce and Plenty. The 
 caduceus of Mercury is cleverly combined 
 with cornucopias in such a way as to form 
 an anchor. The upper part was divided into 
 three compartments, surmounted by a frieze 
 and cornice. At a later period the central 
 panel was filled with a well designed coat-of- 
 arms of James I., carved in high relief. 
 
 A more ornate structure was put up at 
 Combe Abbey, Warwickshire, tradition says 
 by Lord Harrington when he was about 
 to receive the Piincess Elizabeth under 
 guardianship. It is a rectangular con- 
 struction, of fair projection, reaching from 
 floor to ceiling, broad and with liberal 
 square opening. Though the classic in- 
 fluence is seen especially in details of the 
 architrave, the lower columns are of the
 
 THE TUDOR PERIOD 101 
 
 fancy shaped, diminishing order, much deco- 
 rated, while the whole is covered with broad 
 strapwork. In the centre panels are the 
 arms of Henry VIII., with the Red Dragon 
 of Wales as one of the supporters, carved on 
 a big scale in high relief. 
 
 An equally marked duality is seen in the 
 Great Gallery at Burton Agnes, Yorkshire. 
 The chimneypiece, which measures about 
 7 ft. by 5 ft., has a deeply recessed fireplace 
 framed with carved stone, surrounded and 
 topped by carved wood. The handsome 
 frieze is supported by well formed pilasters, 
 and above them are canephori, the baskets 
 of fruit, flowers and leaves being unusually 
 well proportioned, placed under a projecting 
 cornice. The panels are carved with figures 
 of Honour, Faith, Hope, Charity, and 
 Pandora, surrounded by floral scrolls. It 
 should be mentioned that this example 
 stands in a gallery 115 ft. by 23 ft., high in 
 proportion, with a semi-circular ceiling, the 
 whole decorated with six series of scrolls, 
 in the form of rose branches with large 
 leaves and blossoms. 
 
 The same feeling is noticeable in the great 
 chimneypiece in King William's Room at 
 Castle Ashby, Northampton. The fireplace 
 
 H
 
 ids CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 has a slight carved stone surround, the lintel 
 bearing the arms and crest of the owner. 
 Framing this is a carved oak overmantel, 
 designed in two tiers, each having three 
 niches sheltering figures of Pandora, Justice, 
 Temperance, Faith, Hope, and Charity. 
 The panels are carved en cartouche tecourbte. 
 In the panelled hall of the same mansion 
 there is another big fireplace, with quite 
 plain slender marble jambs and lintel, and 
 an elaborate carved oak surround, with two 
 termini supporting a shelf, above which are 
 niches with Corinthian columns and shell 
 backs, sheltering two statuettes. The central 
 panel is filled with arabesques, and we also 
 see an armorial shield. 
 
 At the Victoria and Albert Museum there 
 is a chimney piece of the Elizabethan era 
 brought from Great St. Helens, City. The 
 overmantel has panels with heavy raised 
 mouldings, and three carefully proportioned 
 Corinthian columns. Another carved stone 
 and oak specimen from Enfield is to be 
 noted. 
 
 Harrison's reference to chimneys in Eng- 
 land at the opening of the i6th century has 
 been quoted at the beginning of this chapter. 
 Although it is really outside the scope of
 
 THE TUDOR PERIOD 103 
 
 this book to discuss the subject (one fully 
 deserving a small monograph), it is impos- 
 sible to neglect the matter altogether. We 
 are still sadly oppressed by the tyranny 
 of the hideous I9th century chimneypot, 
 ugly in its nakedness, hideous when cowled ; 
 we have every reason to look back with 
 appreciation if not with envy some 300 years 
 or more. The treatment of the chimney 
 shaft, stack and top, is thoroughly typical of 
 the period and nation ; it is the outward 
 manifestation of combining decoration with 
 solid comfort that we see in the design and 
 execution of the chimneypiece. They were 
 usually built of red brick, of fine dimensions, 
 boldly carried up, never shamefacedly masked, 
 for they were things of utility beautified. 
 Their number on the roofs of large Manor 
 Houses is astonishing, only less so than the 
 easy variety shown. At Compton Wynyates, 
 built in the second year of Henry VIII., and 
 at Hampton Court Palace, we see a great 
 many, standing out boldly, and each one 
 differently treated. At Hampton Court the 
 decorations are geometrical ; the bodies of 
 the tops, under projecting cornices, are 
 masses of tracery carried out in carved 
 bricks squares, diamonds, lozenges, zig-zags
 
 104 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 and wavy lines. At East Barsham the great 
 brick chimneys are decorated heraldically, 
 lions rampant on one,faur dk Us on another 
 in a trelliswork of crossed lines, all carved 
 out of brick. The tops are circular, square, 
 octagonal, but are all treated as not in- 
 considerable parts of a building. Oc- 
 casionally we see such daring eccentricities 
 as at Aston Bury, with its great stacks 
 placed on each side, and towering above, a 
 gabled end pierced by a dormer window. 
 At Great Cressingham Manor House, Nor- 
 folk, we find the huge solid stacks springing 
 from the ground floor, the octagonal sides or- 
 namented with recessed niches with multifoil 
 arches, and ending in twin octagonal decorated 
 tops. This outstanding boldness is all the 
 more curious because with the chimneypiece 
 itself the tendency was to reduce projection 
 as much as possible without abandoning 
 monumental treatment, but it demonstrates 
 how practical utility was the guiding prin- 
 ciple of the Tudor builders.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE JACOBEAN. 
 
 THE Jacobean is really an extension of the 
 Tudor style, but more decidedly marked by 
 the Renaissance movement, and betraying 
 something of Flemish influence. There are 
 no signs of falling off in the attention paid to 
 fireplaces. We have numerous splendid ex- 
 amples existing. 
 
 It is perhaps fitting to begin our descrip- 
 tions with Hatfield House, the magnificent 
 Hertfordshire seat of the Cecils. There are 
 quite a large number here, but we will con- 
 tent ourselves with giving details of three 
 typical examples of a transition style. In 
 the Marble Dining Hall the chimneypiece is 
 of carved oak, has a fair projection and 
 stands about 14 ft. high. It has termini 
 pilasters, with fan -shaped niches, and the 
 decoration is mostly broad strapwork of the 
 105
 
 106 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 best Tudor period. In the Drawing Room 
 we have a grand monument in marble, with 
 quite moderate projection for so large a 
 structure. It is mainly white, with black 
 classic columns, and red and white panels. 
 Over a broad shelf there is a deep niche, in 
 which stands a life-size bronze statue of 
 James I. in regal robes. There is a rather 
 heavy pediment with two medallion portraits. 
 In the Library there is a somewhat severe 
 white marble chimneypiece, in two tiers, 
 with black classic columns, and coloured 
 marble panels. In the centre of the breast 
 there is a large panel containing a portrait 
 of Sir Robert Cecil, builder of Hatfield, in 
 coloured mosaic. Another monumental ex- 
 ample in white and coloured marble is to be 
 found in the Long Gallery. 
 
 Marble of different colours is again used 
 in the case of the immense chimneypiece in 
 the drawing-room at Bramshill House, dating 
 back to 1 603, but here we have an admixture 
 of oak panels, plain, except for the strong 
 mouldings, and also oak ribs. The lower 
 portion is Doric, the upper Ionic. The 
 classic rather than the Renaissance is the 
 strong influence in this instance. Although 
 the entablature is heavy and in rather too
 
 English 17th Century from Norwich. 
 
 French 18th Century Marble and Ormoulu.
 
 THE JACOBEAN 107 
 
 great a contrast to the lower part, it har- 
 monises well with the wall panelling and the 
 very elaborate plaster moulded ceiling. 
 
 In the carved oak specimen in the dining- 
 room at Blickling Hall, Norfolk, the later 
 Renaissance influence is apparent, although 
 the decoration is largely heraldic in char- 
 acter. Nevertheless, thanks mainly to the 
 freely foliated character of the flowing lam- 
 brequin, and to the unusually floral treat- 
 ment of the shields, there is quite a good 
 blending with the neo-classic details, and 
 in this respect it is a creditable and in- 
 structive specimen. 
 
 Holland House, Kensington, appears to 
 have been designed by John Thorpe, the 
 builder of Kirby Hall, Northants, but Sir 
 Walter Cope only set about the erection in 
 1606, and most of the internal decorations 
 belong to a later date, being carried out by 
 his son-in-law, Henry Rich, Earl of Holland, 
 who employed Francis Cleyn among others. x 
 
 Several of the chimneypieces are worthy of 
 note. In the Gilt Room there are two 
 chimneypieces, said to be the work of Cleyn, 
 placed on each side of a doorway and almost 
 flush with the other wall decorations. The 
 jambs consist of coupled columns painted
 
 io8 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 black, resting on blue pedestals, the bases 
 and capitals being gilt. These support a 
 narrow lintel and shelf. Above these are 
 coupled columns of Siena marble, also with 
 gilt ornaments on lower part of shafts, bases 
 and capitals. The more prominent mould- 
 ings and flutings are also gilt. The cima 
 recta of the great entablature is decorated 
 with leaves and golden acorns. Much of 
 the ornamentation is in gold, shaded with 
 bistre, and is placed on dark blue grounds. 
 On the left chimneypiece are the arms of 
 Charles I. and over the right those of the 
 Prince of Wales. Other heraldic ornaments 
 are the cross-crosslets and fleur de Us of the 
 Copes and Riches. In the Great Room we 
 see two tall Corinthian columns, with gilt 
 bases and capitals flanking the fireplace and 
 supporting respectively the cross-crosslets of 
 the Copes and \hzflenr de Us of the Riches. 
 In the Yellow Drawing Room and the Blue 
 Room the designs are again classical, the 
 colourings being respectively sea green with 
 pink and gold and neutral tint embellish- 
 ments, and white and gold with medallions 
 in neutral tints. In the Ancient Parlour we 
 have a chimneypiece that may possibly be 
 due to the pencil of Thorpe, for it is thor-
 
 THE JACOBEAN 109 
 
 oughly in the Tudor spirit. Here there 
 is considerable projection, though the fire- 
 place is also recessed, The structure is 
 carried up rectangularly from floor to 
 ceiling. The jambs are flat pilasters, 
 ornamented with strapwork. The entabla- 
 ture consists of panels with raised 
 mouldings, flanked by Corinthian columns 
 supporting an enriched frieze and pro- 
 jecting cornice. 
 
 A drawing has come down to us of 
 a fireplace in the Duke's House, Brad- 
 ford, Wiltshire, which was erected by 
 the Duke of Kingston in the reign 
 of James I. It was recessed, with 
 upward slanting back and square opening, 
 the lintel very broad, with coupled 
 Corinthian columns, supporting a good 
 frieze and projecting cornice. Over this 
 were a pair of coupled columns, with 
 well formed capitals supporting a projecting 
 cornice. On the central panel was an 
 elaborately carved frame enclosing an ar- 
 morial shield. 
 
 In the Victoria and Albert Museum we 
 have several specimens of this period, whose 
 peculiar interest lies in the combination of 
 stone and wood ; stone jambs and lintels,
 
 no CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 generally very slender, usually with plain 
 mouldings framing the fireplaces, with carved 
 oak overmantels. One of these, dated 1606, 
 has a rather broad lintel decorated with birds, 
 beasts, and flowers. The carved oak over- 
 mantel, supported by fancifully modelled 
 diminishing pilasters, with diminutive cary- 
 atic busts, has, on a central panel, between 
 Ionic columns, the arms of James I., with a 
 shell-backed niche on each side and a scroll- 
 work pediment. The raised strapwork on 
 the carved base just above the lintel is 
 excellent. In a pair brought from Lime 
 Street, and dated 1620, the lower part of 
 stone, the jambs and lintels are slender and 
 quite plain, but the oak overmantels have 
 panels with good raised mouldings and over- 
 hanging cornices. 
 
 With the advance of the century the in- 
 creasing influence of classic design made 
 itself felt. Inigo Jones was at work, and 
 his taste was nearer ancient art than the 
 later exponents of the Renaissance. He 
 designed many chimneypieces, both the 
 simple and the continued classes, that is 
 those merely forming a frame to the fire- 
 place, and having concealed breasts, and 
 those with a superstructure or overmantel.
 
 THE JACOBEAN in 
 
 It will be seen from the pictures of his work 
 which we give that he did not care for over- 
 emphasis. His chimneypieces were moderate 
 in size, having slight projection, square open- 
 ings, and fairly pure classic members. He 
 preferred the pilaster to the pillar, at all 
 events for the jambs, this mainly to secure 
 his flat panel effects. The fanciful shaping 
 and decoration of the Tudor era was dis- 
 carded in favour of plain mouldings or 
 flutings, lions' masks, and reasonable slender 
 swag-garlands and sprays. He was fond 
 of the running line patterns, undulating and 
 voluted wave forms. Keeping well in mind 
 the laws of proportion guiding classic builders 
 (but not in the matter of chimneypieces), 
 Jones restricted breadth as well as projection. 
 Many of his examples, especially of the con- 
 tinued class, have the appearance to English 
 eyes of being skimpy, and when the favourite 
 well developed pediment was employed, even 
 top-heavy. Where perhaps he excelled was 
 in keeping the decoration down in harmony 
 with the severity of his general outlines. 
 For this reason his simple fireplaces are 
 more satisfying than his continued chimney- 
 pieces, as they were a comprehensible way of 
 treating a problem of utility, and allowed
 
 112 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 plenty of freedom for mural decoration. On 
 the other hand, the continued treatment 
 raised expectations which are not satisfied, 
 as they were by the Gothic or the Tudor 
 styles.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 LATER RENAISSANCE. 
 
 ON the whole, the Renaissance movement 
 in the hands of men of the i6th and i7th 
 centuries resulted, so far as our immediate 
 interest is concerned, in a decided incoher- 
 ence of design and incongruity of decoration. 
 On the Continent this early led to a mingling 
 of materials, partly in order to secure poly- 
 chromatic effects, but chiefly as a direct 
 outcome of that exuberance of ornamentation 
 already noted. With us the influences at 
 work abroad were slower to make themselves 
 felt, and perhaps our incoherence never quite 
 reached the licence it did with our masters. 
 But while we retained some degree of sober- 
 ness, we failed to catch the lightness, the 
 elegance, that we find in French and Italian 
 work. A French chimneypiece of the i7th 
 century is suggestive of masks, powder puffs,
 
 ii4 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 and alcoves. In a word, it is rather preten- 
 tious, often decidedly naughty, but always 
 interesting and amusing. Those of the 
 1 8th century not infrequently have the 
 appearance of a scene from Watteau trans- 
 formed into precious marbles and ormolu. 
 They were /&&&*/*?, like a goblet of cham- 
 pagne or a soubrette ; sparkling as nothing 
 we produced could be. While we had a 
 Grinling Gibbons in alliance with a Wren, 
 they had their Clodion and their Gouthiere 
 embellishing the work of a Mansard. All 
 the difference lay there ; which is not to say 
 that all the gain was on one side. But the 
 difference exists, and is fundamental, account- 
 ing for failures following on the pretentious 
 claims of a Kent, or the inanities of a 
 Chippendale's Orientalism. There is always 
 danger in playing the sedulous ape, and the 
 trouble with us, at all events during the i8th 
 century, was that we were obsessed by the 
 tyranny of the " Grand Tour." We no 
 longer absorbed, we submitted. 
 
 Abroad there was greater continuity. We 
 can account for the dainty Parisian boudoir 
 of a marquise by studying the painted wood 
 hunting-box of Henry IV. at Alenson. We 
 have examined this latter in the South
 
 LATER RENAISSANCE 115 
 
 Kensington galleries. We have only to 
 walk a few paces to find the other. This 
 boudoir has been transported for us in its 
 entirety from the rue vieille du Temple, 
 where Claude Clodion and Gouthiere worked 
 under the supervision of Marie Antoinette 
 to make a dainty nest for one of her 
 favourites. It is quite a tiny, square room, 
 very tall, with carved ceiling, and every 
 square inch of it is gay with bright colours, 
 just as it is in that country cottage affair 
 of Henry of Navarre. Only here the design 
 is lighter, the execution infinitely more 
 perfect, and the materials much richer, the 
 cornice, mouldings on panels of walls and 
 ceiling gilded. The chimneypiece, about 
 3 ft. 6 in. by 3 ft., is placed in the middle of 
 the wall, is of pure white marble with 
 elegantly shaped jambs, lintel and circular 
 ending shelf, the sides adorned with two 
 Persian termini (veritable Orientals in tur- 
 bans and flowing robes) in grey marble. 
 The scrollwork on bases of these figures, 
 on the lintel and on the fender are of beauti- 
 fully moulded gilt bronze ; the fire-back and 
 cheeks of well modelled cast iron. It is 
 a fragile piece of work, as exquisite in detail 
 for the grey marble figures, the gilded
 
 n6 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 metal scrolls, are perfect in themselves as it 
 is successful as a whole. But it is only 
 fitted, as a whole, to that frivolous little 
 bonbonniere. It is a sort of fireplace to 
 suggest lively chatter, a high degree of 
 selfish culture, and therefore is very far 
 away from the family hearth, the patriarchal 
 huge chimneypieces of the common hall. 
 By over refining ideals comfort and pretty 
 surroundings the marquises had arrived at 
 something which was the negation of home. 
 Of course there was a good deal that lay 
 between the two, as the Louvre, Fontaine- 
 bleau, and Versailles bear witness. At the 
 Muse'e des Arts Decoratifs in Paris there is 
 a Louis XIV. carved wood chimneypiece 
 having pilasters adorned with heavy under- 
 cut acanthus leaves, which support a deco- 
 rated frieze, the panels above being filled 
 with foliage and scrollwork. Another of the 
 same type and period has a domed curved 
 breast, with flat top. Le Pautre has 
 described and preserved drawings of some 
 of the wonders in the old Chateau de 
 Madrid, which stood on the outskirts of the 
 Bois de Boulogne. On each floor there was 
 a large hall with a " Chemine'e Royale," 
 behind which was a small staircase leading
 
 LATER RENAISSANCE 117 
 
 to the next floor. In other rooms there 
 were two fireplaces reaching to the ceiling, 
 one on each side of a doorway. Closer 
 to our Clodion and Gouthiere specimen is 
 the 1747 red marble chimneypiece at 
 Versailles. It is elegantly shaped, has scrolls 
 of gilt bronze, and at its angles are a male 
 and female termini, leaning forward smiling, 
 in no menial attitude, also in gilt bronze. 
 In another room of that monstrous pile is a 
 white marble chimneypiece of 1775, with gilt 
 bronze ornaments, and also provided with 
 termini, in this case two chubby nude boys 
 in white marble, drawing about their heads 
 and waists grey drapery. Although they 
 are in the position of supports, under the 
 overhanging mantelshelf, with heads slightly 
 bent forward, there is no sign of strain about 
 their dimpled, smiling little persons. Here, 
 with the gilt bronze figures of Caffieri, the 
 white marble babes of an unknown sculptor, 
 and the grey marble Persians of Clodion, we 
 are face to face with works of art, whose 
 perfection is in no way diminished by their 
 subordination to a purely decorative pur- 
 pose. 
 
 If we go to the Rijks Museum at Amster- 
 dam we will find quite as extravagant a 
 
 i
 
 ii8 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 development, though on more homely lines. 
 Thus one specimen bearing the date 1561 
 has powerful termini, the pilasters orna- 
 mented with suns in splendour. Volutes, 
 springing from grotesque masks, support 
 frames with armorial shields. This is painted 
 with tints of flesh-colour, green, red, black, 
 and gold. One, dated 1614, has a carved 
 white stone fireplace with horned atlantes, 
 supporting an overmantel in carved wood. 
 Another from Western Flanders and 
 dated 1617, is in grey stone, with cary- 
 atides in contemporary local costumes, 
 resting on pedestals adorned with masks. 
 The overmantel is treated architecturally 
 with columns, frieze and cornice. The oak 
 panels are inlaid with ebonised oak and 
 white beech, surrounded by bands of 
 mahogany, pointed with ivory buttons. 
 
 Inigo Jones, whose treatment of the 
 chimneypiece we have already discussed, 
 did much to banish the Gothic and lead the 
 Jacobean to a sober school of classic archi- 
 tecture. But he was succeeded by an even 
 more imposing genius in the person of 
 Christopher Wren. With all his leanings 
 towards Vitruvius and Palladio, his admir- 
 ation for the remains of Greek and Roman
 
 LATER RENAISSANCE 119 
 
 splendour, and his scientific bent, Wren 
 loved a certain amount of display. The 
 Renaissance masters appealed to him for- 
 cibly, and we find him decorating his classic 
 designs with no meagre hand. This applies 
 especially to interiors. His fireplaces, although 
 drawn in harmony with the classic orders he 
 affected, were loaded with ornaments, corres- 
 ponding to the heavy modelled and moulded 
 plasterwork he loved to see on his ceilings, 
 surrounding his doors and windows. Jones's 
 quiet headings, fillets, hollows and rounds, 
 small masks and floral garlands, were re- 
 placed by strongly carved trophies, big 
 wreaths, swollen bunches of flowers and 
 fruit and figures of children. Grinling 
 Gibbons, that incomparable wood carver, 
 whose technique was far superior to his 
 taste, decorated many a chimneypiece whose 
 pure outline betrays the master hand. 
 With him came a veritable Renaissance of 
 English carving, but like the worthy Italians 
 in the matter of grotesque, though fired by 
 the splendid remnants of a bygone age, he 
 preferred to let his fancy run riot. At the 
 root of this revival in wood carving there 
 was a desire to go back to Nature as the 
 great teacher. Unfortunately Nature was
 
 120 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 studied more with the eyes of mechanics 
 than those of artists. Many of the works of 
 Gibbons and his contemporaries are exact 
 reproductions of the objects portrayed ; they 
 show exquisite single bits, but the general 
 result is not natural, and is sometimes so 
 heavy as to suggest grossness. We see 
 something of this in existing chimneypieces. 
 It is not altogether absent from the very 
 interesting collection of sketches, in mono- 
 chrome and colour, for chimneypieces and 
 mural decorations intended for Hampton 
 Court Palace, now preserved at the Soane 
 Museum. These sketches are bound up in 
 a bulky volume, once in the possession of 
 Dance, and they are attributed to the hand 
 of Grinling Gibbons. It is possible that the 
 architectural features may be actual elabor- 
 ations of indications by Wren, but the draw- 
 ings for the decorations betray the touch of 
 a sculptor, one who knew the nature of 
 materials and the difficulties of technique. 
 We reproduce three of these sketches, which 
 demonstrate both the strength and the weak- 
 ness of the Gibbons school. Take item by 
 item and you are bound to admire the 
 beauty and truthfulness of the represent- 
 ation. The figures of the children are de-
 
 LATER RENAISSANCE 121 
 
 lightful. On the other hand there is too 
 much of detail ; we are rather oppressed by 
 the mass, which lacks the lightness and 
 elegance we desire to associate with flowers 
 and fruit. Then again, the grouping is not 
 very happy. The use of the drapery canopy 
 is rather nonsensical in one case, and pain- 
 fully funereal in the other. We are left to 
 admire details, for instance the quite admir- 
 able grouping of the cupids in the unfinished 
 sketch, which breaks the straight lines of 
 the upper portion of the severely simple 
 chimneypiece, and humanises it ; and then 
 the very beautiful frieze. 
 
 William Kent, a pupil and admirer of 
 Inigo Jones, and one who, as at Holkham, 
 actually carried out work, such as chimney- 
 pieces, designed by the master, professed to 
 be a true follower of classical tradition. He 
 was, however, a Renaissance man, as his 
 rather clumsy outline shows. We can con- 
 trast his two chimneypieces given in this 
 book with the two by Jones. The coarsen- 
 ing is at once apparent. As a rule he was 
 good as a decorator, but he suffered from 
 the same defects as Gibbons, he massed and 
 enlarged his details too much, and they 
 gave the unfortunate impression of being
 
 122 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 stuck on. They did not combine with the 
 design as did the quite foreign Tudor scroll- 
 work on classic backgrounds, or hang natur- 
 ally as the garlands of Inigo Jones or the 
 scrolls of Gouthiere. 
 
 Kent's work may be seen in many London 
 and country houses, among others at Kensing- 
 ton Palace and at Houghton, Norfolk. His 
 propensity for over emphasis and unfortunate 
 choice of detail is only too apparent at the 
 latter place. In the hall there is a specimen 
 well recessed, but also with considerable 
 projection. The jambs have canephori ter- 
 mini, with derisively small baskets of flowers 
 on their heads, and so placed as to appear to 
 be actually sustaining the weight. The 
 jambs are buttressed by side consoles, their 
 thicker voluted ends resting on square bases, 
 and provided with capitals. This idea of 
 side support is again seen in the Salon, 
 where we have a black marble continued 
 type of structure, with gilt embellishments. 
 The base has two pairs of classic columns, 
 one pair placed in front as supports for the 
 lintel and architrave, the others stepped back 
 to buttress the sides. Above these side 
 columns are caryatides. The whole is 
 topped by a broken pediment with cartouche
 
 LATER RENAISSANCE 123 
 
 and trailing ivy. The central panel has a 
 carved frame, and on the lintel is a large 
 Star and Garter. Console buttresses appear 
 again in the drawing-room, where they have 
 cherubs' heads as capitals, the frame on the 
 overmantel is carved by Grinling Gibbons. 
 The side buttressing once more appears 
 in the dining-room. 
 
 The architectural books of this period are 
 well worth study in this connection. Colin 
 Campbell, in his " Vitruvius Brittanicus," 
 gives several examples of his chimneypieces, 
 which have some of the merits and most 
 of the faults of Kent, though those designed 
 for a back parlour in Brook Street, Gros- 
 venor Square, and for Brookbank's mansion 
 at Hackney, are good. 
 
 Ware, in his " Complete Body of Archi- 
 tecture," has much that deserves attention. 
 Among his suggestions is one that might 
 well be tried in this age of love of novelty 
 and outdoor life. He says that the blank 
 space in the panel of a continued chimney- 
 piece could be filled with a wind-indicating 
 dial. He even gives an illustration of his 
 idea. The dial is surrounded by scrollwork, 
 and four cherubims puffing at the cardinal 
 points. He fails to say how it was to work,
 
 124 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 but presumably this could be done by con- 
 necting the needle by means of light rods 
 and levers to an outside vane. 
 
 George Richardson, in his " New Col- 
 lection," gives 36 designs of chimneypieces 
 in what he conceives to be the Etruscan, 
 Greek, and Roman styles of architecture. 
 He affects the simple type (without over- 
 mantel) and advocates polychromatic schemes 
 obtained by the use of varied materials. 
 Thus in one instance we have white marble 
 relieved with a brownish variety for details. 
 In another he uses white marble and green 
 marble, with yellow pilasters and reddish 
 brown medallions. 
 
 Isaac Ware suggested that Anglesea green 
 marble, "with its white asbestos veins," 
 would make a fine background for white 
 marble columns, or alternately that it would 
 look well as columns against a white back- 
 ground. Richardson's caryatic figures are 
 usually good, forming an integral part of the 
 design, without being given apparent heavy 
 work to do. 
 
 Both Chippendale and Lock were of- 
 fenders in the matter of designing chimney- 
 pieces. The former was chiefly responsible 
 for the application of the Oriental craze in
 
 LATER RENAISSANCE 125 
 
 this direction. He designed " Chinese " and 
 "Indian" fireplace surrounds, generally of 
 the continued type. These were remarkable 
 for great breadth, lightness of construction 
 and a profusion of weird scrollwork, partly 
 foliated and merging into trees, occasionally 
 into pagodas and little figures of Chinamen 
 or Indians. The scrolls were usually com- 
 position or carved wood in high relief on 
 plain painted wood, but sometimes the flat 
 surfaces were filled with mirrors. Very 
 often these chimneypieces were lopsided, 
 purposely out of balance, all the scrollwork 
 running to one side, apparently with the 
 idea of showing the eccentricity of the 
 Chinese mind. Altogether a very poor 
 imitation of their carved jade and wood- 
 work. A mild specimen of the outcome of 
 this school, with marble jambs and lintel, 
 in wood and composition, and a large central 
 mirror, is to be seen at South Kensington. 
 
 Perhaps the worst culprit in this connec- 
 tion, however, was Piranesi, who in his 
 sumptuous tome on how to adorn chimney- 
 pieces, deliberately sets out to compose 
 monstrosities in the Egyptian, Etruscan, 
 Greek, and Roman styles, with the funniest 
 results imaginable. There is no denying that
 
 126 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 Piranesi had a big outlook on the world, 
 delighting to magnify the works of man. 
 His designs are all on a grandiose scale, 
 overloaded with unnecessary members 
 smothered under a mass of detail. It is at 
 least doubtful whether, if the creators of the 
 Sphinx, the builders of the Pyramids or even 
 of Dendera had revisited this earth, they 
 would have constructed fireplaces quite as 
 our Italian enthusiast designed them. He 
 piled pyramids on pillars, used hieroglyphics 
 as surface decorations with' lotus blossoms 
 and papyrus, employed colossal Egyptians 
 as Atlantes, or placed them idly by, as 
 quizzical onlookers, not the least disturbed 
 by the fact that they were often memento 
 mori, being equipped in mummified form. 
 Sometimes these figures sat on benches, 
 their backs buttressing the jambs. In one 
 case he actually has two pairs of almost nude 
 Egyptians placed upside down, supporting 
 themselves on their hands, back to back, 
 their heads reversed, so that they almost 
 rub noses, while on the side of these 
 are two colossi, rigid, with the far away 
 look of the impassive deified. His treat- 
 ment of the Etruscan and classic is just 
 as extravagant. We have reason to
 
 LATER RENAISSANCE 127 
 
 thank our stars that much of this remained 
 on paper. 
 
 But we must hark back to some typical 
 examples of this period as actually existing 
 in situ or in collections. 
 
 Bolsover Castle, Derbyshire, presented 
 many interesting examples. It was rebuilt 
 by Huntingdon Smithson for Sir Charles 
 Cavendish early in the i;th century. The 
 idea seems to have been to preserve, as far 
 as compatible with the then prevailing ideas 
 of comfort, the baronial castle style. The 
 chimneypieces consequently were large, with 
 strong members, built-up pyramidal hoods, 
 but fairly simple as to details. Many of 
 these are placed in the angles of rooms, and 
 have semi-circular projecting outline. A 
 curious feature is that these fireplaces are 
 usually surrounded by a wall of plain large 
 stone masonry, with outer moulding, against 
 which the wood panelling is brought. It is 
 a somewhat affected, but not ineffective, 
 imitation of the precautions taken when 
 wood panelling was first introduced into 
 castles, or when wood entered largely into 
 construction. This type of angle chimney- 
 piece we find reproduced at Hampton Court 
 with happy results. We see one with a wide
 
 128 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 opening, a decorated iron fire-plate cutting 
 off the back triangle, a semi-circular upright 
 breast with fine mouldings, surmounted by a 
 shelf, and a small receding pyramidal hood, 
 with flat top, and fine carved bunches of 
 flowers and fruit, apparently by Gibbons, 
 pendant from the top. 
 
 At Charlton House we find a handsome 
 combination in the Saloon of white alabaster 
 and black marble, with fine figures of Vulcan 
 and Venus, the decoration being of Greek 
 line and scrollwork. One of marble in the 
 drawing-room, with good plain spaces, was 
 so highly polished that Dr. Plott tells us 
 " the Lord of Downe did see in it a robbery 
 committed on Shooter's Hill," that is, he 
 saw a reflection of what was occurring a mile 
 or more away, "whereupon, sending out his 
 servants, the thieves were taken." Cer- 
 tainly a novel use for such a feature of 
 architecture. 
 
 Rowland Buckett provided a finely de- 
 signed, lavishly decorated chimneypiece for 
 the old Governor's Room at the Charter- 
 house, City, for which he received ^50 
 from the then Governor (temp. Charles I.). 
 The lower part has panels of white marble, 
 with arched mouldings, enclosing figure
 
 3 
 o 
 U 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 as 
 
 X 
 
 QO 
 
 c 
 
 O
 
 LATER RENAISSANCE 129 
 
 medallions, with foliated scrolls. These 
 are placed between pairs of black marble 
 columns with gilt bases and capitals, the 
 whole resting on blood-red pedestals deco- 
 rated with fancy mouldings. The lintel is 
 of red marble framed in white, and having 
 three long black panels adorned with figure 
 groups in gold outline. Above this is a 
 black and gold frieze, then a projecting shelf 
 with mouldings, supporting the overmantel, 
 which is a mass of fine arabesques. In the 
 centre are the arms of Charles I., with sup- 
 porters and lambrequin, neatly framed in an 
 oval. The corner spaces of this panel are 
 filled with four circular medallions, with the 
 Evangelists done in gold outline on a black 
 background. The four ornamental columns 
 have the heads of the twelve Apostles 
 placed in small circles amidst floral ara- 
 besques. These columns, and two narrow 
 panels, rest on decorated pedestals, having 
 ovals containing delicate pictures in gold of 
 the Salutation and the Last Supper. Between 
 these, on a narrow panel, are the arms of 
 Thomas Sutton, founder of the Hospital, 
 supported by two angels, and the initials 
 "T. S.," the whole surrounded by arabes- 
 ques. Our plate, although lacking the charm
 
 130 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 associated with glow of colour, gives a fair 
 idea of the delicacy and beauty of this ex- 
 ceptional piece, which has all the love of 
 display, the fancy, and the patience in 
 crowding in detail of the later Renaissance, 
 without any suggestion of its tawdriness 
 and vulgarity. Here again the introduction 
 and blending of the heraldic motifs is well 
 done. 
 
 An equally commendable example of late 
 Renaissance, 1686, is now preserved at 
 South Kensington. It is the oak and cedar 
 panelling, ceiling, and other fittings, from a 
 room in Clifford's Inn. The chimney sur- 
 round is of black marble with white veining, 
 daintily shaped, and with sober carving. 
 The outer casing is of carved oak, rich in 
 floral scrollwork. There is a projecting 
 shelf, and above this a panel with a hand- 
 some beaded frame, surrounded by flowers 
 and foliage carved in high relief in the 
 Grinling Gibbons style. Above this, scroll- 
 work supports a quartered shield, in heraldic 
 colours. This lawyer's sober, refined den 
 should be compared with the two French 
 rooms in the same gallery, already referred 
 to in these pages. 
 
 Several less imposing but instructive ex-
 
 LATER RENAISSANCE 131 
 
 amples of English work are to be seen in this 
 Museum. The preference for termini over 
 full figures is noticeable, and also the sadly 
 disproportionate effect of small baskets crown- 
 ing canephori. The broken pediment is a 
 favourite device. Mostly these have stone 
 or marble linings with wood surroundings. 
 In some of these we see a tendency to return 
 for decorative details direct to the ancients. 
 While the outlines are somewhat incongru- 
 ous, still being reminiscent of the Jacobean 
 period, the ornaments of the wave, Greek 
 key, and similar patterns, are frequently 
 adopted. One specimen has a broad frieze 
 with a very characteristic type of decoration 
 delicately carved sprays of flowers and 
 leaves, with flowing ribbons, quite small, 
 and of medium relief, and stuck on to the 
 panelling. This was carried out either in 
 wood or composition. The naturalistic feel- 
 ing, but based on sound principles of design, 
 takes us away from the Renaissance and 
 Grinling Gibbons schools back to Gothic 
 carvers of the i3th, i4th, and i5th centuries. 
 For the decoration of upper panels this 
 method possessed considerable merits. It 
 is purely surface decoration.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 NEO-CLASSIC. 
 
 ALL Renaissance work, no doubt, was 
 ostensibly based on a study of the an- 
 tique ; but, so far as decoration is con- 
 cerned, attention was chiefly directed to 
 an adaptation and development of the 
 grotesques, or "arabesques," of the de- 
 cadent period of classic art, with the 
 introduction of extraordinary figures and 
 a few other motifs. When this degener- 
 ated into licence, there were men who 
 wished to return direct to the antique, 
 guided by Vitruvius and Palladio, for 
 decoration as well as general design. 
 Among these were Inigo Jones and, to 
 a lesser extent, Christopher Wren, William 
 Kent, Isaac Ware. As we have seen, 
 with the exception of the first-named, 
 their intentions were better than their 
 132
 
 NEO-CLASSIC 133 
 
 performance in the matter of simplifica- 
 tion. 
 
 In Robert Dance we have, if a rather 
 uninspired, yet a sincere student of the 
 classic. We may be more appalled than 
 impressed by the exterior of the official res- 
 idence of the Lord Mayor of London, 
 but the interior treatment is not lacking 
 in dignity, well becoming a building of 
 this class. In the designing of chimney- 
 pieces he showed a restraint that was 
 often pleasing. He was strong enough 
 to take some liberties as regards hard 
 and fast lines of proportion. He gave 
 greater breadth than either Jones or Kent, 
 which was an improvement, especially as 
 applied to the " continued type." There 
 was, however, a frequent absence of con- 
 tinuity in design. His entablatures too 
 often have the appearance of reduced 
 scale models placed on a substantial base, 
 as we see in his Mansion House work. 
 This was not always an improvement on 
 the top-heavy designs of certain of the 
 earlier architects. With him the broken 
 pediment also proved a pitfall. He was 
 fond, in his monumental structures, of 
 cutting through the ceiling cornice with 
 
 K
 
 134 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 his pediments, which was well enough 
 if he kept them closed, but when broken, 
 the unity of the whole design was des- 
 troyed. 
 
 With Sir William Chambers the classic 
 influence was predominant. He laid down 
 that the opening of a fireplace of mo- 
 derate size should be near the square, in 
 small ones a trifle higher, and in large 
 ones lower. Happily he inclined to the 
 "moderate" and "large," with pleasing 
 effect, as will be gathered from our two 
 examples taken from original sketches at 
 the Soane Museum. These also show the 
 charm of his restrained decoration. In 
 theory and practice he admitted the use 
 of architraves, friezes, cornices, columns, pil- 
 asters, termini, caryatides, consoles and all 
 kinds of ornament, though he kept these 
 within bounds. 
 
 In connection with Chambers's theory 
 of proportions, it may be pointed out that 
 the usual rule banishing horizontal lines 
 from a low room to prevent its being 
 further dwarfed as the result of optical 
 illusion, can often be abandoned with advan- 
 tage in designing chimneypieces. A broad, 
 low fireplace in a long, low room, gives
 
 NEO-CLASSIC 135 
 
 it a comfortable appearance that more 
 than counterbalances any advantage to 
 be attained by employing a narrow "con- 
 tinued " chimneypiece in order to increase 
 apparent height. This certainly holds good 
 as regards country cottages, and middle 
 class houses, though it may not apply so 
 forcibly in more pretentious dwellings, 
 where richer and statelier decorations 
 prevail. 
 
 After Chambers came Robert Adam, 
 who professed himself dissatisfied with the 
 heaviness of the Kent school, and the 
 mechanical process in decoration introduced 
 by Wren and many of Gibbon's followers. 
 For decoration Adams went back direct to 
 the ancients, and from them he adopted 
 the sound doctrine that every part should 
 be consistent with the whole. Consequently 
 his chimneypieces, although built up of 
 classic members and ornamented with classic 
 designs, always fit in with his rooms and 
 harmonise with all else there. He was 
 rather apt to subordinate this feature, for 
 his doorways and window openings often 
 seem of greater importance than the chim- 
 neypieces. As a rule they were of mod- 
 erate size, of the "simple" class (without
 
 136 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 overmantel), of slight projection, and there 
 was, as a rule, very little carving other 
 than purely surface ornamentation. It must 
 be remembered to his credit that he suc- 
 cessfully overcame the difficult task of 
 designing really good fire-grates, thoroughly 
 in keeping with the rest of the composition, 
 a problem that did not obtrude itself on 
 most of the Renaissance men, who were 
 building for wood, and not a coal-burning 
 generation. Certain faults were inherent 
 in Adam's ideals. If he did not oppress 
 with the robustiousness of contour and 
 colour of Kent, his designing on a smaller 
 scale in low relief did not always save 
 him from overcrowding, and his subdued 
 tints are sometimes depressing, whilst alas, 
 his methods of production became quite 
 as mechanical as anything Wren ever 
 attempted. The elegant little wreaths, stiff 
 palmated fans, and repeated looped gar- 
 lands degenerated into lifeless mannerisms. 
 There is an absence of breadth of treatment 
 in his fireplaces which places them lower 
 in the scale of beauty than those of 
 Chambers and even of Dance. Plenty of 
 opportunities exist for studying his chimney- 
 pieces amidst their proper surroundings in
 
 Design by Robert Adam. 
 
 Design by Robert Adam.
 
 NEO-CLASSIC 137 
 
 town houses, chiefly in London and Edin- 
 burgh, and in country mansions, such as 
 Kedleston and Shelbourne Houses. The 
 examples chosen for illustration show 
 Adam's work at its best, characteristic in 
 outline, with simplified decoration, and, on 
 the whole, carefully balanced. 
 
 Removed from Adam by about half a 
 century, Sir John Soane carried simplicity 
 even further than Dance or Chambers. 
 He preferred white marble, which he used 
 in narrow slabs for jambs and lintel and 
 very narrow shelf. The mouldings were 
 plain and sunk, the fluting rounded, as 
 were all edges, including the ends of the 
 chimney shelf, while the projection was re- 
 duced to a minimum. The effect is un- 
 doubtedly very chaste, and certainly this 
 treatment in no way hampers the book 
 and picture collector. But it means the 
 attenuation of the chimneypiece to its 
 more elementary form. In outline and 
 principle, Soane's chimneypieces remind us 
 of the simple kind that came in with the 
 elaborate Tudor panelling, and were spec- 
 ially affected by the tapestry and picture 
 loving Henry VIII. For picture and 
 sculpture galleries and working libraries,
 
 138 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 the flat Tudor, the unobtrusive Soane 
 types are perfection, but they are deficient 
 in any suggestion of homely sociability. 
 There are three or four variations of this 
 type at No. 13, Lincoln's Inn Fields, which 
 may be commended to judicious study, as 
 the nearest approach to the Greek spirit 
 in architecture, as applied to a modern 
 development.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 IF we take a general survey of the work 
 done during the first three quarters of the 
 century, or even up to within its last decade, 
 the result is eminently unsatisfactory. Archi- 
 tects had lost interest in the design of fire- 
 places, and these rapidly became purely a 
 matter of mechanical reproduction on "a 
 commercial scale." Birmingham and Shef- 
 field turned out iron and steel grates, and 
 entire fireplaces, by the gross, and even 
 if, as occasionally happened, they worked 
 from good designs, the products were mostly 
 of a hard, lifeless description. On the other 
 hand marble, once expensive and somewhat 
 scarce, became cheap and plentiful, the 
 mason turned out marble chimneypieces by 
 the score, or, what was worse, manufactured 
 the separate members wholesale, to be fitted 
 139
 
 140 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 and adopted by builders as their sense of 
 taste or regard to economy dictated. For 
 the majority it was a case of submitting to 
 the tyranny of the grate manufacturers and 
 the marble merchants. This is true even as 
 regards quite expensively built houses, where 
 the boxed marble chimneypiece became de 
 rigueur, to use a mid-Victorian phrase. 
 
 That some architects were not content 
 with this state of affairs and rendered willing 
 help to manufacturers anxious to improve 
 their products, many existing specimens de- 
 monstrate. At the International Exhibition 
 of 1862 several artists and manufacturers 
 joined forces. For instance, Maws of Bir- 
 mingham showed an improved fireplace de- 
 signed by Digby Wyatt. It was at a time 
 when the marvels of the Spanish Mauresque 
 style had caught popular fancy and was in- 
 ducing a call for beauty of outline and 
 colour. Wyatt's chimneypiece was designed 
 in "the Alhambra style." The framework 
 was of Masefield stone, was rectangular, the 
 mantelshelf, plinth and bands serving as a 
 setting to richly coloured enamelled tiles, 
 which filled most of the space. These tiles 
 were made in imitation of the Spanish 
 Mauresque azuleijos. They were of blue
 
 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 141 
 
 with designs on them in brown, red, orange 
 yellow and white, with small spots of green. 
 The large panel tiles forming a surround for 
 the fire-grate, which was recessed between 
 the jambs under the lintel, had orange back- 
 grounds with blue cable circles with yellow 
 rosette centres and conventional foliage in 
 green. A few had a touch of violet intro- 
 duced. Apart from the stress and scolloped 
 edge brackets supporting the shelf and the 
 moulded cornice running round the fireplace 
 opening, the design was flat. Both in this 
 and the rectangular shape Wyatt departed 
 from the methods adopted by the builders of 
 the Alhambra,as well as by Turkish designers 
 of fireplaces. A thoroughly typical example 
 of Turkish glazed tile work is now at South 
 Kensington, having been brought to the 
 Museum from Fujad Pasha's Palace at Con- 
 stantinople. It is dated 1731, stands about 
 1 2 feet high, and is about 4 feet wide. The 
 hearth is of stone, carved with lotus flowers, 
 the lining and slightly oval back of burnt 
 clay or hardened plaster. The surround 
 and the tall pointed hood with characteristic 
 opening are lined with glazed tiles about 
 six inches square, having conventionalised 
 floral designs in blue, green and red carried
 
 142 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 out on a greeny-white background. There 
 is no involved tracery, and only one band of 
 script round the arch. Thus there is a 
 narrow funnel from hearth to chimney throat. 
 In Turkey and many other countries where 
 small wood is burnt, as indeed was the case 
 with us in old days, the fire was built up in 
 pyramidal form, as this induced quick 
 lighting. For this reason, and the harmony 
 of the outline with Mauresque architecture, 
 it is probable that the form here seen is of 
 native origin, and not a mere copy of the 
 Gothic hood. Pierre Chabat, in his diction- 
 ary of architectural terms, gives a picture of 
 a very similar chimneypiece belonging to 
 the 1 7th century in the Palace of the Gover- 
 nor of Keresoun on the Black Sea, only in 
 that instance the materials used were carved 
 stone and a hood screen of moulded plaster. 
 The term "Alhambra style" as applied to 
 Wyatt's design is characteristic of the names 
 given to fireplaces generally. The geo- 
 graphical and even the chronological names 
 refer only to the surface ornamentation, and 
 not always to that. This was unfortunate 
 for it led to the perpetration and multipli- 
 cation of anomalous monstrosities by manu- 
 facturers.
 
 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 143 
 
 Reverting to the 1862 Exhibition, we find 
 that John Thomas, who had a considerable 
 reputation in his day as a sculptor and de- 
 corator, sent a carved marble fireplace. It 
 was flat, with carved pillar and bases, bearing 
 busts of children, had no shelf, but a heavy 
 cornice swelling into a semi-circular form in 
 the centre, two low relief female figures with 
 butterfly wings and two cupids hovering 
 above the gorgeous colour-enamelled semi- 
 circular steel grate, to which the marble 
 work was a mere frame. Neither design nor 
 colour scheme was worth the trouble. The 
 curved breast screen was decorated with 
 black enamelled radiating lines, while the 
 arch, springing from two short pedestals, 
 had gold bands enclosing a series of blue 
 circles with gold star centres and red 
 borders. 
 
 As we have said, it was the age of the 
 grate maker and of the boxed marble 
 mantelpiece. It would be erroneous, how- 
 ever, to give the impression that the grate 
 manufacturer's work was altogether futile. 
 As we shall endeavour to shew in a subse- 
 quent chapter, the practically universal sub- 
 stitution of coal for wood as fuel made his 
 intervention necessary, but for the time it
 
 144 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 appeared to almost paralyse all initiative on 
 the architect's part when the everyday order 
 of work had to be undertaken. Pugin's 
 work in the reintroduction of the Gothic had 
 some temporary influence, but only for a 
 brief period so far as interior domestic de- 
 coration was concerned. Though even in 
 this instance the gratemakers and even the 
 stonemasons seized hold of the idea, and 
 reduced it to the mechanical level that 
 Pugin specially abhorred, though he could 
 not himself escape the tendency of the age. 
 
 On the Continent the boxed marble 
 chimneypiece never reached the same strong 
 position as it did with us, and the grate 
 trouble was unknown. On the other hand, 
 towards the middle of the century the 
 enamelled metal or stoneware stove had an 
 enormous vogue. But, on the whole, the 
 sculptor succeeded in maintaining his own, 
 while even the use of ormoulu was not dis- 
 carded. 
 
 Some of the Continental sculptors came 
 over to our shores and did much work. 
 One of these, belonging largely to the 
 previous century, but whose later influence 
 was considerable, and so should be mentioned 
 here, was Canova. He was an industrious
 
 mrrngif 
 
 ~\ 
 
 Chimneypiece and Crate, by Robert Adam. 
 
 Design by Sir William Chambers
 
 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 145 
 
 sculptor of unquestionable merit, though too 
 much of his work was of the "pot-boiler" 
 order. He, however, did useful service in 
 familiarising us with the idea that sculpture 
 need not be divorced from everyday matters. 
 For instance, he carved chimneypieces, two 
 of these being at Ickworth, Bury St 
 Edmunds. Both are classic in style. One 
 is an imposing affair with Ionic fluted 
 columns, groups of statuary, and a very 
 beautiful frieze with sculptured figures. In 
 the other case the white marble is orna- 
 mented with a beautiful inlay of coloured 
 stones, the designs including Vitruvian 
 scrolls, open floral scrolls, and medallions 
 with a duck, a hare, and a hound. 
 
 This inlay of fine coloured designs on 
 chimneypieces was an Italian notion, sug- 
 gested by mosaic work. Horace Walpole 
 had a handsome example in the circular 
 boudoir at Strawberry Hill. It is of white 
 marble, with alabaster panels decorated with 
 floral and conventional patterns in coloured 
 mosaics. The columns are spirally grooved, 
 the depressions having a dainty pattern of 
 myrtle leaves carried out in mosaics, which 
 puts us in mind of the beautiful spiral 
 mosaic decorated columns at St. John
 
 146 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 Lateran at Rome. These have, indeed, been 
 copied, and are to be found forming part of 
 the magnificent chimneypiece at Eaton Hall, 
 Cheshire. This is of Carrara marble, and 
 was made at Rome. It has coupled columns 
 on both lower and upper part, these being 
 dwarf copies from St. John, and, like them, 
 are grooved, some spirally, and decorated 
 with glass mosaic and agates. A charming 
 effect is achieved by the treatment of the 
 frieze or lintel. It has a wavy line, the 
 lower part being cut away. In the depres- 
 sion of the wave forms are circular plaques 
 filled with rich mosaics. This was put up 
 in 1869. 
 
 In Italy, as we have said, this form of 
 decoration, though costly, was a recognised 
 method of embellishing fireplaces. It is 
 curious that when in 1803 the Pope wished 
 to make friends with Napoleon, he sent to 
 him at Paris a huge white marble chimney- 
 piece. It incorporated antique Roman 
 sculptures, and was encrusted with mosaics, 
 carried out by Raffaelli, one of the most 
 celebrated workers in this kind of that 
 period. This costly and unique gift arrived 
 safely in Paris, together with a clock 
 designed in the same style. There it seems
 
 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 147 
 
 to have disappeared, for though the clock 
 is to be seen at Fontainebleau, no trace of the 
 chimneypiece has been found. Yet it is 
 hardly possible for so bulky a thing to be 
 mislaid, even in a National Garde Meuble, 
 and it must have been too remarkable to 
 have been broken up. Is it possible that 
 owing to its beauty and derivation it has 
 been transformed into some ecclesiastical 
 monument ? The theory is not so far fetched 
 as many may suppose. When Richard 
 Cosway took up his residence at No. 20 
 Stratford Place, he had the house lavishly 
 furnished and decorated. Among his most 
 treasured possessions were certain fine 
 chimneypieces designed by his friend, 
 Thomas Banks, R.A., the architect. Cos- 
 way had to leave these behind when a 
 lampoon drove him away from his home, and 
 there they remained until one day, early in this 
 century, although the lease of the premises 
 had passed into other hands, the ground 
 landlord, without asking permission, had one 
 of the finest specimens removed, and, after 
 slight alterations, set it up in a church as a 
 monument, clearly evidencing a strange lack 
 of imagination and sense of humour, which 
 was further shown by the fact that a lawsuit
 
 148 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 was necessary to secure the restoration of 
 that fireplace to its original position. 
 
 We may be pardoned if we now pass on 
 to a consideration of Alfred Stevens' fire- 
 place in the Saloon at Dorchester House. 
 Fine as this undoubtedly is both in general 
 design and in finish of detail, it would, with 
 but slight alteration, be quite suitable for 
 some Campo Santo. As our illustration of 
 Stevens' original model, now at South 
 Kensington, shows, it is a monumental 
 structure, admirably proportioned for a large 
 hall, as beautiful in its purely architectural 
 features as it is in regard to its figure 
 sculptures. The two caryatic figures are in 
 very unusual attitudes. They are nude, but 
 without offence even in such a position, full 
 of strength, yet suggesting no strain, as the 
 weight is on the shoulders and hands, not 
 on the head. The carved frieze is also very 
 fine work. Perhaps the weak spot is the 
 armorial shield and its supporter. Both 
 appear to be out of place, and scarcely add 
 to the dignity of the composition. It would 
 have been better to have left out the 
 armorial bearings altogether, rather than to 
 resort to an obvious makeshift of this kind. 
 
 In the main the work of the igih century
 
 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 149 
 
 was poor, and such exceptional examples of 
 chimneypieces as we do possess in England 
 were, until the last few decades, really 
 imitative. 
 
 From 1880 to 1900 may be termed a 
 period of revivals. Chimneypieces in the 
 Renaissance, the Louis Quatorze, Quinze 
 and Seize, the Jacobean, Georgian and 
 Adam styles were designed for public, semi- 
 public, and private buildings. This showed 
 a stirring which was to bring change, and 
 change could only be for the better.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 CURRENT PRACTICE. 
 
 FIREPLACES, as a result of that unrest be- 
 gotten in recent years by the endeavour to 
 find new expressions for the artistic ideals 
 in architecture, have come by their own 
 again. For it has been recognised that they 
 possess immense possibilities whereby the 
 keynote to the expression aimed at may be 
 given. This, of course, entails the accept- 
 ance of that other important fact the chim- 
 neypiece must truly form part of the picture 
 regarded as a deliberate andvital composition. 
 Rebels there have been, however, who have 
 asserted, and made good their assertion, that 
 this does not compel to a dead level of uni- 
 formity in the design of prominent decorative 
 features or in detail. They insist that har- 
 mony may be reached by daring to be 
 original, and they regard the fireplace as 
 150
 
 CURRENT PRACTICE 151 
 
 a fitting opportunity for the display of in- 
 dividuality. Certainly some of the current 
 doings in this direction are calculated to 
 horrify the methodist, be he a lover of the 
 past or one athirst for some satisfying 
 novelty. So much the worse for the man 
 of hard and fast rules, say the successful in- 
 novators. And, looking at work achieved, 
 we can but admit the justice of the retort. 
 
 There has, of course, been no complete 
 breaking away from the past, unless it be 
 from the tyranny of the Victorian heavy 
 boxed marble surrounds, with their ugly 
 stereotyped iron grates, and the richness of 
 decoration associated with both the Gothic 
 and Renaissance styles. Indeed, the influ- 
 ence of pre-Victorian work has been suc- 
 cessfully brought to bear on present day 
 needs. 
 
 At Balcombe Place, Sussex, Mr Gerald 
 C. Horsley has produced two monumental 
 chimneypieces quite original in conception, 
 yet modelled on Tudor lines. In the Hall 
 it is a white stone construction, with raised 
 hearth advancing well into the room. The 
 jambs are boldly formed plain columns. 
 Above this is a projecting frieze, supporting 
 a square chimney breast, provided in front
 
 152 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 with three arched recesses, containing sculp- 
 tured figures, with richly carved frieze slant- 
 ing outwards. This harmonises well with 
 the panelled walls, deep painted frieze and 
 enriched plaster ceiling, with its great crossing 
 beams, also decorated on their side soffits. 
 In the Music Room there is a small 
 recessed fireplace with red brick back, and 
 wings placed at a slant. Above this is 
 a carved wood shelf. Some two feet over 
 this is a projecting mock chimney breast 
 in wood, rising square to the ceiling. It is 
 divided into panels, and richly carved with 
 conventional scrolled foliage. Against the 
 wall are two slender square pillars, with 
 carved brackets, to the eye apparently sup- 
 porting the heavy superstructure. In this 
 room there are a large organ and a music 
 gallery, with arched screen, the pendentives 
 filled with pierced carving. Something of 
 the same spirit is to be seen in Mr W. A. S. 
 Benson's chimneypiece in a London block of 
 high rented flats. Economy of space being 
 a consideration, this example is given onl r a 
 slight projection, but in breadth it occunies 
 about a third of one side of the room, arr* is 
 carried nearly to the ceiling cornice. he 
 fire opening is tall. The side pilasters have
 
 Design by Sir William Chambers. 
 
 Design by Robert Adam,
 
 CURRENT PRACTICE 153 
 
 deep panels, with a conventionalised tree 
 inlay. Above the shelf is a semi-circular 
 alcove, with dentated arch, and a recessed 
 panel on each side. Above this are two tall 
 alcoves with dentated arches, and three 
 shallow niches with sculptured figures about 
 1 8 inches high. A slightly projecting carved 
 cornice provides a shelf for the display of 
 plaques. 
 
 In a sketch for a large hall, exhibited at 
 the Royal Academy in 1910 by Mr J. A. 
 Jones, the monumental fireplace is placed 
 next to the grand staircase, the upper part 
 being between the depressed arch opening 
 to the landing and a similar opening on the 
 passage gallery, the balustrade being replaced 
 by carved pierced panels. The fire opening 
 is broad but low, on a slightly raised hearth, 
 and is surmounted by a straight hood in 
 three panels, the side ones slanting back at 
 an angle. This is enclosed by two tall, 
 slender columns with capitals, supporting 
 a projecting carved frieze with an armorial 
 shield in the centre. Above this the plain 
 square hood, with pointed panels, is carried 
 up to the beamed ceiling. This is almost 
 mediaeval in feeling. 
 
 Somewhat more companionable is Mr Louis
 
 154 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 Ambler's short hooded fireplace in the hall 
 at Longwith Lodge, Notts. The fireplace is 
 recessed, has a hearth of glazed tiles, a small, 
 almost square opening, with surround of dull 
 red brick ; this is placed under a depressed 
 brick arch resting on short uprights. The 
 carved wood mantel is composed of two 
 fluted Ionic colums supporting an entabla- 
 ture, consisting of frieze with heavy mould- 
 ings, projecting cornice, and a receding, 
 truncated conical hood, carried to the ceiling 
 cornice, with three panels indicated by raised 
 mouldings. Inside the columns and under 
 the architrave are thin moulded wood jambs, 
 the lintel forming a shelf with recessed panels. 
 A still more modest rendering of the same 
 type is the chimneypiece put up in the hall 
 of a house at Bushey by Mr H. Kennard, 
 which is designed in half timbered Eliza- 
 bethan style. It is of stone, with raised 
 hearth, has solid wing walls, undercut in 
 front, supporting a broad upright breast, 
 with neat mouldings at base, projecting 
 cornice, and a plain truncated conical hood. 
 The inside of the hearth is lined with red 
 brick and has a handsome metal fire grate. 
 
 This leads us naturally to modern Renais- 
 sance work, which is marked by restraint
 
 CURRENT PRACTICE 155 
 
 and quite sensible modifications. A good 
 example is to be seen in Glasgow flats, 
 designed for persons of moderate means, by 
 Mr T. L. Watson. The hearth, of glazed 
 tiles, is surrounded by a marble kerb. The 
 chimneypiece itself has very little projection. 
 It is composed of two Doric columns, the 
 plain shafts resting on decorated bases, 
 supporting a low frieze and projecting 
 cornice with flat top. This is carried up 
 about 6 ft. 6 in., within about 3 ft. of the 
 ceiling cornice. The fire opening is filled 
 with glazed tiles, and a modern hooded 
 metal grate with fire brick lining, framed by 
 strong mouldings forming the jambs and 
 lintel. Above this is a narrow breast and a 
 projecting shaped shelf, there being pro- 
 jecting ledges with rounded consoles for the 
 clock and two vases. Behind this are two 
 panels filled with mirrors, divided by small 
 pilasters with decorated capitals. 
 
 A carved oak early Renaissance chimney- 
 piece which we have seen in an oak panelled 
 dining-room showed the danger of designing 
 in a style without realising exactly what 
 it means. The specimen was beautiful in 
 its simple dignity of outline and excellent 
 finish. The fireplace, with rather tall rect-
 
 156 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 angular opening 1 , was framed with a band of 
 enriched steel, the jambs decorated with flat 
 panels. A heavy moulded projecting cornice, 
 with flat shelf top, was supported by two 
 pairs of plain shafted Ionic detached columns, 
 each pair standing on a massive joint base. 
 Above the panel the flat breast was panelled, 
 and over this was a truncated conical hood, 
 supported by two pairs of voluted consoles, 
 the panel of the hood being decorated with 
 plain raised moulding. The absurdity was, 
 of course, that this well proportioned, taste- 
 fully ornamented hood was over a heavy 
 projecting shelf and flat breast, and had no 
 connection with the fireplace. It therefore 
 not only served no purpose, but was an 
 obvious anachronism. 
 
 At Huntercombe Place, Oxfordshire, Mr 
 O. P. Milne has designed a number of quite 
 excellent chimneypieces. In the dining- 
 room, which is lined with dark mahogany 
 panelling, we see a white marble fireplace 
 projecting slightly in front of the carved 
 mahogany surround, the breast being deco- 
 rated with two wreaths and a basket of 
 flowers. Above this is a projecting cornice, 
 and then a long narrow mirror, divided into 
 three sections ; this is topped by a simple
 
 CURRENT PRACTICE 157 
 
 cornice, with an elaborate enriched frieze 
 above. In another room, not panelled, of 
 the same house the fire opening has jambs 
 of glazed bricks, supporting a broad lintel of 
 pictorial glazed tiles. The carved wood 
 surround is carried nearly up to the cornice, 
 has pilasters, rounded sides, and three tall 
 arched niches. At the Eastgate Hotel, 
 Oxford, by Mr E. P. Warren, we have an 
 even plainer, but quite effective, use of tall 
 pillars and panels, enclosing a strongly 
 moulded opening, with an independent pro- 
 jecting shelf above. 
 
 At Urban House, York, Mr W. H. 
 Brierley has a delightful rendering of a 
 continued early Renaissance chimneypiece. 
 It has a raised hearth, very wide, somewhat 
 low opening, lined with bricks, laid in 
 chevron courses, white stone plain octagon 
 columns, without capitals or bases, supporting 
 a broad, straight breast, ornamented at its 
 lower edge by a chequered inlay in white 
 and dark stone, a projecting cornice forming 
 a narrow shelf, and above this a panel with 
 raised mouldings, corresponding to the 
 panelling of the room, and a modest cornice, 
 with plain plaster above to the enriched 
 ceiling cornice.
 
 i$8 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 At Tuesley Court, near Godalming, Mr 
 E. Guy Dawber has placed in a rather low 
 pitched room, with large beam ceiling, 
 boarded between, a fireplace having a raised, 
 slightly projecting hearth. The jambs and 
 lintel are of stone, with slight mouldings. 
 The fireplace is lined with bricks, the lower 
 half partly filled with brickwork, to form 
 a well fire, provided with metal bars and ash 
 tray. The wood surround has raised and 
 sunken panels with plain mouldings, and a 
 projecting cornice provides a narrow shelf. 
 
 A quaint, though useful and effective 
 novelty introduced by Mr John Murray in 
 the new building for H.M. Office of Works, 
 Forests and Land Revenues, is a projecting 
 shelf, placed midway between the fire open- 
 ing and 5 foot high flat topped cornice. It 
 is apparently supported by three billet 
 consoles. Another version of this inde- 
 pendent shelf is to be seen at Framewood, 
 Stoke Poges, by Mr Gerald Horslcy. It is 
 in the green stained deal panelled dining- 
 room, where the fireplace consists of a heavy 
 surround and kerb of Verona marble. The 
 shelf is some inches above this, is narrow, 
 has an under cornice with mouldings, and 
 small fillets in a sunk moulding, and is
 
 CURRENT PRACTICE 159 
 
 supported by two massive consoles, with 
 panelled frames and foliated bases. 
 
 A richer treatment of the late Renaissance 
 style is to be seen in the wood panelled 
 Board Room of the North Eastern Railway 
 Company, Westminster, by Mr Horace 
 Field and Mr E. Simmonds. Here, too, 
 we have the fireplace opening framed with 
 mottled marble jambs and lintel, slightly 
 shaped, and kerb. Framing this, but not 
 touching it, is a raised wood moulding, 
 foliated on the outside, with well carved flat 
 topped cornice, the under part consisting of 
 acanthus leaves. Above this, again as an 
 independent decoration, is a heavily framed 
 oblong panel, decorated with a leaf border 
 and a central wreath in coloured wood inlay. 
 Over the frame, and falling on either side, 
 are garlands and sprays of leaves and flowers, 
 heavily carved, after Grinling Gibbons. 
 
 Coming to work in a more frankly modern 
 spirit, we find that two tendencies, the 
 coming of the exiguous flat and a revived 
 interest in panelling, have induced great 
 attention to be paid to the flattening of the 
 chimneypiece and the contrivance of the 
 fireplace within the thicknesses of the wall. 
 This latter device has sometimes led to
 
 160 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 peculiar results. The former notion that a 
 fireplace should be placed in the middle of 
 any wall has been abandoned, because it has 
 been found convenient to place fireplaces in 
 adjoining rooms, not back to back as was 
 possible when the hearth projected into the 
 room, but side by side, the two being divided 
 by a curtain wall and having openings in the 
 respective rooms. It is only by very clever 
 designing that such lopsidedness can be 
 made tolerable, and only under very rare 
 conditions that it appears to possess in- 
 evitable fitness. As a rule, however, thanks 
 to the modern grate, flatness can be obtained 
 without such daring expedients. Sometimes 
 the fire opening is merely framed with 
 slender jambs and lintels of stone or wood, 
 with a slightly projecting shelf, or more 
 elaborate " continued " panelling, with or 
 without niches. At other times we find a 
 broad expanse of glazed tiles or bricks, or 
 marble, framed with wood or marble, either 
 decorated with plain mouldings or more or 
 less heavily carved. The raising of the 
 hearth in such cases is quite common. Some- 
 times this treatment of the fireplace is formed 
 in conjunction with the rather artificially 
 contrived cosy corner or ingle-nook. In the
 
 
 
 i jtv'H 
 
 ! ;
 
 CURRENT PRACTICE 161 
 
 designing of the interior decoration of flats 
 space saving can be very effectively gained 
 by lining the room with cupboards, glazed or 
 otherwise. This is decidedly appropriate for 
 study or library. Or again for drawing- 
 rooms, when pictures, nick-nacks, and col- 
 lections of various kinds can be placed 
 behind the glazing, which may be carried 
 down to the floor or not. In such cases the 
 fireplace is simply recessed within the cup- 
 board panelling, and may be provided with 
 recessed shelving in a variety of forms. 
 
 Perhaps one of the most striking features 
 of the rebellious spirit is the unexpected 
 obtrusiveness of plain red or buff bricks. 
 This is partly due to the desire for colour, 
 but far more to the resentment against 
 the inordinate use of stucco, and the deter- 
 mination that materials used shall justify 
 themselves. Opportunities for this mani- 
 festation of independence in connection with 
 fireplace building are innumerable, and have 
 certainly not been missed. 
 
 That a highly decorative and finished 
 effect may be produced by the juxtaposition 
 of brick and wood is shown by the work 
 of Mr Cecil Burns at the Tunbridge Wells 
 and Counties Club. We illustrate one of his
 
 162 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 chimneypieces in that building, which strikes 
 a delightfully fresh note, yet one full of dignity. 
 The handsome arched opening is in rubbed 
 bricks, the variations in surface level being 
 excellent, giving such picturesque relief, yet 
 quite in keeping with the material ; while the 
 mantel, in Austrian oak, provides a quiet 
 framing, harmonising the brick with the 
 dainty surroundings, Other notes of artistic 
 finish and sober luxury are afforded by the 
 highly ornamental iron fire-grate and back 
 (in true Sussex style), and the red Stafford- 
 shire tiled hearth. The style of this building 
 is Georgian Renaissance, and we find in 
 another room an equally successful fireplace 
 in pure neo-classic, the combination being 
 coloured and white marble, oak, and iron. 
 The decoration is quite sober, chiefly bold 
 mouldings on the broad cornices, and two 
 small swags with drops on the narrow 
 chimney breast. 
 
 The contrast between red glazed bricks 
 and carved stone is strikingly illustrated in 
 a chimneypiece on Jacobean lines which 
 Messrs Perkins & Bulmer put up in the hall 
 at Shipton Court, Oxfordshire, when that old 
 mansion was remodelled. We have a stone 
 chimneypiece about 5 ft. high, with Doric
 
 CURRENT PRACTICE 163 
 
 columns in the angles, a projecting cornice 
 and a flat hood, with cornice carried up to 
 the ceiling. The fireplace opening is a wide 
 depressed arch, springing from uprights, 
 with plain mouldings. This opening is 
 partly filled up with glazed bricks, surround- 
 ing a modern tiled grate with beaten metal 
 hood. 
 
 At Shrewsbury Court, Chelsea, Mr C. R. 
 Ashbee has provided one of the flats with a 
 plain stone surround, consisting of jambs, 
 narrow breast, with cornice and narrow 
 shelf. The opening is square, with a round 
 moulding, and is provided with an arched 
 stone screen. The interior, back and sides, 
 is in red stock bricks, carried straight up to 
 the concealed throat. The hearth, sur- 
 rounded by a square stone kerb, is paved 
 with greyish-blue tiles. A square wrought 
 iron fire-basket stands on fairly high feet. 
 
 At Shovelstrode Manor, East Grinstead, 
 Mr E. Turner Powell has a remarkable set 
 of semi-rustic fireplaces, showing combina- 
 tions of stone and brick. In one of these 
 the fireplace is recessed, the side walls of 
 brick slant inwards, an old Sussex iron back 
 being framed in the brickwork. There is a 
 wide, low frame of local sandstone with good
 
 164 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 mouldings, these giving a slight arching to 
 the otherwise square opening. Outside of 
 this are two square pilasters, formed of large 
 blocks of sandstone, carried up to the ceiling. 
 The space between is filled with stone, with 
 two shallow broad niches with depressed 
 arches, the backs being filled with bricks, 
 placed alternately one on side and two on 
 edge. In another instance the stone sur- 
 round is flush with the wall, quite plain, 
 except for the mouldings at the opening, 
 carried round the top and halfway down the 
 jambs. There is a decorated oblong panel 
 at the top, and this, with the stone surround, 
 is marked off from the wall by a thin earthen- 
 ware border, decorated with oblique flutings. 
 The fireplace is lined with small red bricks, 
 the wing walls at a slant. A plain stone 
 kerb is used. In a third instance we have 
 a square opening, with a narrow edging of 
 stone, the plain wood panelling flat against 
 the wall, with an independent shelf sup- 
 ported by a stout cornice. The fireplace is 
 lined with bricks, the wing walls straight, 
 but in this case these wing walls are brought 
 well forward, clear of the stone surround, 
 the top part being cut off at an angle, this 
 leaving a tiny triangular shelf, supported by
 
 Turkish Faience Chimneypiece, 18th Century.
 
 CURRENT PRACTICE 165 
 
 the column of brick below on each side. 
 This fireplace has a semi-circular kerb of 
 sandstone. Wherever possible, old Sussex 
 iron fire-backs have been sunk in the brick- 
 work. 
 
 It is certainly satisfactory to find the 
 growing desire to use local materials as 
 much as possible, not merely on the score 
 of greater economy, but in the belief that in 
 this way true individuality and fitness to 
 surroundings may be attained. There is a 
 good deal to be said in support of such a 
 theory, which, in olden days imposed by 
 circumstances, was swept away when im- 
 proved transport facilities brought in a reign 
 of white marble. 
 
 A thoroughly decorative treatment of brick 
 and tile is to be seen at Marrowells, Oatland 
 Chase, Walton-on-Thames, where Mr A. 
 Winter Rose has some very original chim- 
 neypieces in a pretty house of Early Georgian 
 type. As regards the interior treatment the 
 idea has been to accentuate craftsmanship as 
 applied to appropriate materials. In the oak 
 panelled dining-room we have a fireplace 
 with a wide, low opening, surrounded by 
 narrow stone framing, enriched with plain 
 mouldings. The space is partly filled with 
 
 M
 
 166 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 red brick walls, having a recess in the middle, 
 in which the metal grate is placed. This 
 chimneypiece is at the end of the room, in a 
 kind of recess formed by a great cross-beam, 
 supported by two free and two engaged oak 
 columns, resting on bases partly formed of 
 bricks. This note of simplicity is in sharp 
 contrast to the fine panelling and enriched 
 plaster ceiling. On the first landing, where 
 we also find oak columns on brick bases, 
 there is a curious recessed fireplace, remind- 
 ing one of Romanesque practice. It is of 
 brick and stone, decoratively treated, with 
 depressed arch, black and white stone hearth, 
 an iron fire-back, and plain fire-basket. A 
 more decorative type has a plain wood flat 
 surround, a slightly projecting shelf, with a 
 semi-circular protruberance in the middle, 
 supported by a carved wood head and wings 
 of a cherub. The opening is filled flush with 
 small square glazed tiles, surrounded by a 
 tall, narrow chimney frame with copper, and 
 with copper tray. In front of the well is a 
 hearth of large glazed tiles. But we come 
 to a thoroughly fresh note with the corner 
 fireplace. As will be seen by our illustra- 
 tion, it is placed in the angle of a room, and 
 is a decorative treatment of plain bricks and
 
 CURRENT PRACTICE 
 
 167 
 
 terra-cotta, with brick hearth and black 
 kerb. The idea is again carried out by 
 the stepped brick supports for the overhead 
 beam. 
 
 FIELD STONE COTTAGE FIREPLACE. 
 
 Fireplaces placed as the one last described 
 in angles of rooms have once more come 
 into favour, both for country houses and 
 town flats. They have the advantage of 
 taking up little room, and also facilitating
 
 168 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 the arrangement of flues and chimney-stacks, 
 by making backing somewhat easier. 
 
 Sir R. S. Lorimer has a striking design of 
 this type at Ardkinglas, Argyllshire. The 
 chimneypiece, of carved stone, is placed in 
 the angle of a dressing-room, which is lined 
 with a high dado of stone. The hearth is 
 raised, with a semi-circular kerb and brick 
 floor. Both walls are lined with small bricks. 
 Flat pillar jambs, with prominent pedestals 
 and capitals, project into the room and sup- 
 port a straight breast, adorned over the 
 opening with a scalloped fan in half circle. 
 Above this is a flat cornice and a hood 
 carried in two sections sharply back to the 
 wall. The fire is carried in a small basket, 
 the front semi-circular, with vertical bars, 
 the back angled, this being suspended against 
 the brick walls nearly halfway up between the 
 hearth and the lintel. It is a very interest- 
 ing treatment of the subject, quite in keeping 
 with a stone-built house designed on rather 
 severe lines, differing considerably from Mr 
 Winter Rose's solution ; also from the more 
 elaborate specimens at Hampton Court, and 
 coming closer in feeling to the work of 
 Smithson at Bolsover Castle. 
 
 In the "week-end" cottage and "simple
 
 CURRENT PRACTICE 
 
 169 
 
 life " suburban house, brick chimneypieces 
 in connection with plain distempered or 
 panelled walls have become popular. A 
 charming arrangement of this kind, includ- 
 
 AMERICAN USE OF BRICK AND FIELD STONES. 
 
 ing a hood and shelf and cosy corner, is 
 sketched in our chapter on " Ingle Nooks." 
 In America the simple note of the un- 
 concealed brick has also been utilised. Mr
 
 i;o CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 C. K. Klauder, in a house which he has de- 
 signed and constructed for himself at Mount 
 Airy, Philadelphia, has a plain brick breast 
 with arched opening in a panelled room, the 
 only adornment being a plain shelf, sup- 
 ported on square billets jutting out from the 
 wall. Mr Howard Shaw, in a house he 
 built at Forest Lake, Illinois, has two heavy 
 brick pillars rising from floor to ceiling, a 
 broad straight lintel, and a recessed breast, 
 all in plain brick. In our sketch we show 
 an even more direct employment of brick. 
 The hearth of broken field stones shows 
 another tendency springing up in America, 
 of building the fireplace itself of rough field 
 stones. This is shown in a second sketch, 
 though examples of far more irregular treat- 
 ment of the stones could be found. It is, 
 of course a conventionalised reminiscence 
 of the rough stone chimneypiece built by 
 settlers in old log huts. 
 
 One of the remarkable innovations in 
 building economics of recent years has been 
 the introduction of artificial stones. This 
 has proved of immense benefit, because these 
 materials are moulded, not carved, obviously 
 a much cheaper process. Moreover, they 
 are uniform in character and appearance,
 
 CURRENT PRACTICE 171 
 
 therefore strong, durable, and presenting no 
 "faults" to worry the sculptor. Some of 
 these stones are more correctly called re- 
 constructed than artificial, as they are 
 actually produced from the debris of natural 
 stones, which are disintegrated, treated 
 chemically, and then under tremendous 
 pressure reconstituted into practically the 
 original stone, whether granular or meta- 
 morphic, but really more hard, compact, 
 and without a flaw. This process is specially 
 successful with the oolitic and magnesian 
 limestones, though capable of far wider 
 application. Indeed, another process of a 
 similar kind provides us with reconstructed 
 marble. Now, in the process of compression, 
 the stone is moulded into blocks, slabs, 
 pilasters, pillars, consoles, pediments, cor- 
 nices, and so on. In this way very elaborate 
 decorative work can be secured in hard 
 stones and marbles at quite a cheap rate, 
 certainly less costly and better in detail than 
 when inferior carving is utilised. Where 
 the ultra smoothness and regularity of the 
 mould is objected to, slight tooling may be 
 utilised to give the finishing touch. Re- 
 markably fine chimneypieces have been 
 produced by these various processes, both
 
 J72 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 when a single material or a mixture of 
 stones has been required. This moulding, 
 whether or not bearing the tool marks of 
 the stonemason finisher, is certainly far in 
 advance artistically to the boxed marble, 
 granite and slatework for chimneypieces. 
 Where moderate expenditure and saving of 
 time are essential, these reconstructed stones 
 and marbles are genuine acquisitions. Even 
 if the reproduction of the artist's design is 
 mechanical, it makes it possible to bring the 
 design within the reach of those of slender 
 purses. 
 
 Coming within the category of artificial 
 stones is concrete, which, with its top 
 dressing of cement variously manipulated, 
 often masquerades as stone, marble or 
 granite. Concrete is now being extensively 
 used for the construction of fireplaces in 
 England, but even more commonly so in 
 America, where the concrete-built house, 
 even of considerable size and claims to 
 architectural importance, is becoming quite 
 an institution. Such fireplaces are some- 
 times moulded in situ t being made mono- 
 lithic with the walls ; sometimes built up of 
 moulded members, in the same way as 
 hollow and solid blocks and slabs are used.
 
 00 
 
 DQ
 
 CURRENT PRACTICE 173 
 
 Sometimes the concrete for the fireplaces 
 has a specially selected aggregate chosen, 
 and then the material stands confessed for 
 what it is ; or it may be finished with a 
 dressing of fine sand concrete, or of a cement 
 drying with a hard polished surface, colour- 
 ing then often being introduced. When a 
 special concrete is used for the fireplace 
 generally a hard drying cement, with fine 
 sand, small pebble, or crushed stone aggre- 
 gate panels, cornices and other decorations 
 are introduced by employing shaped moulds, 
 or by pressing dies for panels and similar 
 ornaments, and running mould patterns for 
 producing cornices on the material when 
 formed, but before it has quite set. 
 
 Another method which has its many 
 advocates, is to embed terra-cotta or carved 
 stone panels, or encaustic tiles, in the wet 
 concrete. When the jambs, lintel, and 
 breast are further decorated, with plain 
 depressed or raised mouldings, this has a 
 very good effect. With encaustic tiles we 
 may have merely panels or borders, leaving 
 the rest of the surface, cemented or not, 
 visible. On the other hand the tiles are also 
 applied lavishly, so as to cover the whole 
 surface, perhaps leaving narrow bands of the
 
 174 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 concrete uncovered. The cement of the 
 concrete is sometimes coloured. This en- 
 crusted decoration, which may approach in 
 its elaboration to mosaic work, small tiles of 
 different colours being used, has suggested 
 another and more natural form of ornamenta- 
 tion. 
 
 Partly as a result of that search for 
 simplicity already noted, partly of that other 
 desire, to allow the material used to tell its 
 own tale, attention has been devoted to 
 embellishing the material itself. One way 
 was to colour the cement. If this is done 
 judiciously, delightful harmonies and contrasts 
 may be obtained with the mottled chimney- 
 pieces and the distempered or panelled walls. 
 Combinations may range in warm tints from 
 light yellow browns to reddish brown cement 
 with flint or white sandstone aggregate, or 
 we may have a quiet tone of green cement 
 with brown or white aggregate and fumed or 
 dark oak wall panelling. From tinting the 
 cement and using the aggregate as a foil, 
 the next step was to pay particular attention 
 to the artistic possibilities of the aggregate 
 itself, and to accentuate its special beauties. 
 Suitably coloured marbles or granites and 
 the commoner forms of agates are chosen,
 
 CURRENT PRACTICE 175 
 
 broken into large or small pieces as desired, 
 but usually as thin and with as smooth 
 flat surfaces as possible. Commonly ordinary 
 concrete is used for the foundation work, and 
 the concrete with the selected aggregate is put 
 on as a surface dressing, of course while the 
 body is still wet, in order to secure perfect 
 cohesion, which is further promoted by 
 leaving the under surface rough. When the 
 top dressing has nearly set firm, it is 
 scrubbed with a hard bristle or wire brush 
 and acidulated water, the object being to 
 remove part of the cement and expose the 
 coloured surface of the aggregate. When 
 the scraping has been carried far enough, the 
 surface is washed with clear water, to remove 
 every trace of acid, and so prevent continued 
 chemical action, other than the natural ones 
 accompanying the hardening and dehydration 
 of the cement. If a good choice has been 
 made of the aggregate, very beautiful as well 
 as strikingly original effects may be obtained. 
 Some of these chimneypieces look as though 
 they were made of slices of those conglo- 
 merate agates, of the "plum pudding" type. 
 To enhance this latter effect the cement may 
 be of the hard, polished surface-drying class, 
 such as " Parian," and tinted ; then the
 
 1 76 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 scrubbing process is very gentle, no acid 
 being used in the water, the finishing 
 operation being burnishing. As a rule, 
 however, a roughish, rustic finish is pre- 
 ferred. Very frequently this surface treat- 
 ment is adopted in combination with the 
 embedding of terra-cotta plaques or carved 
 stone panels. 
 
 One advantage of this method is that 
 endless variety may be secured with very 
 little trouble, and at next to no expense. 
 Fossiliferous drifts, agates from the sea-shore, 
 stalactites from quarries will produce variety 
 that may be pleasantly reminiscent. For 
 the chimneypieces could be constructed on 
 the same lines as those adopted by an 
 eccentric house-builder on the outskirts of 
 Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, who had the outer 
 walls of his concrete dwelling encrusted with 
 stones, shells, petrified wood, minerals, 
 pebbles, and other odds and ends gathered 
 from places in nearly every State of the 
 Union which he had visited during a period 
 of twenty years. This is, indeed, a humble 
 imitation of the chimneypiece building 
 methods of Pope Pius VII., who, as we have 
 mentioned in the preceding chapter, utilised 
 fragments of ancient sculpture and vivid
 
 CURRENT PRACTICE 177 
 
 mosaics to enrich the one he presented to 
 Napoleon Bonaparte. 
 
 When no attempt is made to disguise the 
 fact that the chimneypieces are of concrete, 
 the design ought to be characterised by 
 perfect simplicity of outline and plain mould- 
 ings, preferably rounded. When the style 
 of handling is adhered to, the semi-plastic 
 nature of the material is respected. In other 
 words, the decoration of concrete should 
 suggest the work of the inlayer and moulder, 
 not that of the carver, and the more con- 
 spicuous the feature the more closely should 
 this be observed. Although this aspect of 
 the subject is comparatively unimportant in 
 England as yet, it is likely to come into 
 greater prominence with the rapidly in- 
 creasing employment of concrete as a material 
 for house-building. 
 
 Terra-cotta, both glazed and unglazed, is 
 fast coming into use for chimneypieces 
 beautiful moulding being obtainable in this 
 material at moderate cost. In both types 
 excellent colour schemes can be devised, the 
 unglazed providing many shades of yellows, 
 browns, and reds, while the glazed gives 
 a full range of colours in sober tints. The 
 two combine together very well. This
 
 i;8 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 material is admirably suited to more or less 
 monumental fireplaces for the reception 
 rooms of public buildings, and also for halls 
 of private residences when a somewhat 
 formal style of decoration is adopted. 
 
 Great advance has been made in the 
 manufacture and ornamentation of encaustic 
 tiles, slabs, and blocks, and these are largely 
 used for chimneypieces. Here, too, we 
 have both modelling and moulding of plastic 
 material, here decorated with permanent 
 colours, flat, sunk, or embossed embellish- 
 ments. For every chimneypiece made solely 
 of glazed earthenware, with brick fireplace 
 lining, at least a hundred have encaustic tiles 
 blended with other materials, these, as we 
 have seen, consisting of brick, stone, 
 wood, enamelled iron and concrete. Apart 
 from their cleanliness and brightness, and 
 the assistance they afford in carrying out 
 decorative colour schemes, they are excellent 
 reflectors of light and heat. The purity and 
 uniformity of colouring obtained with modern 
 glazed earthenware has been a source of 
 pride, but it is sometimes felt that this 
 uniformity may amount to hardness and 
 this purity to crudity. For this reason 
 leadless glazed ware is often preferred, as by
 
 Brick Angle Fireplace, by Mr. A. Winter Rose.
 
 CURRENT PRACTICE 179 
 
 this process there is always a certain 
 difference of density in colouring, with 
 occasional more marked and unexpected 
 variations, which give the products a real 
 artistic value, like the sang de bceuf red 
 of Golf Juan. This leadless glaze is, of 
 course, applicable equally to tiles, panels, 
 friezes, and moulded blocks. We remember 
 noting a remarkable contrast on one occasion. 
 A handsome chimneypiece in tawny brown 
 lead - glazed earthenware, decorated with 
 finely moulded floral and figure ornamenta- 
 tion in relief, and having vivid red lustre 
 panels, which stood out richly as a fitting 
 piece for a stately hall ; then a chimneypiece 
 in blue and green leadless glazed ware, the 
 colours soft, varying in intensity, blending 
 with each other, producing a beautiful 
 harmony, as interesting in its gradations as it 
 was restful to the eye. Where tiles are used 
 in narrow bands, or to obtain a vivid note of 
 colour or jewel effect, lead - glazed ware 
 should be chosen, but when the tiles, or 
 panels, are used in mass, the leadless glaze 
 is more beautiful and infinitely more in- 
 teresting. 
 
 Little need be said of the cast iron 
 chimneypieces, jambs, lintel, and shelf, some-
 
 i8o CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 times overmantel, all in one piece. They are 
 economical and frequently of very good 
 design, can be enamelled any colour to suit 
 other decorations, and make acceptable sur- 
 rounds for enamelled and encaustic tiles, 
 bricks, or stone. But there is no disguising 
 the harshness of outline associated with a 
 blurring of detail when elaborate designs are 
 attempted. They fill a useful place, and are 
 an improvement on much of the rule of 
 thumb handiwork of a generation ago. 
 
 Examples might be multiplied indefinitely, 
 but we have said enough to give an idea 
 of the freedom with which the subject is 
 treated in these days, and the sincerity with 
 which it is approached by all architects 
 anxious to rise above the commonplace.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE " INGLE - NOOK." 
 
 WHILE the term ingle-nook is modern, the 
 thing itself is old enough, for the chimney- 
 corner was early contrived by comfort-loving 
 man, when the fireplace began to be enclosed 
 by side walls and crowned with a hood. As 
 we have seen while examining various speci- 
 mens of the Gothic and Renaissance periods, 
 the necessity for having large hearths to 
 burn big logs and faggots of wood, and then 
 to provide bigger smoke - collecting hoods 
 and protecting walls in large draughty com- 
 mon halls, resulted in the building of small 
 rooms within large ones. Those who were 
 attending the fire and cooking pots or roast- 
 ing spit naturally stood on the hearth, within 
 the walls and under the hood. It was a 
 position that had its charms on cold raw 
 nights, and when quiet gossip had to be 
 181 N
 
 182 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 exchanged, so the placing of a settle against 
 the inner side wall came about, and then the 
 host and hostess assumed the privilege of 
 occupying these seats, sitting sociably side 
 by side, as in the example from Prittlewell, 
 or on benches placed on opposite sides of 
 the hearth. Here confidences were ex- 
 changed, grave counsel debated, and light 
 gossip indulged in. It provided the privy 
 cabinet just away from the domestic forum 
 of the hall. 
 
 It is interesting to compare these pro- 
 visions for the amenities of conversation 
 with those prevailing among the Greeks 
 and Romans. Dark winter days and chilly 
 nights suggested to peoples of cold climes 
 the hearth as the fitting place to meet side 
 by side, face to face, and chat over matters 
 in particular, or discourse on matters at large. 
 The Greeks and Romans also sat side by 
 side, face to face, but on the semi-circular 
 exedrse, originally recessed seats built in 
 the porticoes, even in the gardens, and then 
 in the long galleries provided for summer 
 and winter exercise. 
 
 As a thing of actual utility, the chimney 
 corner saw its heyday in the Middle Ages, 
 when the hearth was raised one or more
 
 DU
 
 THE INGLE NOOK 183 
 
 steps from the floor, the wing walls brought 
 well into the hall, and even turned at right 
 angles for a short distance when they reached 
 the end of the hearthstone, thus producing a 
 perfect recess, while the hood was placed 
 high enough to enable a man to stand 
 upright within it. But when builders began 
 to improve on their methods, and such com- 
 forts as door screens, panelled walls and 
 heavy tapestries were introduced, the day of 
 the cosy corner was waning. The wing walls 
 gradually dwindled away to column supports 
 or to mere wall pilasters, with brackets ex- 
 tending under the projecting hoods. In inns 
 and the living rooms of farmhouses, however, 
 the chimney corner still continued to be re- 
 quired and was provided long after such 
 things had been discarded when new mansions 
 were being built or old ones remodelled. 
 
 It was from the farmhouse that the revival 
 of the chimney corner, the advent of the 
 ingle-nook came about; though in one form 
 it is due to the introduction into our sitting 
 rooms of carved screens from the East, 
 which suggested an improvement on the 
 folding doors dividing our suites of reception 
 rooms, separating the larger general from the 
 smaller and more private.
 
 1 84 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 But types are many, and sub-divisions of 
 those types endless ; we can only consider 
 some of the most characteristic and usefully 
 suggestive. Probably the most alluring of 
 modern contrivances are those of homely 
 design, having the appearance of some 
 natural excrescences with which men and 
 women surround themselves for their own 
 convenience and pleasure. In many cases, 
 however, more ambitious constructional aims 
 are apparent. For instance, we sometimes 
 see in large halls, of say the neo-classic, 
 Georgian, or Empire styles, an alcove with 
 an opening formed by a depressed arch 
 springing from pilasters. Such alcoves are 
 usually provided with a handsome monu- 
 mental fireplace, while benches are built 
 round the walls, or settees placed against 
 them. Usually, too, there are windows on 
 each side of the alcove, which may be square 
 or semi-circular, the windows opening breast 
 high, or carried nearly from floor to cornice, 
 even occasionally opening into a garden or 
 conservatory, or on to a terrace. This, it 
 may be said, is placing a chimneypiece in an 
 alcove, quite a good idea in itself, rather 
 than providing an ingle-nook. Perhaps the 
 same remark applies to the curious arrange-
 
 THE INGLE NOOK 185 
 
 ment of a bedroom-boudoir. The sleeping 
 apartment was large, the sitting-room a small 
 adjunct, placed in an alcove, the half of an 
 octagon in shape, some two steps below the 
 bedroom floor level, and built over a portico. 
 The partition wall was mostly cut away, 
 while two fluted Doric columns, springing 
 from the end of a low wall, supported a 
 deep panelled frieze. The low wall was 
 continued to the partition, where engaged 
 Doric columns were placed. In the opening 
 between these dwarf parapet walls, provided 
 with cornice ledges, and the columns were 
 two long, broad, shallow steps. Facing this 
 opening was a pleasant white enamelled 
 wood chimneypiece, with an inner border of 
 glazed tiles. Long, low, leaded casements 
 were placed on four sides of the room. 
 
 Still in this class is the cosy corner 
 provided by Mr O. P. Milne in the panelled 
 billiard-room of Huntercombe Place, Oxford- 
 shire, a house already referred to in these 
 pages. The fireplace, a broad, low one in 
 carved stone, with panel above, is placed 
 at the end of a rather deep alcove, 12 ft. 
 wide by 7 ft. deep, which is built out from 
 the side of the house, with wooden backed 
 benches against the walls and a movable
 
 1 86 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 settee placed in front. There are no 
 windows in this case. , 
 
 Another successful way of dealing with a 
 billiard-room chimneypiece is to be seen in 
 the Ivy Club at Princeton University. It is 
 placed in a fairly deep arched alcove, two 
 steps above the floor. The fireplace is re- 
 cessed, is of white stone, plainly dressed, the 
 wide breast being arched, the interior lined 
 with bricks. Above the breast is a broad 
 band of red bricks, with three small arched 
 niches, surrounded by a projecting cornice 
 with flat shelf top. The rest of the walls 
 are panelled, but over the wood box-seats 
 with leather cushions, placed at an angle 
 to give a view of the tables, the walls are 
 upholstered with leather. Non-players are 
 thus out of the way, where they may chat 
 and look on at the games in comfort. 
 
 Very good effects may be produced by 
 raising the hearth merely slightly above the 
 floor level, or as in the above instance, 
 several steps high. While this adds to the 
 decorative value of the fireplace and its 
 immediate surroundings, it does not always 
 add to the comfort of those in the main part 
 of the hall or room, and is, besides, quite 
 unsuited for certain styles of interior
 
 THE INGLE NOOK 187 
 
 decoration. This device should not be 
 abused. 
 
 In a house at Caterham, where red brick, 
 distempered walls and plain sawn white 
 wood stained green are the prevailing 
 materials, Mr Barry Parker and Mr Ray- 
 mond Unwin have provided an ideal arrange- 
 ment. The fireplace, with red brick tile and 
 a semi-circular projecting low and narrow 
 hood of red brick, with arched opening 
 and flat top covered with a green stained 
 wooden shelf, is placed in the middle of 
 an alcove, contrived in a recess, framed by 
 great square beams of wood and a screen 
 arch. Above the fireplace is a projecting 
 cupboard, in three parts, the centre carried 
 to the ceiling, the side wings only half way 
 up, with flat tops. These are of white wood 
 stained green, with long hinge-guards of red 
 copper, and narrow panels of glass. The 
 end walls are panelled with green stained 
 wood cupboards, having an arched recess 
 beneath, with shelf, whence the panelling is 
 carried down at a slant to low box benches, 
 provided with red cushions. The floor is 
 paved with narrow blue glazed tiles. The 
 uncovered parts of the back wall are dis- 
 tempered with a high dado in peacock blue,
 
 188 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 and a greyish blue above. The ceiling 
 is partly panelled, partly distempered. 
 
 Another happy design of these two archi- 
 tects is to be seen in a low ceiled plaster and 
 stained beam living-room at Mansfield. 
 This, too, is in a spacious alcove, the open- 
 ing being spanned by a great beam resting 
 on two block brackets and supporting a 
 narrow screen wall. The walls are panelled 
 with narrow planks, and there is a flat shelf 
 with distempered walls above. Shaped wing 
 guards end the plain cushioned benches on 
 the room side. The fireplace is recessed, 
 with an arched opening and a rounded 
 breast, terminating at the panelled level, 
 where it is continued as a square projection, 
 with a framed picture in front, to the ceiling. 
 Against the back wall there is a second 
 range of shelves for books. 
 
 In some chambers built by Mr Reginald 
 Morphew in Jermyn Street, W., there is a 
 pleasant ingle-nook, recessed in the thickness 
 of the wall. The opening is framed on one 
 side with a single square wood post, on the 
 other with two, supporting a large square 
 beam, which in turn supports a narrow 
 screen wall rising to the ceiling. The fire- 
 place is of plain marble, flush with the wall,
 
 THE INGLE NOOK 189 
 
 with narrow shelf, the opening being filled 
 with small glazed tiles and a narrow grate with 
 copper hood. A marble sharp-angled kerb 
 is provided. The back wall, divided into 
 narrow panels by slender flat fillets of stained 
 wood, is distempered. The space between 
 the two posts on one side is panelled with 
 narrow boards, about 4 ft. 6 in. high, and 
 pierced with two heart-shaped peepholes. 
 On the opposite side there is a shaped guard 
 board, with a short upright post at the end, 
 which projects above the board and ter- 
 minates in a square top. Behind these 
 screens are two shelf seats, cushioned, and 
 with cushioned backs. 
 
 Mr E. Guy Dawber, in a cottage dining- 
 room panelled with Austrian light oak, 
 provides a very attenuated but at the same 
 time decorative version of the cosy corner. 
 The ingle-nook is contrived in the thickness 
 of the panelling. The hearth is raised, the 
 centre part projecting into the room. A 
 low, wide opening is provided for the fire, 
 and is lined with very narrow glazed bricks. 
 An oblong wrought iron barred fire-basket 
 is provided with projecting uprights in 
 copper, with copper ovals placed vertically, 
 thus producing the effect of an open hearth
 
 190 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 with andirons. The wall to the right and 
 left and above the opening for about a foot 
 is covered with glazed tiles. This is framed 
 by heavy oak moulding, arranged as a 
 cornice, with flat ledge over the fire. The 
 rest of the wall is panelled, decorated with 
 mouldings, with a little plain inlay of darker 
 coloured wood. Over the opening of this 
 recess there is an oak border, with scrolled 
 fretwork border, and a slight projecting 
 cornice. Above this is a plain frieze, broad, 
 flat, reaching to the flat ceiling, which is 
 ornamented with an enriched plaster border 
 all round the room. 
 
 A flat in Buckingham Street, Strand, 
 contains a delightfully comfortable, pictur- 
 esque ingle-nook that must prove a sore trial 
 to the ghost of formal Robert Adam, if it 
 ever wanders away from the neighbouring 
 Adelphi. The fireplace is of red bricks, 
 with a low rectangular opening, and is 
 surrounded by richly carved dark oak 
 panelling, fitted with numerous small shelves 
 and two little projecting cabinets with lead- 
 glazed doors. The cosy corner is contrived 
 by two wings of carved oak panelling, about 
 3 ft. high, two small pillars rising from 
 the projecting moulding and supporting a
 
 THE INGLE NOOK 191 
 
 projecting cornice, above which is a trun- 
 cated conical hood, built of planks, and 
 ending in another cornice. The wide open- 
 ing is spanned by narrow arched beams, 
 while the side spaces between the panelling 
 and the hood are filled with lead glazing. 
 
 A modification of this is seen in the draw- 
 ing-room of a house at Rushington, Sussex, 
 built by Mr R. Heywood Haslam. It is 
 intended to guard against the draughts from 
 two doors, one in the end wall and one in 
 the side wall at the end, this last leading 
 into the hall. This part of the room is 
 partly cut off by a pendant screen wall, with 
 a panelled frieze provided with three arches, 
 two leading to the doors mentioned, the 
 middle one to the ingle-nook. The fireplace 
 is of glazed tiles, with copper bands and 
 panel surround, this panelling being carried 
 at right angles to form wing walls. These 
 wings are terminated by square wooden 
 beams, rising to the arched frieze, and about 
 eighteen inches from these are two more 
 similar pillars, each pair joined together by 
 low panel walls about three feet high. The 
 free opening between the two pairs of pillars 
 is about six feet. Benches are fitted up in- 
 side. Above the fireplace, carried from panel
 
 192 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 to panel, is a glazed bookcase, with flat top, 
 used as a shelf. 
 
 This reminds us of a suggestion put for- 
 ward by Mr G. G. Samson for a five-roomed 
 bungalow. The main entrance is by way of 
 a verandah through a lobby into the large 
 living room. An L-shaped lobby is provided 
 to give communication between the living 
 room, two of the bedrooms, and the kitchen. 
 The lower angle of the lobby is cut off by 
 two slanting walls, and an opening is con- 
 trived into the sitting-room. Against the 
 wall of the alcove is the fireplace, which 
 backs against that of the kitchen. 
 Benches with wing guards complete the 
 ingle-nook. 
 
 Mr P. Morley Herder's drawing - room 
 ingle-nook at Hengrove, near Wendover, 
 is a fairly spacious secondary chamber, 
 occupying a kind of alcove, not quite the 
 full width of the apartment, the inner corner 
 being taken up by part of the entrance hall. 
 The whole room is panelled by oak, and the 
 alcove is formed by two beams decorated 
 with narrow panels, supporting a crossbeam. 
 Attached to the side of the uprights are two 
 low panelled screened walls, forming the ends 
 to two box benches, with panelling behind
 
 THE INGLE NOOK 193 
 
 them. On the inner wall the panelling is 
 carried up to a narrow shelf just below the 
 deep frieze. On the outer side there is a 
 small window above the bench. The chim- 
 ney breast on the back wall projects into the 
 alcove, and is carried to the ceiling. The 
 lower part is of red brick, framed with wood, 
 and having a narrow shelf supported by flat 
 brackets above. The hearth is raised, and 
 the fire is placed in a tall niche with rounded 
 metal hood in a recess under a very beautiful 
 arch, outlined on its outer edge by a thin 
 double moulding. The recessed spaces on 
 either side of the fireplace are filled with 
 bookshelves to the level of the seats. 
 
 Another booky-nook was designed by Mr 
 Klauder for his before-mentioned cottage at 
 Mount Airy. It is an alcove in the living 
 room, formed by great flat balks of timber, 
 two uprights and a crossbeam, in keeping 
 with the rest of the panelling. The back 
 wall is of red brick, the fire being contained 
 in a recess under a depressed arch, with 
 narrow bracket - supported shelf above. 
 Partly behind the upright balks, and partly 
 behind low panelled screens, are two roomy 
 box benches, with panelled backs, and above 
 these are bookcases. There are narrow
 
 194 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 windows on each side of the fireplace, 
 throwing light on the rows of favourite 
 volumes. 
 
 Elsewhere we have mentioned fireplaces 
 placed in angles of rooms. Mr A. W. 
 Brewill has combined this idea with an 
 ingle-nook screen. This is also a case of 
 dealing with a billiard-room. The hearth is 
 of stone, provided with fire-dogs. There 
 are no jambs, but the hood is in the form of 
 a broad breast, some three feet from the 
 ground, with wedge-shaped keystones, an 
 ornamented cornice with flat shelf, and a re- 
 cessed breast to the ceiling. On the two walls 
 are small, square, recessed windows, with 
 lead glazing and small draw-back curtains. 
 The ingle-nook screen consists of two square 
 carved wood pillars, on plain panelled bases, 
 supporting a carved beam with cornice, the 
 roof boarded over. The walls are of soft 
 yellow-tinted magnesium Mansfield stone, 
 the woodwork dark oak. 
 
 Mr G. L. Sutcliffe's pleasing notion of an 
 ingle-nook for a country cottage of some 
 pretensions is to build out an alcove in red 
 brick, provide a fireplace on the plan of a 
 half octagon, built straight up from floor to 
 ceiling in red brick, with square fire-opening
 
 THE INGLE NOOK 195 
 
 and copper grate fittings, with an arched 
 niche above, and two larger arched niches 
 on the back wall. Against the side walls 
 he places roomy wooden settees, with re- 
 cessed lead-glazed windows above them. 
 The opening into the room is framed by 
 varnished wood uprights supporting a cross 
 beam and an arched plank. 
 
 There is a great temptation to place 
 windows as in the above cases, for there is 
 an undeniable charm in being able to sit 
 close to a cheerful fire and look out of the 
 window at the same time. We have seen 
 this idea carried so far that a window has 
 been placed over the fireplace where the 
 breast usually is, the flue being carried 
 round. To be able to look over the chimney 
 shelf at an ever-changing picture, instead of 
 gazing at a never- varying one, is most 
 attractive, especially when, as in this parti- 
 cular instance, the scene was a rough coast 
 with the fickle sea beyond. But the tempta- 
 tion as a general rule should be resisted. If 
 on the ground floor some quietly disposed 
 persons may object to visitors, fleshly or 
 ghostly, or even the long, lissome fingers 
 of a trailer-rose, tapping, tapping, gently 
 at the ingle-nook casement. Apart from
 
 196 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 this, there is always the difficulty of ex- 
 cluding draughts. An ingle-nook is a place 
 to be cosy in, not one in which to contract a 
 crick in the neck. Here picturesqueness 
 should undoubtedly give way to comfort. 
 
 It is not every ingle-nook design that 
 furnishes sufficient room for side benches or 
 chairs. For instance, in the dining-room 
 of Walstead House, Lindfield, Sussex, Mr 
 E. Turner Powell has an open raised hearth 
 under a projecting canopy, the whole being 
 placed in a wide, deep recess, lined with 
 fancy moulded tiles, the lintel step-joggled 
 with central wedge-shaped keystone. Very 
 cold mortals might sit on cushions under 
 protection of the chambranle. The same 
 notion is seen in another design of Mr 
 Parker and Mr Unwin for a modest cottage 
 at Letchworth Garden City. The chimney- 
 piece is a massive structure of red brick, 
 built flush with the plastered walls. The 
 hearth is raised and there is a considerable 
 recess, arched over by a great beam of wood. 
 Terminating the brick structure at the level 
 of the picture rail, is a narrow shelf, with 
 plain bracket supports. The fire is further 
 recessed in the brick wall and is covered by 
 a round metal hood, with conical top and
 
 THE INGLE NOOK 197 
 
 wall guards. Cushions are placed on the 
 raised platform. Even more primitive is 
 the fireplace contrived by Mr W. A. For- 
 syth for Mr Norman Forbes Robertson's 
 week-end cottage at Wittersham, Kent, and 
 shown in the sketch overleaf, perhaps with 
 too hard angularity to do justice to the 
 original. The nook is delightful, the fire- 
 back a genuine Sussex "find." 
 
 Hampstead Garden suburb presents 
 several types of the glorified cottage style 
 of ingle-nook. For instance, a cottage by 
 Mr Barry Parker and Raymond Unwin in 
 Temple Fortune Lane, has a fireplace, 
 placed on a raised hearth, in a deep, brick- 
 lined recess, about 10 ft. long by four and 
 a half high, with a wood beam lintel, with 
 small shelf over. The fire is in an iron 
 barred basket, placed under a metal hood 
 communicating with the chimney throat. 
 Then in Meadway we find a low, timber 
 ceilinged, hall-living-room in a charming 
 cottage by Mr M. H. Baillie Scott, with a 
 fireplace occupying nearly half the side of 
 the room. It is rather under 5 ft. high, 
 and about 20 ft. wide. The lintel is 
 a broad beam, with a narrow shelf sup- 
 ported by plain brackets. The actual fire- 
 
 o
 
 198 
 
 CHIMNEYPIECES
 
 THE INGLE NOOK 199 
 
 place is on a square raised hearthstone, with 
 slightly recessed back. On both sides of 
 this are two small recessed windows. A 
 peculiarity of this room is that on the side 
 wall next to the fireplace there is a recess, 
 the full length and height of the room, with 
 slightly raised floor, wooden dado and 
 recessed window, used as a dining-room. 
 Behind the cornice is a rod with curtains, 
 which can be drawn together if desired. 
 
 At other times the ingle-nook is a one- 
 sided arrangement. An example of this 
 style is Mr G. L. Sutcliffe's design for a 
 country house library fireplace, which is 
 built within a long strip alcove, or rather 
 projection on the side of the room. It is of 
 red brick, the solid walls built up on a raised 
 semi-circular platform, and topped with 
 beaten copper hood, surrounded by copper 
 plate wall guards and a narrow shelf. The 
 one seat is placed under a small window 
 against the end wall close to the fireplace, 
 and with wing guards flush with the panelling 
 of the walls. In the billiard-room of an 
 American private house we find another 
 version of the semi-alcove for fireplace. A 
 raised tiled platform has a low carved wood 
 balustrade at one end, at the other, against
 
 200 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 the two walls, hung with silk below a deep 
 painted frieze, is a comfortable divan, with 
 cushions, half shielded by a narrow wall and 
 pillar rising to the beam and hanging screen 
 wall. The fireplace is of dressed stone, 
 flush with the wall, above which is a carved 
 wooden shelf and a projecting panelled 
 chimney breast. 
 
 We have already had occasion to mention 
 Mr Winter Rose's columned fireplace at 
 Marrowells, and it is also shown in one of 
 our plates. It will be seen that it forms 
 a peculiar type of ingle-nook, possessing a 
 simple dignity that recommends it to the 
 judicious, for a room where some stateliness 
 of aspect is desired. Though it is not every- 
 body who will feel reconciled to the exposed 
 brick, the arrangement certainly provides 
 the semi-seclusion that we look for in this 
 connection. 
 
 A very effective treatment of a large and 
 lofty hall in a country house was designed 
 by Mr Charles Plumet. Along one side, on 
 the first floor, is a passage, and this has 
 arched openings and a balustrade, over- 
 looking the hall. Right at the end is a com- 
 municating gallery, with handsome carved 
 wood rail and balustrade, and against the
 
 THE INGLE NOOK 201 
 
 wall a large bookcase. Under this gallery 
 is the large fireplace, the hearth flush with 
 the floor. It is of red brick, has a recessed 
 fireplace, with straight cheeks and arched 
 opening. Over this opening, 2 ft. above it, 
 is a long panel of carved stone. White 
 stone pillars, octagonal, with ornamental 
 capitals and tall carved bases, stand on each 
 side of the hearth, and support the gallery. 
 On either side of them, under the gallery, 
 the walls are lined with dwarf bookcases, 
 and covered with framed pictures above. It 
 should be mentioned that the walls are 
 distempered, have a very deep frieze, con- 
 sisting of a heavy fringe of foliage and fruit, 
 with an arabesque filling above, reaching 
 to the flat timbered ceiling. The floor is of 
 parquet. Here we have comfort and dignity 
 most happily blended. The great expanse 
 of plain walls, broken on one side by tall 
 windows, on the other by the arches and 
 balustrade, contrast well with the strong 
 design and colouring of the frieze, while the 
 pillared chimneypiece, with the gallery over- 
 head, gives an air of originality and dis- 
 tinction. 
 
 This screened-off effect is attained in a 
 different way in another room of the
 
 202 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 Buckingham Street flat already referred to. 
 In this second room, which is all white, a 
 narrow strip at the top end, is cut off by 
 a handsome carved wood Moorish screen, 
 above which is deep frieze of enriched 
 plaster. The chimneypiece, a simple wooden 
 framing to a glazed tile fireplace, and 
 crowned by a carved wood Moorish over- 
 mantel, is in the middle of the wall, facing 
 the arched opening. About this chairs and 
 small tables are disposed. 
 
 One more point requires to be mentioned. 
 In many halls with staircases, the chimney- 
 piece is placed against the wall in such a 
 way as to be partially screened by the 
 sweep of the stairs, and then the primary 
 requirements for an ingle-nook are ready to 
 hand. It is merely necessary to place bench, 
 hooded or with tall panelled back, within the 
 sweep, and another screened bench, or 
 merely a sofa, on the opposite side, and 
 there is a delightful retreat, placed practi- 
 cally immediately within the portals, as in 
 days of old. 
 
 In an American example, a house at 
 Dedham, Massachusetts, built of local 
 fireproof brick and limestone, the library 
 is a delightfully designed room, both as to
 
 THE INGLE NOOK 203 
 
 planning and colouring. The ceiling, wall 
 panelling and shelving for books are of 
 weathered English oak ; the floor is paved 
 with unglazed tiles of a dull blue hue, which 
 makes a splendid soft background for brown 
 and red rugs. Unglazed tiles have a decided 
 advantage over the glazed, if they be of 
 sufficiently hard and homogeneous material, 
 because they both look and feel warmer, 
 and are less hard to tread and deaden the 
 footfall. This colour scheme is completed 
 by an uncovering, as it were, of the solid 
 building material, for the fireplace is of 
 carved white limestone, broad and tall. A 
 great canopy hood projects well into the 
 room, sheltering two roomy seats with 
 windows over them. 
 
 An Austrian hunting - box designed by 
 Herr Ludwig Hohlwein also gives a good 
 combination out of very simple materials. 
 The living-room is lined with plain polished 
 oak fittings. The walls and ceiling are 
 framed in sawn timber filled in with plaster 
 panels. The chimneypiece is of carved oak, 
 the hearth raised, and the fireplace of red 
 glazed bricks, provided with iron fire-basket 
 and heavy uprights with great copper cup- 
 like terminals. A platform a few inches
 
 204 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 above the floor is provided for the ingle- 
 nook, which is formed by merely building 
 up two wooden settees, with tall, almost 
 straight backs, very slight cut-away wings, 
 and plain shelf seat. The interior is com- 
 fortably upholstered. On each side of the 
 fireplace is a deep recess, with a window 
 in the upper part, the lower part forming 
 useful shelves. This is undoubtedly a cosy 
 corner, yet one which does not interfere 
 with the warming of the rest of the room. 
 
 Of course in designing an ingle-nook, 
 comfort must be a guiding consideration. 
 Much can be done by means of judicious 
 fittings. Certainly the shelf within easy 
 reach is most necessary. It is desirable, 
 when this is done, that it should be recessed, 
 and preferably placed against the side wall. 
 Bookshelves, if placed on the side or back, 
 should also be recessed. If this cannot be 
 done, then they must be narrow, and the 
 space beneath them panelled to form the 
 back or side of seat. Any projection which 
 may be bumped against is to be avoided. 
 On the outer side of the seat it is well to 
 provide an arm rest, while for elderly people 
 an arm rest in the form of a sling is a 
 convenience. On the distaff side of the
 
 Original Model of Chimneypiece. by Stevens.
 
 THE INGLE NOOK 205 
 
 hearth, beneath the arm rest, there ought 
 to be a wide and deep pocket, a useful 
 receptacle for needlework. Where the corner 
 is roomy enough, it is a good plan to 
 provide a collapsible desk, closing up into 
 the panel and opening out at such angles 
 as to provide a reading or writing desk, 
 and if need be, a table for an invalid 
 luncheon. Something quite simple will 
 often serve the purpose : a hinged board, 
 kept upright when not in use by a catch, 
 supported when in use by one or two hinged 
 brackets, folding back against the side. No 
 ingle-nook in a dining-room, billiard-room, 
 hall, or cottage living - room, should be 
 without a hob or at all events a trivet, and 
 when possible a little hot closet is not amiss. 
 With the ingle-nook in the living-room 
 of a week-end cottage, or humble country 
 pied-d-terre, the great question is how to 
 fill the fireplace itself. From the senti- 
 mental and picturesque point of view the 
 open hearth is the ideal. When the hearth 
 is slightly raised and the hood efficient, all 
 may go well perhaps for ninety-five days 
 out of a hundred. But for the balance things 
 are often very uncomfortable. The diffi- 
 culty is that with the small cottage, whether
 
 206 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 all ground floor or possessing an upper 
 storey, the chimney is not very tall, and 
 therefore does not draw powerfully under 
 any circumstances, and does so very badly 
 under certain conditions of wind, especially 
 if a wood or a few big trees are close at hand. 
 Snow and rain may also prove a source of 
 annoyance. It is not every architect who 
 dares to design a small cottage on the lines 
 of that handsome Renaissance lodge by 
 the late Mr W. Aden Nesfield at Kew 
 Gardens, with a high pitched roof, equal 
 in height to that of the walls, and a bold 
 chimney shaft towering some one and a 
 half times that height above the summit. 
 Such a chimney would be out of the question 
 in connection with most remodelling work, 
 and usually so with the building of cheap 
 bungalows or cottages. The result is that 
 the hearth is too near the chimney top, and 
 is therefore rather more under the direct 
 influence of wind and rain than it should be. 
 Bearing this in mind, it seems better to 
 compromise the matter, and fit the open 
 hearth with a closed-in grate, or with one 
 or other of those useful and not unsightly 
 combination grates and kitcheners which 
 are on the market. Patterns can be chosen
 
 THE INGLE NOOK 207 
 
 which harmonise with their surroundings 
 while giving security against floodings and 
 the back-rush of smoke. Circumstances 
 must determine the choice. Where expense 
 is not a primary consideration, the modern 
 plan of treating the fireplace as a self- 
 contained feature with its own jambs, lintel 
 and hood, and even raised hearth, as we 
 see in many of the examples already de- 
 scribed placed within the ingle-nook alcove, 
 overcomes much of the difficulty under 
 discussion, but it is not an economical 
 method of designing.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 NOTES ON FIREPLACE FURNITURE. 
 
 IN this chapter it is proposed only to touch 
 upon such items of furniture as directly influ- 
 enced, or were influenced by, the construc- 
 tional parts of the fireplace. 
 
 At first they were exceedingly simple, as 
 were the hearths themselves. The early 
 form of the andirons or fire-dogs for holding 
 burning logs and faggots, were in the form 
 of two uprights with spreading feet, and 
 joined together by a crossbar. The wood 
 was placed at a slanting angle against the 
 horizontal bar, in that position usually adopted 
 when quick ignition and a fierce flame is 
 desired, and even now commonly adopted in 
 the East. This method of building the wood 
 fire was almost necessary when the open 
 fireplace prevailed, but so soon as the recess 
 in the wall was adopted, wing walls and hood 
 208
 
 FIREPLACE FURNITURE 209 
 
 conducting to smoke exits quickly being 
 added, it was easier to control the fire, and 
 to burn logs both little and large. Then the 
 horizontal position was preferred, and so two 
 dogs were used. These were often plain 
 structures of wrought iron bars and bands, 
 but with the increased architectural import- 
 ance given to the chimneypiece great pains 
 were bestowed on these articles of furniture, 
 and from the i2th to the i5th century they 
 increased in size, intricacy, and beauty. From 
 simple uprights, with hammered scroll embel- 
 lishments, round bosses and shields were 
 added, generally bearing sacred emblems or 
 monograms. Then the founders took the 
 matter up, and the uprights were cast in the 
 shape of animals and human figures, either 
 termini or complete statuettes. Many of 
 them are very beautiful, and most possess 
 value for details of costume and equipment. 
 In England a great branch of the Sussex 
 iron industry consisted in turning out fire- 
 backs and dogs. The early patterns bore 
 sacred emblems, then figures, and finally 
 armorial shields and badges. Our illustra- 
 tion is of a Sussex andiron from Wadhurst, 
 with Renaissance decorations and armorial 
 shield. It stands 3 feet 3 inches high. A
 
 210 
 
 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 OLD SUSSEX ANDIRON.
 
 FIREPLACE FURNITURE 211 
 
 pair, dated 1591, evidently coming from 
 the Ashburnham estate foundry, were deco- 
 rated with the Ashburnham arms, and also 
 a badge in the form of an ash tree growing 
 out of a floreated coronet. In contrast to 
 these we see a very primitive type shown 
 in our sketch of Mr Norman Forbes Robert- 
 son's ingle-nook (page 198). More elaborate 
 specimens will be seen in our illustration of 
 an Italian stone chimneypiece, and those 
 of Loseley, Holland House, and the Gover- 
 nor's Room, Charterhouse. In the two 
 fireplaces of the Great Room at Holland 
 House the furniture consists of two andirons, 
 in forms of Corinthian gilt columns, standing 
 on ornamental bases, with fine capitals sup- 
 porting respectively the cross crosslets of the 
 Copes and ihzfaur de Us of the Riches. The 
 andirons are dainty little amoretti, carrying 
 wands, and standing on substantial highly 
 ornamented bases. These beautiful figures 
 on their elaborated designed bases are of 
 Continental origin. Iron was far from being 
 the only metal used. Copper, brass, and 
 even silver, were employed for this purpose. 
 Andirons practically went out of fashion in 
 England when coal took the place of wood, 
 but they long continued in service on the
 
 212 
 
 CHIMNEYPIECES
 
 FIREPLACE FURNITURE 213 
 
 Continent, where they are still the necessary 
 complements of fireplaces over more than 
 half of Europe. 
 
 In early practice the fireplace was simply 
 lined with stone or brick, but no doubt partly 
 owing to the finer work bestowed on these, 
 and the fiercer fires resulting from better 
 construction, it was soon found expedient to 
 strengthen the back with iron plates. The 
 opportunity for decoration which these pre- 
 sented was not lost. Great pains were de- 
 voted to their manufacture, both on the 
 Continent and here. We give two line 
 drawings of different types one from Button 
 
 SUSSEX FIRE-BACK, SUTTON HURST.
 
 214 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 Hurst of 1582 and the other of earlier date. 
 The subjects chosen for decorative treatment 
 were, of course, extremely varied, ranging 
 from mere lines and dots to elaborate scenes 
 from the Scriptures and the fabulists. Occa- 
 sionally historical scenes are introduced. 
 In the 1 6th and I7th centuries heraldic 
 ornamentation became the fashion. In Eng- 
 land the Royal arms were frequently adopted 
 as the central motif, but more generally the 
 arms of the owner were cast on the plates. 
 Some of the more elaborate patterns may be 
 seen on the plates giving pictures of fire- 
 places at Combe Abbey, Bruges, and that 
 of Clodion and Gouthiere from Paris. This 
 last named is particularly interesting, because 
 the entire back and sides are covered with 
 highly ornamented plates of iron, with con- 
 cave pieces filling up the angles a very rare 
 treatment. In some Flemish examples we 
 find the combined use of decorated cast-iron 
 backs with ornamental glazed tiles. It is 
 probable that we owe this method of surface 
 treatment to the Hispano-Mauresque school 
 of builders. It corresponds to their general 
 scheme of decoration, and we know that a 
 very considerable trade existed between 
 Spain and the other parts of Europe in
 
 FIREPLACE FURNITURE 215 
 
 decorated Moorish tiles. These were usually 
 squares, impressed with successive incised 
 patterns, each design being filled with the 
 desired colours. But the more splendid 
 azuleijos were differently formed, embossed 
 patterns being stamped upon them, and the 
 whole covered by an opaque white glaze with 
 a stannate base. Then the lines between 
 the raised parts were partly filled with 
 coloured glazes, and the tiles fired. Many of 
 these reached Flanders during the period of 
 Spanish domination, and caused the establish- 
 ment of a local industry. Dutch tiles, with 
 local or Renaissance decorations of a some- 
 what crude design, both flat and embossed, 
 early had a great vogue. They were intro- 
 duced here about the year 1625. As we 
 have seen, Owen Jones and Digby Wyatt 
 endeavoured to popularise the Spanish- 
 Saracenic decorated tiles, though produced 
 on very different principles, for fireplace 
 embellishments, but it was not until a much 
 later day that the excellent English-made 
 fire-resisting tiles plain, self-coloured, with 
 underglaze painting, or embossed succeeded 
 in making their merits generally recognised. 
 The modern chimneypiece designer is quite 
 as enamoured of glazed tiles (clean, cheerful,
 
 216 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 light and heat reflecting materials), as were 
 the Flemings from the latter end of the i6th 
 to the 1 8th centuries. 
 
 A point of some interest brought out in 
 our picture of the great Bruges chimneypiece 
 is the presence of decorated iron handles 
 pendant from the lintel over the hearth 
 opening. These were used to hold on by 
 when people were warming themselves before 
 the blazing fire, to prevent accidental toppling 
 into the fire. They suggest a peculiar social 
 habit, and are not found out of Flanders. 
 
 With us coal not only banished the cast 
 iron fire-back in its original form, and pract- 
 ically the andiron, but also introduced the 
 grate. Early patterns took the form of iron 
 bar baskets, usually standing on short legs. 
 An ornamental form, combining certain feat- 
 ures of the andiron and the fire-back, is seen 
 in our picture of the Charterhouse fireplace. 
 Modern renderings are shown on other plates. 
 
 These baskets were in the late i8th 
 century and the early part of last century 
 suspended between two low walls filling up 
 the sides of the fireplace for some 18 in. 
 or 2 ft., the idea being to throw the heat 
 into the room. Robert Adam, pursuing his 
 system of attending to every detail in
 
 FIREPLACE FURNITURE 217 
 
 order to obtain consistency in decoration, 
 designed the grates for his fireplaces. An 
 example of his work is shown on one of our 
 plates ; it must be acknowledged as far 
 superior to the ordinary grate filling. Apart 
 from the question of beauty, there were those 
 of economy and efficiency. Count Rumford 
 invented an economic coal burning grate 
 which long influenced their construction. 
 It was recognised that iron was not the best 
 material, but that firebrick should be sub- 
 stituted. After Rumford probably the re- 
 former who has had the most lasting effect 
 was Dr Pridgin Teale. 
 
 Dr Teale's principles for the construction 
 of a fireplace are as follows : 
 
 (a) As much firebrick and as little iron as 
 possible should be used ; (b) the back and 
 sides should be of firebrick ; (c) the back of 
 the fireplace should lean over the fire, while 
 the throat of the chimney should be con- 
 tracted; (d) the bottom of the fireplace 
 should be deep ; (e) all slits in the bottom 
 of the grate should be as narrow as possible ; 
 
 (f) the bars in front should be narrow ; 
 
 (g) the space between the floor and the 
 bottom of the fireplace should be closed in 
 front by a close-fitting iron shield, called
 
 218 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 an economiser. This theory is funda- 
 mentally sound, and has entered into much 
 of present day practice, though many other 
 inventors have come forward with slow com- 
 bustion regulating grates, well fire, heaped 
 fire, and so on. The influence that these 
 have had on fireplace designing is shown 
 in several of our illustrations. 
 
 To begin with, it has been found possible to 
 blend the picturesque with the scientific, and 
 to provide open coal fires. These are usually 
 of fire-clay construction, with circular backs, 
 and concave bases. Such well-like fire grates 
 do not require bars, while they will burn peat 
 and wood blocks as well as they will coal. 
 
 With a view to preserve the open hearth 
 idea and yet provide a definite grate, the old- 
 fashioned iron basket has been re-introduced, 
 generally being placed on feet, close to, though 
 independent of the fire-brick back and 
 cheeks. A frequent embellishment of these 
 fire baskets is to make the front feet stand 
 out sideways, terminating in tall uprights 
 simulating the form of old andirons. These 
 may be of brass, or of hammered iron and 
 copper, and when they are used in a fireplace 
 with fire-brick back and tiles, or of exposed 
 brickwork, the effect is very good.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE STOVE. 
 
 DIFFERING widely as they do in outward 
 appearance, the box-like stove and the 
 elaborate chimneypiece are developments 
 stimulated by the desire to improve upon 
 the economical inefficiency of the unpro- 
 tected hearthstone. While in countries 
 where wood was plentiful and available this 
 development proceeded along the lines of 
 the open box (back, side walls, and hood), 
 in those where fuel was scarce and bad 
 progress manifested itself by producing the 
 enclosing box, which in its primitive form is 
 a hole in the earth and a dome. 
 
 It will be remembered that the Saxon 
 fireplace was of this sort, though the cover 
 was employed as semi-extinguisher. But it 
 is the type of village " oven " of which we 
 read in the Scriptures, that persists in Persia 
 219
 
 220 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 and some parts of Central Asia to this day. 
 The Persian method was, and is, to dig a 
 hole in the centre of the floor of the living 
 room, line it with clay and build therein a 
 fire of wood, charcoal, or other fuel. The 
 clay soon becomes fire-brick and stores up 
 heat admirably. For baking purposes the 
 ashes are raked out and the loaves placed in 
 the hole, which is then covered up. For 
 heating purposes the fire is packed tight, 
 and, a vent being provided, covered over 
 with a flat stone. But that is not all. A 
 square framework of wood is placed over the 
 covered hole, and heavy rug over that, so 
 that there results a kind of tent, under which 
 the members of the party, seated on the 
 floor, may thrust their feet, their hands or 
 their whole persons, and so get warm at a 
 very little expenditure of precious fuel. 
 That is the type. Of course it is improved 
 upon in houses of the well-to-do. For 
 instance, one addition of the luxuriously 
 inclined was a pipe communicating with the 
 sunken stove. It was only necessary to 
 remove the stopper and blow down the tube 
 to fan the fire into a glowing mass, at some 
 risk, one would imagine, of inhaling suffo- 
 cating gases. We have here all the elements
 
 German Faience Stove.
 
 THE STOVE 221 
 
 of the more permanent structural stove, 
 which was carried into Eastern Europe by 
 the Slavs, and into Southern and Northern 
 Russia by the Tartars. 
 
 In its really national character the Russian 
 stove is at once a cooking and a warming 
 apparatus. It is built of brick or stone, 
 often plastered over and decorated in 
 the peculiar polychromatic arrangement of 
 dots, lines, and zigzags common to the 
 peasants of Little Russia, or with glazed 
 tiles. The oven-stove is a big erection, 
 often occupying a sixth or a tenth part of 
 the room whether placed in the middle 
 thereof or against the wall. In the older 
 form it had no chimney ; in the improved 
 the chimney is carried to the roof. The top 
 is flat, and reaches often quite halfway up to 
 the roof. In the old type of farmhouse 
 the sleeping quarters for the men were on 
 a platform of planks, or kind of abortive first 
 floor, carried up close under the roof, and 
 covering a third or a fourth of the room. It 
 had no partitions, the unprotected open edge 
 being close up to the stove. But the top 
 of the stove itself serves at once as a drying 
 apparatus and winter quarters. Elaborate 
 versions of such stoves were not uncommon
 
 222 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 in the houses of the old nobility. Kiprianoff 
 describes a remarkable one in the house 
 of the Romanoffs, a boyard construction 
 of the loth century near Moscow. It was 
 very large and covered with blue glazed 
 tiles, each embossed with a different em- 
 blematic design and motto. Thus, one 
 tile was ornamented with two birds flying 
 away from each other, and the inscription, 
 " Fidelity Unites Us." Another a tortoise 
 and the legend, " There is no home like 
 one's own." 
 
 There is really very little difference be- 
 tween this ardent moralising stove of the 
 pre - Imperial Romanoffs and the great 
 mediaeval erections of Germany, or the 
 Netherlands. These are often monumental, 
 gay with colour and beautifully wrought 
 metal. They were in use early in the 
 Middle Ages. One of magnificent pro- 
 portions discovered in the Hohen Schloss 
 at Fussen bears the inscription : " Diser : 
 ofen : wol : gestald : wurd : gemacht : da : 
 man: zalt : 1514: Jar: Bey Hansen : 
 Seltzaman : vogt : zu : Obendorft." It 
 stands some 12 feet high and is built of 
 ornamental hollow tiles, forming a hex- 
 agonal tower formed of hollow tiles, the
 
 THE STOVE 223 
 
 concave side outwards covered with green 
 glaze relieved by yellow decoration. Three 
 stoves of this type are at South Kensington, 
 one of which, of a very curious pattern, we 
 illustrate. 
 
 At our International Exibition of 1862 
 several examples were sent over from Berlin. 
 They were rectangular erections formed of 
 white glazed tiles 6 and 8 inches square on 
 their outer surface, often beautifully em- 
 bossed, and having a rim all round the inner 
 surface, so that building up and interlocking 
 was easy, the rims being pierced and the 
 whole kept together by wires. The base 
 was of brickwork, about a foot high, encased 
 in tiles, and provided with space for ashpit, 
 the fire-box of bricks being above this, 
 while the interior of the stove contained 
 baffle plates. The angles and other pro- 
 minent parts were decorated with modelled 
 glazed earthenware figures and other orna- 
 ments. 
 
 It must be remembered that sometime 
 after this, the Germans nearly succeeded 
 in flooding Europe with small and medium 
 sized rectangular and circular stoves of 
 white glazed metal with fire-brick interiors, 
 many of which even came to England.
 
 224 CHIMNEYPIECES 
 
 Some attempt was made to acclimatise 
 the manufacture over here. Alfred Stevens 
 designed a hot air stove of iron and steel, 
 made at Sheffield, and sent to the 1862 
 Exhibition. It was enamelled white, covered 
 with raised sculpture, deeply undercut and 
 heavy panels in pink, the cable borders and 
 wreaths being gilded. Pugin also contri- 
 buted to the Exhibition. His stove was a 
 huge affair in mediaeval styles, made at 
 Birmingham, and carried out in hammered 
 iron and Minton encaustic enamelled tiles. 
 The tiles in pale tints of pink, green, blue 
 and yellow and white, were fitted into a 
 metal framework, had a slightly slanting 
 hood with a square top erection. It was 
 highly decorative, enclosed in an outer grill 
 of iron. Armorial shields, enamelled in 
 their proper colours, were in the slender 
 corner turreted pillars, on banners and on 
 the side grilles. A good specimen of this 
 kind is to be seen in the Painted Hall at 
 Greenwich Hospital. 
 
 C. J. Richardson designed a horribly banal 
 stove, in the form of a suit of plate armour, 
 which he considered suitable for the hall of a 
 mansion. It was stoked from behind, had a 
 funnel and emitted heat through the vizor.
 
 THE STOVE 225 
 
 It is not within the scope of this little 
 book to deal with the relatively large manu- 
 facture of closed stoves for coal and coke, 
 often of excellent design and tasteful decora- 
 tion, which find a legitimate outlet in offices, 
 shops and so on, but which scarcely come 
 within the purview of the builder or lover 
 of the House Beautiful.
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 BERTY, ADOLPHE. "La Renaissance Monu- 
 mentale en France. Specimens de composi- 
 tion et d'ornamentation architectonique 
 depuis le re"gne de Charles VIII., jusqu' a celui 
 de Louis XIV," 2 vols. il. Paris, 1864. 
 
 BRETTINGHAM, M. "The Plans, Elevations and 
 Sections of Holkham in Norfolk .... to 
 which are added the Ceilings and Chimney- 
 pieces," il. London, 1773. 
 
 DlETTERLElN, WENDEL. " Le Livre de 1'Archi- 
 tecture. Recueil de planches donant la 
 division, symetrie et proportions des cinq 
 ordres, applique's a tous les travaux d'art qui 
 en dependent, tels que fentres, chemine'es, 
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 2 vols. Liege, 1862. 
 
 FUMAGALLI, CARLO, Diego Sant Ambrojio, 
 Luca Beltranni. " Reminiscenze di Storia ed 
 Arte Nel Suburbio e nella Citta di Milano," 
 il. Milan, 1891. 
 
 227
 
 228 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 GARNER J., AND STRATTON, A. " The Domestic 
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 GEORGIAN SOCIETY. "Records of Eighteenth 
 Century Domestic Architecture and Decor- 
 ation in Dublin." 2 vols. Dublin 1909-1910. 
 Contains numerous plates of chimneypieces, 
 including specimens of " Bossi " coloured inlay 
 marble work with descriptions. 
 
 HOSKINS, G. G. "Designs for Chimneypieces," 
 London, 1871. A collection of 56 plates. 
 
 JONES, INIGO. " Designs for Chimney Glasses and 
 Chimneypieces of the Time of Charles I." 
 London, 1858. A collection of 10 plates. 
 
 KIPRIANOFF, VAL. "Histoire Pittoresque de 
 1' Architecture en Russie," il. 1864. 
 
 LE CLERC, SEBASTIEN. " Trait6 d'Architecture," 
 2 vols., Paris, 1714. 
 
 " L'ART FLAMAND ET HOLLANDAIS." Antwerp, 
 Vol. IV. 1905 articles, illustrated, on 'L'Ancien 
 Foyer Dans les Flandres.' 
 
 LE PAUTRE, JEAN. ( i ) " Chemine"es a 1'Italienne," 
 Paris, 1665 ; (2) " Nouveaux dessins de 
 Chemine'es." Paris, 1665; (3) "Chemine'es a 
 la Romaine," Paris, 1670. Three separate 
 collections of six plates each, without letter- 
 press. 
 
 LE PAUTRE, PIERRE. " Chemin^es et Lambris a 
 la Mode." Paris, 1685. Six plates, without 
 letterpress.
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 229 
 
 PERCIER, C, and FONTAINE, P. F. L. " Recueil 
 de Decorations Interieurs," Paris, 1812. Con- 
 taining several fine drawings of chimney- 
 pieces, chiefly in the Empire style. 
 
 PlRANESl, G. B. " Diverse Maniere d'Adornare i 
 Cammini," il. Rome, 1769. Text in Italian, 
 English, and French. 
 
 PUTNAM, J.P. "The Fireplace in all Ages," 
 300 il. Boston 1882. 
 
 QUELLERN, L. DE. " Le Chateau de Bagatelle. 
 Etude Historique et descriptive, suivie d'une 
 notice sur La Roserie." Paris, 1889. Con- 
 tains excellent photogravures of fine chimney- 
 pieces. 
 
 " REVUE DE L' ART CHRETIEN." Lille, Vol. 2, 5th 
 series, 1906. Article ' La Cheminee Gothique 
 en Belgique,' il. 
 
 RICHARDSON, GEORGE, "A New Collection of 
 Chimneypieces ornamented in the style 
 of the Etruscan, Greek, and Roman Archi- 
 tecture. Containing 35 designs suitable to the 
 most elegant range of apartments," London, 
 1781. Plates given in duplicate, plain and 
 coloured. Brief historical introduction. 
 
 RlPLEY, THOMAS. "The Plans, Elevations, and 
 Sections, Chimneypieces and Ceilings of 
 Houghton, in Norfolk, with drawings by 
 Isaac Ware and William Kent," London, 
 1760. 
 
 SHAW, H. " Details of Elizabethan Architecture," 
 il. London, 1839. 
 
 Q
 
 230 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 MODERN BUILDING RECORD, THE. Vol. II., il. 
 London, 1911. A brief description, with 
 plans and illustrations, of some of the chief 
 additions during the year to (i) Public 
 Buildings, (2) Domestic Architecture. 
 
 TURNER, T. H. " Some Account of Domestic 
 Architecture in England from the Conquest 
 to the end of the 1 3th c," 4 vols., il. London. 
 
 WARE, ISAAC. "A Complete Body of Archi- 
 tecture," il. London, 1756. Designs of Inigo 
 Jones and others, London, 1757. A collec- 
 tion of 50 plates, chiefly chimneypieces. 
 The Plans, Elevations, and Sections, 
 Chimneypieces and Ceilings of Houghton, 
 London, 1760. Large folio with drawings 
 by Ware and W. Kent. 
 
 WARE, W. R., " Renaissance Fireplaces," Boston, 
 1892. A collection of 40 photogravures of 
 chimneypieces in England, Italy, Ireland, 
 Germany, France, and Belgium. 
 
 WEALE, J. " English and French Ornaments," 
 London, 1858-9." This is a reissue of 
 the designs contained in (i) "Chippendale's 
 Ornaments and Interior Decorations in the 
 French Style"; (2) "A Book of Ornaments 
 Suitable for Beginners," by Thomas Pether, 
 Carver ; (3) " A Book of Ornaments Drawn 
 and Engraved by M. Lock " ; (4) " Chippen- 
 dale's One Hundred and Thirty Designs of 
 Interior Decorations in the Old French and 
 Antique Styles." Contains 249 il.
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 231 
 
 WlLLOUGHBY, LEONARD. " Some Notable Fire- 
 places" in 'The Connoisseur' for March, 1911. 
 (Slight text, but 18 excellent photo-repro- 
 ductions of English chimneypieces, old and 
 modern.) 
 
 YSENDYCK. " Documents Classes de 1'Art dans les 
 Pays Bas," i vol. il. 1880-7. 
 
 Consult also John Britton, Sir William Chambers, 
 William Kent, Charles James Richardson, 
 Sebastian Serlio. For particulars see Biblio- 
 graphy in "Ceilings and their Decorations," 
 in The House Decoration Series.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ABINGDON Abbey, early 
 Gothic chimneypieces 
 at, 29 
 
 Adam, Robert, designs at 
 the Soane Museum, 
 135 ; designs for fire- 
 grates, 217 
 
 Alenjon, Henry IV. hunt- 
 ing box at, 48, 114; 
 chimneypiece in the 
 Tribunal de Commerce, 
 
 55 
 
 Ambler, Mr Louis, 153 
 
 American Practice, 170, 
 176, 1 86, 193, 202. 
 
 Amsterdam, see Rijks 
 Museum. 
 
 Andirons, 47, 208 
 
 Angle chimneypieces, 127, 
 167, 1 68 
 
 Armorial charges on chim- 
 neypieces, 39, 40, 50, 58, 
 90, 93, 95, 107, 129 
 
 Artificial stones, 170 
 
 Arts Decoratifs, Mus^e des, 
 Paris, chimneypieces 
 at, 116 
 
 Ashbee, Mr C. R., 153 
 
 Atlantes pillar figures in 
 architecture, 72 
 
 Austrian ingle-nook, 203 
 
 Aydon Castle, early chim- 
 neypieces at, 28 
 
 Azuleijos, Spanish Maur- 
 esque decorated tiles, 
 140, 215 
 
 BANKS, Thomas, designs 
 chimneypieces for Cos- 
 way, 147 
 
 Barlborough, Derbyshire, 
 allegorical figures on 
 chimneypiece, 94 
 
 Barsall, Sussex, carved 
 chimneypiece at, 97 
 
 Benson, Mr W. A. S., 152 
 
 Blickling Hall, Renaissance 
 heraldic chimneypiece 
 at, 107 
 
 Blois, Chateau de, elaborate 
 Renaissance work at, 50 
 
 Bognor, Roman fireplace 
 at, ii 
 
 Bolsover Castle, 14, 127 
 
 Boothby Pagnall, early 
 chimneypieces at, 26 
 
 Bourges, Jacques Coeur's 
 Palace, early Renais- 
 sance work in, 48 
 
 Boxed marble chimney- 
 pieces, 143 
 
 233
 
 234 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Brasiers, or foculi, of the 
 ancients, 5 ; at West- 
 minister School, 27 
 
 Brescia, carved stone 
 chimneypieces from, 67 
 
 Brewill, Mr A. W., 194 
 
 Brick chimneypieces, 161, 
 199 
 
 Brierley, Mr W., 157 
 
 Britton, John, on Queen 
 Elizabeth's chimney- 
 piece at Windsor 
 Castle, 89 
 
 Bruges, monumental early 
 Renaissance chimney- 
 piece at the Hotel de 
 Ville, 58 ; figures on 
 chimneypiece at Mu- 
 seum, 71 
 
 Brussels, Muse des Anti- 
 quite's, 63 ; recon- 
 structed Gothic chim- 
 neypiece at the Hotel 
 de Ville, 63 
 
 Buckett, Rowland, his 
 chimneypiece at the 
 Charterhouse, 128 
 
 Burgundian influence on 
 Flemish work, 41 
 
 Burns, Mr Cecil, 161 
 
 Burton Agnes, Tudor work 
 at, 101 
 
 CAFFIERI'S human figures, 
 82, 117. 
 
 Caminatae, or smoke fun- 
 nels, 18 
 
 Campbell, Colin, thirty-six 
 designs by, 123 
 
 Canephori figures, 74 
 
 Canova's work at Ickworth, 
 144 
 
 Caryatides, human female 
 figures in architecture, 
 72 
 
 Cashel, primitive chimney- 
 piece at, 21, 24 
 
 Castle Ashby, Tudor work 
 at, 101 
 
 Celtic fireplaces, 15 
 
 Chambers, Sir W., on car- 
 yatic figures, 79 ; de- 
 signs at the Soane 
 Museum, 134 
 
 Charlton House, chimney- 
 piece at, 128 
 
 Charterhouse, chimneypiece 
 by R. Buckett at, 128 
 
 Chauffrette, or footwarmer, 7 
 
 Chenonceaux, elaborate 
 Renaissance work at 
 the Chateau de, 49 
 
 Cheverny, Chateau de, 
 carved oak chimney- 
 piece at, 56 
 
 Chimneys pictured in 
 " Monasticum Galli- 
 cum," 27 ; in rural i6th 
 century England, 86 ; 
 Tudor, 102 ; cottage, 206 
 
 " Chinese " chimneypieces, 
 see "Oriental," 
 
 Chippendale's Oriental 
 chimneypieces, 144, 124 
 
 Clifford's Tower, Roman- 
 esque work at, 19 
 
 Clodion and chimneypiece 
 decoration, 114, 117 
 
 Cluny, Mus^e de. Paris, 
 examples at, 53 
 
 Cobham Hall chimneypiece, 
 96 
 
 Colour on mediaeval chim- 
 neypieces, 35, 39, 43 ; 
 in Renaissance work, 
 48, 113, 118, 124, 129 
 
 Coctilia, the charcoal of the 
 Romans, 6 
 
 Colchester Castle, Roman- 
 esque work at, 22
 
 INDEX 
 
 235 
 
 Combe Abbey, Tudor 
 chimneypiece at, 100 
 
 Compton Wynyates, chim- 
 neys at, 103 
 
 Conisborough Castle, 
 
 Romanesque work at, 19 
 
 Concrete for chimneypieces, 
 172 
 
 Coucy, Palais de, double 
 hearthed fireplace in 
 the Salle des Preuses 
 at, 36 
 
 Courtrai, figures on chimney- 
 piece at the Hotel de 
 Ville, 61 
 
 Couvre-feu, 15 
 
 Cross, St., Hospital of, fire- 
 place and chimney at, 37 
 
 DANCE, neo-classic work at 
 the Mansion House, 
 London, 133 
 
 Dawber, Mr E. G., 158, 189 
 
 Delorme, Philibert, work at 
 the Chateau d'Anet, 54 
 
 Dijon, monumental Gothic 
 chimneypiece in the 
 Salle des Gardes in the 
 Palace of the Dukes of 
 Burgundy at, 40 
 
 Dorchester House, chimney- 
 piece by Alfred Stevens 
 at, 78, 148 
 
 Durham, old Convent 
 kitchen fireplaces, 37 
 
 ELKINGTON, Mr E. W., on 
 
 savages' fireplaces, 12 
 Elizabethan, see "Tudor." 
 
 FIELD, Mr H., 159 
 
 Firebacks and firedogs, 209 
 
 Flanders, primitive chim- 
 
 pieces at, 24, 41 ; early 
 
 Renaissance, 57 ; col- 
 
 oured marble from 
 Antwerp, 63 ; human 
 figure ornaments, 70 ; 
 stone and oak, 118 
 
 Florentine sandstone chim- 
 neypieces, 39, 43, 66 
 
 Foculi, or brasiers, of the 
 ancients, 5 
 
 Fontainebleau, chimney- 
 piece at, 56 
 
 Fornacelli, 65 
 
 Fornello of Modern Italy, n 
 
 Forsyth, Mr W. A., 197 
 
 GERMAN Stoves, 222 
 
 Ghent, figures on chimney- 
 piece in the Hotel de 
 Ville, 71 
 
 Gibbons, Grinling, cherubs 
 on chimneypiece, 82 ; 
 chimneypiece decora- 
 tion, 114, 119; work at 
 Houghton, 123 
 
 Glamis Castle, Tudor work 
 at, 96 
 
 Gothic conical hoods, 36 ; 
 square hoods, 46 ; 
 Italian work, 64 ; Tudor, 
 85, 90; modern, 153, 
 144. 224 
 
 Gouthiere, his metal work 
 on chimneypieces, 1 14 
 
 Greek fireplaces, i 
 
 H ADDON Hall, armorial 
 chimneypiece at, 95 
 
 Hampton Court Palace, 
 kitchen fireplaces at, 92; 
 chimneypieces at, 102 ; 
 designs for chimney- 
 pieces attributed to 
 Gibbons, 120 ; angle 
 chimneypieces, 127
 
 236 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Harrison on chimneys in 
 England during the 
 early i6th century, 86 
 Haslam, Mr R. H., 191 
 Hatfield House, Jacobean 
 
 chimneypieces at, 105 
 Hearths, 46 
 Henry IV.'s hunting-box at 
 
 Alengon, 48 
 Hermse statues, 73 
 Hohlwein, Herr L., 203 
 Holland House, Renais- 
 sance chimneypieces 
 at, 107 
 
 Hood, Gothic, 36, 46 
 Horder, Mr P. M., 192 
 Horsley, Mr G. C., 151, 158 
 Houghton, Kent's work at, 
 
 122 
 Hypocausta of the Romans, 7 
 
 INCRUSTED work on chim- 
 neypieces, Gothic, 45 ; 
 inlay of coloured mar- 
 ble, by Canova, 145 ; at 
 Strawberry Hill, 145 ; 
 at Eaton Hall, 146 
 
 "Indian" chimneypieces, 
 see " priental." 
 
 Italian chimneypieces, 64 ; 
 Renaissance, 113; in- 
 crusted work, 146 
 
 Iron, moulded, chimney- 
 pieces, 179 
 
 JACOBEAN style, 131 
 
 Jew's House, Lincoln, 
 
 chimneys at, 26 
 Joggling, 21, 24, 196 
 Jones, Inigo, designs for 
 
 ch i mn eypieces, ; 1 1 o, 1 1 8, 
 
 132 
 
 Jones, Mr J. A., 153 
 Jones, Owen, 215 
 
 KAMPEN, large chimney- 
 piece at, by Colyn van 
 Cameryck, 60 
 Kennard, Mr H., 154 
 Kensington Palace, Kent's 
 
 work at, 122 
 Kent, William, 121, 132 
 Klauder, Mr C. K., 170, 193 
 
 LALLEMAND, Hugues, and 
 Renaissance at Troyes, 
 
 53 
 Lead Inlay on hearth at 
 
 Lacock Abbey, 47 
 Le Pautre on chimneypieces 
 
 at the Chateau de 
 
 Madrid, 116 
 Ligna cocta, or charcoal of 
 
 the Latins, 6 
 Linlithgow Palace, threefold 
 
 hearth at, 36 
 Lombardi, Tullio, 67 
 Lorimer, Sir R. S., 168 
 Loseley Hall, Tudor chim- 
 
 neypiece at, 99 
 
 MALINES, Gothic chimney- 
 piece in the Mont de 
 Pi& at, 42 
 
 Marquetry, 118 
 
 Mansard, J. H., work at 
 Troyes, 54 ; his archi- 
 tectural work, 114 
 
 Marble, use of, 54 ; colour- 
 ed, 63 ; at Hatfield and 
 Bramshill, 106 ; Angle- 
 sea, 1 245 at Charlton 
 House, 128 ; boxed 
 chimneypieces, 143 ; 
 coloured inlay by Ca- 
 nova, 145 ; at Straw- 
 berry Hill, 145 ; at 
 Eaton Hall, 146
 
 INDEX 
 
 237 
 
 Mauresque decorative tiles, 
 140 
 
 Meillant, Chateau de, 
 Gothic chimneypiece 
 at, 41 
 
 Michel, Mont St., three- 
 fold hearth at, 36 
 
 Milan, Gothic work at, 39, 
 64 ; Renaissance, 65 
 
 Milne, Mr O. P., 156, 185 
 
 Morphew, Mr R., 188 
 
 Mosaics, see "Incrustations" 
 and " Marble." 
 
 Murray, Mr J., 158 
 
 NESFIELD, Mr W. A., 206 
 Newcastle-on-Tyne, chim- 
 neypieces adorned with 
 Norman billet, 23 
 
 OPEN fireplaces among 
 savages, 12 ; at Pens- 
 hurst, 17 
 
 "Oriental" Style, 114, 124 
 Oudenarde, Gothic work 
 at, 42 ; Renaissance 
 work in the Salle du 
 Temple at the Hotel 
 de Ville, 60 
 
 PALLADIO on the chimney- 
 pieces of the Romans, 
 
 2, II 
 
 Paris, i8th century chimney- 
 piece from, 1 14 
 
 Parker, Mr Barry, 187, 194, 
 197 
 
 Penshurst, open fireplace at, 
 17 ; primitive chimney- 
 piece, 23 
 
 Perkins and Bulmer, 
 Jacobean carved stone 
 and brickwork, 162 
 
 Persian stoves, 220 
 
 " Persians," human pillar 
 figures in architecture, 
 72 
 
 Pietra serena, 66 
 
 Pilon's chimneypiece deco- 
 rations, 82 
 
 Pinelli's drawings of classic 
 legends of Meta- 
 morphosis, 80 
 
 Piranesi, 125 
 
 Plas Mawr, plaster chimney- 
 pieces at, 98 
 
 Plastered chimneypieces at 
 Milan, 39 ; at Chester 
 and in Wales, 98 
 
 Plumet, Mr C-, 200 
 
 Poitiers, threefold hearth in 
 the Palais des Comtes, 
 36 
 
 Powell, Mr E. T., 163, 196 
 
 Princeton University, chim- 
 neypiece at the Ivy 
 Club, 186 
 
 Prittlewell, Gothic stone 
 and brick chimneypiece 
 from, 37 
 
 Pugin on Tudor chimney- 
 pieces, 90 ; Gothic 
 revival, 144 ; Gothic 
 stove, 224 
 
 RICHARDSON, G., thirty-six 
 designs for chimney- 
 pieces, 124 
 
 Richardson, C. J., design 
 for "mediaeval" stove, 
 224 
 
 Rijks Museum, chimney- 
 pieces at, 117 
 
 Rochester Castle, Roman- 
 esque chimneypieces 
 at, 19, 22
 
 2 3 8 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Roman fireplaces at Baiae 
 and Civita Vecchia, 2 ; 
 at Bognor, n 
 
 Rose, Mr A. W., 165, 200 
 
 Rumford, Count, 217 
 
 Russian stoves, 221 
 
 SAMSON, Mr G. G. 192 
 Savona, slate chimneypiece 
 
 from, 68 
 
 Scott, Mr H. Baillie, 197 
 Shaw, H., on Renaissance 
 chimneypiece at Yar- 
 mouth, 100 
 Shaw, Mr L., 171 
 Simmonds, Mr E., 159 
 Spanish Mauresque style of 
 
 chimneypiece, 140 
 Speke Hall, "storied" 
 
 chimneypiece at, 94 
 Soane Museum, original 
 designs of chimney- 
 pieces attributed to 
 Grinling Gibbons, 120 ; 
 of Robert Adam, 135 ; 
 of Sir W. Chambers, 
 
 134 
 
 S6ane, Sir John, chimney- 
 pieces, 137 
 
 Stevens, Alfred, Dorchester 
 House chimneypiece, 
 78, 148 ; stove by, 224 
 
 Stokesay, early "Gothic 
 chimneypiece at, 29 
 
 Stone, carved chimneypieces 
 in, 1 6th century and 
 early Tudor work, 88 ; 
 artificial, 170 
 
 Stoves, early forms, 13 
 
 Sussex iron fire-backs and 
 firedogs, 209 
 
 Sutcliffe, Mr G. G., 194, 199 
 
 TATTERSHALL Castle, chim- 
 neypieces at, 40 
 
 Teale, Dr Pridgin, 217 
 
 Telamones, human pillar 
 figures in architecture, 
 72 
 
 Termini, 73; in Tudor 
 period, 81 
 
 Terra cotta, 173, 177 
 
 Tiles, introduced into Eng- 
 land by Dutch, 47 ; 
 raised decorations on, 
 63 ; azuleijos, 140 ; en- 
 caustic, 178, 214 
 
 Thomas, John, sculpture 
 on fireplace, 143 
 
 Troyes, Hotel de Ville at, 
 
 54 
 
 Tudor Period, use of ter- 
 mini and other human 
 figures, 8 1 ; origin of 
 the style, 84 : influenced 
 by the Renaissance, 87 ; 
 scrollwork on classic 
 background, 122 ; mod- 
 ern, 151, 154 
 
 Turkish fireplace at Victoria 
 and Albert Museum, 
 i4i ; at Keresoun, 142 
 
 UNWIN, Mr R , 187, 196, 197 
 
 VERSAILLES, Palace of, 
 figures on chimney- 
 pieces at, 78, 117 
 
 Victoria and Albert Mu- 
 seum, chimneypieces 
 at, 37. 48, 58, 63, 64, 
 102, 106, 130, 141, 148 
 
 Vitruvius on the destructive 
 effects of smoke, 3 ; on 
 the origin of Caryatides 
 and " Persian " figures 
 in architecture, 72
 
 INDEX 
 
 239 
 
 WARE, Isaac, on caryatic 
 figures, 76 ; suggestion 
 for wind indicator, 123 : 
 use of coloured marbles, 
 124, 132 
 
 Warren, Mr E. P., 157 
 Watson, MrT. L., 155 
 Weston Hall, Tudor work 
 
 at, 93 
 
 Windsor Castle, chimney- 
 pieces at, 89 
 
 Winkelmann on hypocausta 
 of Herculaneum, 8, 18 
 
 Wood, carved chimney- 
 pieces in late Gothic, 
 45 ; in the Tudor period, 
 88 ; later Renaissance 
 in England, 119 
 
 Wren, Sir Christopher and 
 chimneypiece design, 
 114, 118, 132 
 
 Wroxhall Manor House, 
 Renaissance chimney- 
 piece with allegorical 
 figures at, 99 
 
 Wyatt, Digby, as fireplace 
 designer, 140, 215 
 
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