Fireback

Status

On view

Label Text

Firebacks served the practical (and valuable) purpose of protecting the bricks lining a fireplace from heat damage. The firebacks at Mount Vernon, emblazoned with George Washington's crest and monogram, additionally served as a tangible reminder that he was master of this mansion and the profitable estate on which it stood. Washington custom ordered the "4 Chimney Backs & 8 side Plates or Jambs" in June and August of 1787 through Batsto Furnace's Philadelphia agent, Charles Pettit (1736-1806). The finished products arrived at Mount Vernon in late November. Two of the four sets still remain in place - in the West Parlor and the Washington Bedchamber.

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Date1787

Maker Batsto Furnace (American)

Ironmaster William Richards (American)

Geography Made - United States

Medium/TechniqueCast iron

DimensionsOverall (Depth along top edge): 28 in. x 39 1/2 in. x 1 in. (71.12 cm x 100.33 cm x 2.54 cm) Overall (Jambs): 37 in. x 28 in. x 1 in. (93.98 cm x 71.12 cm x 2.54 cm)

Credit LineTransferred to the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association through the generosity of John Augustine Washington III, 1860

Object numberW-224

DescriptionPuddle-cast iron fireback and two jambs, or side pieces. Horizontal, rectangular fireback is shaped with an inset flat arch along top and has raised ovolo edges along the top and sides. Decorated at center with a crest featuring a griffin emerging from a coronet with three strawberry leaves above the cipher or monogram "GW" in a horizontal oval cartouche.

Two, vertical, rectangular jambs are cyma-arched along their tops and have raised ovolo edges along the tops and far (interior) sides.

One of two sets consisting of firebacks and jambs with "GW" crest and cipher; see also W-186 (in West Parlor).

Alternate name includes: chimney back.

Published ReferencesMegan Michele Giordano, "Artistry and Industry in Cast Iron: Batsto Furnace, 176-1840 (master's thesis, University of Delaware, 2005), 30-36.

Mesick-Cohen-Waite Architects, Mount Vernon Historic Structure Report (1993), 1:44-45.

Arthur D. Pierce,"Washington's Batsto Cypher," reprint, Batsto, NJ: The Batsto Citizens Committee, n.d.

Jack E. Boucher, Of Batsto and Bog Iron (Hammonton, NJ: The Batsto Citizens Advistory Committee, 1964), 12-13, 17.

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