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Fire Basket & Andirons
Probably designed by Thomas Jeckyll
(1827-81)
Manufactured by Barnard, Bishop and Barnards
(1859-1908)
Cast iron and brass
32 1/2 in (81.3 cm) x 451/2 in (63.5 cm)
English (Norwich), circa 1880
PROVENANCE:
Cliff House, Cromer, Norfolk
Although Thomas Jeckyll’s involvement at Cliff House was in 1854, when he added a wing for John Gurney Hoare, it is also recorded in Barnard, Bishop, & Barnards Complete Catalogue (1884) that the architect J.B. Pearce fitted Jeckyll-designed fireplaces there between 1878 and 1882; see Susan Weber Soros and Catherine Arbuthnott, Thomas Jeckyll Architect and Designer, 1827-1881, p. 61, n. 294.
The form of the fire basket is a close variant of the one frequently advertised by Barnard, Bishop & Barnards supported by Jeckyll’s well-known sunflower andirons; Weber & Arbuthnott, op. cit., figs. 6-77 to 6-79. The ribbed, arched supports on the present andirons are identical to those on the sunflower examples. A Barnard, Bishop & Barnards advertisement for a ‘New Design (Registered) Fire Basket and Andirons, No. 889’ shows bearers and andirons of the same design as the present examples. The advertisement states: ‘The bearers supporting the Basket can be made to fill any sized opening.’ The date of the advertisement and when the design was registered has not, at the time of writing, been established.
Charles Barnard (d. 1871) established an ironmongery in 1826, in Norwich. In 1846 he founded a lifelong partnership with John Bishop, expanding to Birmingham and London. The firm founded by Barnard senior and Bishop finally closed in 1985; their records are preserved at the Norfolk Record Office (BR 220).
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