Art Institute of Chicago

Fireplace Surround

Date: c. 1875
Medium: Cast iron
Culture: Norwich
Department: Applied Arts of Europe
Institution: Art Institute of Chicago

Throughout the 1870s, Thomas Jeckyll designed a variety of Japonesque fireplace surrounds for the Norwich iron manufactory Barnard, Bishop and Barnards. The design for this surround was registered in 1874. Surrounds like this were so popular that the firm and designer opted to stamp this version with their emblematic signatures embedded within the design. This helped to ensure authenticity in a period when designs were still widely copied by competing manufactories. The design utilizes circular discs, called mon after Japanese heraldic emblems. When observed closely, the emblems for Barnard, Bishop and Barnards (four bees) and Thomas Jeckyll (a double moth motif) can be found in two mon in the upper register.

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