Stove-tile with the arms of James I
of England
From England, Surrey-Hampshire border, around
AD 1603-25
This lead-glazed earthenware stove-tile is in
the form of a panel, moulded with the royal Stuart coat-of-arms and
the 'IR' cypher ('Iacobus Rex') for
King James VI of Scotland and I of England
(1566-1625).
By the
mid-sixteenth century, closed wood-burning stoves (used for heating
rather than cooking) generally took the form of a rectangular
fire-box on supports or legs, with a free-standing
'tower' above, which radiated heat throughout the
room. They were often made up from elaborately decorated tiles, and
reflected a greater sense of comfort and sophistication in the
domestic architecture of the wealthy and merchant
classes.
Recent
archaeological discoveries and scientific analysis has established
that stove-tiles were being produced in England in small numbers in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, probably to special
commission. By the end of the sixteenth century the severe shortage
in the south of England of wood for burning meant that coal, from
Newcastle, was the primary source of heating fuel. Coal was not
suitable for burning in closed stoves, and only the very wealthiest
could afford to burn
wood.
The use of tiles
decorated with coats of arms reflected loyalty to the crown. The
incorporation of the Tudor rose and the Scottish thistle at the
base of this panel symbolises the union of the two crowns. James
succeeded to the throne of Scotland in 1567 and to the throne of
England in 1603.
M.R. Cowell and D.R.M. Gaimster, 'Pot-medieval ceramic stove-tiles bearing the royal arms of England' in Trade and discovery: the sci-1, British Museum Occasional Paper 109 (London, Department of Scientific Research, British Museum, 1995), pp. 105-117
D.R.M. Gaimster, 'Post-medieval ceramic stove-tiles bearing the royal arms: evidence for their manufacture and use in southern Britain', Archaeological Journal-3, 145 (1988)
M. Hughes, 'Tracing to source' in Science and the past-1 (London, The British Museum Press, 1990), pp. 99-116