£2,850.00

The design attributed to Thomas Duff (1792-1848)

The manufacture attributed to Joseph Hart (1842-1866)

Provenance- John Ynyr Burges (1798-1889), Parkanaur House, County Tyrone (now) Northern Ireland; thence by descent; Gorringes Auctions, Sussex, 19th July 2021, lot 313; Sussex antiques trade.

Iron and Brass

81cm high

The brass coat of arms on each andiron or fire dog is for the Burges family of County Tyrone, with the family motto 'TACE AUT FACE' translated as 'ACT OR BE SILENT'.

Between 1839-1854 Thomas Duff was employed by John Ynyr Burges to transform Edenfield Cottage into a large mansion, which was then re-named Parkanaur House. 

The Andirons were designed in the Tudor-revival style for the drawing room, they complement the Duff-designed mantlepiece that also incorporates the Burges family coat of arms. 

Thomas Duff was the principal architect of a number of Roman Catholic churches, cathedrals, schools and private homes in the north east of Ireland. The Catholic Cathedral of of St. Patrick and St. Colman, Newry (completed 1829) was contemporaneously described as;

"...ranked among the finest public buildings in Ireland, and is another enduring monument of the genius of Mr. Duff, who has studded the north of the kingdom, as it were, with evidence of his own ability,... "

The manufacture's attribution is supported thus: A smaller and plainer version of this design features in the 1877 domestic furniture section of the Hart, Son, Peard & Co catalogue. Joseph Hart started out as an ironmonger based at Wych Street, off the Strand, London in 1842. In 1866-7 he merged with the Birmingham- based metalworkers Peard & Jackson to become Hart, Son, Peard & Company.  

The inclusion of this andiron design in the 1877 catalogue merely illustrates the firm offering designs from an earlier period of their existence. Unlike the 1877 design, our andirons not only bear the Burges coat of arms, but the design of the andirons themselves allows for this, which the 1877 version does not.