Firebacks

Fireplace firebacks, all bearing the same design: a tree with a wolf across the base, and the legend “GUERNICACO ARBOLA”. The wolf shows it to be a simplified version of the coat of arms of the province of Biscay (Bizkaia). Until the present design was officially adopted in 1986, this portrayed the Tree of Gernika with two wolves in front of a cross. Although there is no trademark, the firebacks, the fact that they are in cast iron, the spelling and the historical relevance of the tree (following the composition of the anthem by Iparraguirre) all show that they date from the nineteenth or early twentieth century.

Firebacks protect the wall from the fire and help radiate the stored heat. They were first manufactured from the mid-fifteenth century on and were considered luxury items. For this reason, they tended to include heraldic motifs and other symbols of the families who owned them. Industrially-produced cast iron plates became common in the nineteenth century. The range of designs was extended to include religious scenes, historical or picturesque figures, etc. Throughout the Basque country —not only in Bizkaia— firebacks depicting the Tree of Gernika were very common.

These pieces are from the Provincial Government of Gipuzkoa's J. Etxeberria collection.

Bibliography:

Goñi, Karmele. Etnografía de Zerain : II. Usos del grupo doméstico. In: Contribución al atlas etnográfico de Euskalerria : Investigaciones en Bizkaia y Gipuzkoa. [Donostia-San Sebastián] : Eusko Ikaskuntza = Sociedad de Estudios Vascos, D.L. 1988. 641-767.

www.euskomedia.org/PDFAnlt/barandiaran/contribucion_atlas/06450771.pdf

http://www.euskomedia.org/galeria/A_18028