South Netherlandish, probably Bruges, late 15th century

Town house, Bruges, until the 1960s;
private collection, Damme

There is wear to the stone throughout, including some weathering. The object is an architectural element and therefore roughly hewn in many of the uncarved areas, where it would have been embedded into a larger stone structure. The fire surround is composed of sections, which may be assembled and attached to the two modern metal stands with the use of metal dowels that are mounted on the stone sections. There is a composite fill between some of the sections. There are losses to the stone in several areas, including to the edges and corners, and also to a few of the sections that form the lower parts of the legs, where there are also areas of loss to the carving. Further areas with chips and abrasions to the carvings include the faces of the courting couples. There is a loss to the bottom left corner of the tympanum. There are a few remnants of polychromy, notably to the figure groups. There is dirt to the surface throughout, including some dark staining. There are a few red pencil marks with numbers to facilitate the assemblage. The condition of the metal stands is good, with dirt and some wear, including corrosion to the iron(?) panels at the top.
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For millennia the fireplace was the most important feature in our homes. In Europe this resulted in the slow development of the ornamental fire surround, making the fireplace not only the most important part of the house but also its visual focal point. It is not until the middle of the 11th century that the fireplace moves from the centre of the living quarters to the walls and it takes another century for a simple hole in the roof to be replaced by a hood. The larger the channel leading to the roof the better the fire would burn, so the growing cover soon needed an architectural support that could be decorated. The ever further projecting cover required arched supports which soon became populated with imaginative secular carving. From the 14th century onwards, heads, masks, and figures appear, including angels, knights, genre-figures, and animals, sometimes further enlivened with polychromy, emphasising the central and active purpose of the feature. In the Southern Netherlands, fire surrounds in palaces and municipal buildings had evolved into true monuments by the 15th century, and were therefore part of the daily practice of the foremost stone sculptors.

At six foot tall and carved with vines, bunches of grapes, and two courting couples the present surround will certainly have been a principal feature in the Bruges town house from which it was salvaged in the 1970s. Similar couples appear on a group of fire surrounds still in situ in the city. In each case the couples are caressing and often hand each other objects. The characters probably referred to scenes of courtly love from contemporary literature and were in the home to remind the inhabitants of the virtues of faithfulness and generosity. According to the photographic archive of the city of Bruges gothic houses at the Begijnhof, the Groenerei, the Korte Vuldersstraat, and the Eekhoutstraat contained similar fireplaces (op.cit.). The fireplace in the building on the latter street has grapevines along its pilasters much like the present example.

RELATED LITERATURE
K. Sluyterman, Huisraad en binnenhuis in Nederland in vroegere eeuwen, The Hague, 1979, pp. 155-17; Beeldbank Brugge, ‘detail gotische schouw...’, ‘gelijkaardige schouw in...’, ‘detail schouw – schouwmijter...’, ‘detail schouw keuken...’, ‘detail schouw in de...’, and ‘schouw kamer straatzijde...’, www.beeldbankbrugge.be/beeldbank/indeling/detail/start/4?q_searchfield=gotische%20schouw%20brugge [last accessed 18 October 2015]