As much a focal point as any work of art, an antique needlepoint/tapestry firescreen will dress up any room when used in front of a fireplace. These lovely pieces of furniture look as pretty today as they did when they served a very important function as a fireplace accessory.
The needlepoint/tapestry firescreen began as a piece of furniture that shielded the occupants of a room from the excessive heat of the fireplace. By placing the screen in front of the fire, the heat from the fire could be controlled. And if the fire was a bit too hot for you the firescreen would be placed in front of you to reduce your discomfort.
The antique firescreens were not put directly in front of the fireplace except in the summer when there was not a fire. Now they became purely aesthetic and helped disguise the unsightly soot blackened grate and hearth. Today the needlepoint/tapestry fireplace screen is still the perfect way to disguise your fireplace opening from view when it's not in use.
I hope you enjoy the images of these wonderful antique firescreens that I have gathered. My favorite firescreen insert is either needlepoint or tapestry so the post is dedicated to these beauties. This post could go on and on as there are many beautiful screens to be shared. Restraint is needed on my part!
While gas and was used for lighting, the primary heating source for the home was a roaring fire. When homes were heated by fireplaces alone, the purpose of the firescreen was to help shield those in the room from the intense heat radiating from the fire.The firescreen along with fenders, grates, and various tools were common fireplace accessories.
Musée Nissim de Camondo
Families and friends would gather around a warm blaze but for some (myself included) a bit of a cool down would often be necessary. Especially when you were corseted, petticoated, and layered. To reflect some of the heat was the primary function of the needlepoint/tapestry firecreen.
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The fire guard and the fender were often banished when the fire was no longer needed. This is when the beautiful firescreens became room decor.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, needlepoint/tapestry firescreens of varying styles were used. The horse screen, or cheval screen (cheval is the French word for horse) was in common use from the 18th century. It is a wide screen having two feet on each side, the arrangement of the feet giving the screen its name.
French finely carved giltwood firescreen with 17th Century Aubusson tapestry insert.
Screens are decorated with paper mâché, painted wood, tapestry, needlepoint, crewelwork, and other forms of embroidery.
Ladies would show off their needlepoint and embroidery skills and create works of art for their homes.Parrots were very popular and you would see them on many firescreen of the era.
The Victorians loved anything unusual and exotic so besides parrots you might see monkeys ......
and other exotic birds on 19th century firescreens.
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A beautiful antique needlepoint firescreen adorns the fireplace and compliments the stunning tapestries of the 2nd State Room of Blenheim Palace.
A lovely French giltwood antique firescreen in the Musée Nissim de Camondo, a beautiful small museum of French decorative arts in an private mansion overlooking the Parc Monceau, Paris.
There was a time that no elegant interior would be without a beautiful carved firescreen. This one is in Coughton Court.
Sotheby's
Another French giltwood screen in an oval shape with hand embroidery.
Another interior showcasing a lovely firescreen with floral insert in the Nissim de Camondo Museum, Paris.
A stunning heavily carved fireplace screen with tapestry insert.
Simon Upton via Pinterest
I love them all whether the inserts are painted or tapestry but I have to admit the needlework versions strike me as especially interesting. And they work so well with other tapestry covered furnishings and walls.
A French Louis XV Style Gilt Framed Needle Work, 19th Century
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Salons, dining rooms, bedrooms.....if the room had a fireplace, a decorative screen was a must have.
cotedetexas.com
Fine antique giltwood Louis XV fire screen, fitted with a antique needlework tapestry.
Antique tapestry firescreen in the Salon in Abbot’s palace at Chaallis, early 18th Century. From the book: French Interiors of the 18th century by John Whitehouse.
The Edwardian period firescreens became bigger and more elaborate. They were almost considered a piece of furniture. Ladies soon took on the position as fire screen decorators as they created the insert panels with needlepoint and hand painted designs.
Antique firescreen in the library of Sandon Hall in Staffordshire, England 1850, built by the Scottish architect, William Burn.
A rosewood and mahogany late Dutch Biedermeier needlepoint firescreen circa 1860. On this particular firescreen style the center decorative screen pivots so that the heat can be directed away from (or towards) the people around the fireplace.
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An Edwardian rosewood firescreen with needlepoint insert, carved roses and birds.
The pole screen also began to appear in the 18th century. It is a smaller screen placed on a vertical pole which is mounted on a tripod and placed between a lit fire and an occupant of the room. The screen can be adjusted up or down to shield the person's face from the heat.
In the 18th century, screens tended to be fairly light and often had small oval or round shields to protect one from the heat. The panels could be raised up and down and turned from side to side, all for the purpose of directing the heat from the fire place.
In the 17th and 18th centuries both men and women wore thick makeup made up of wax and white lead to hide blemishes. The lead was toxic, especially when warmed, and the heat from a fire could be life threatening. A pole screen protected the face from intense heat and prevented the wax from melting and the cosmetics from interacting with the skin.
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By the late 18th century, skin problems caused by plagues was no longer as big of a problem and smaller, more delicate pole screens became very fashionable. Needlework or embroidered panels came in many shapes and sizes with sliding panel that could be heightened or lowered to suit the user.
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The screen might be rectangular or a more decorative shape, and is embellished with needlepoint or some other type of embroidery.
The banner firescreen was also popular and is similar to a pole screen but instead of a solid screen there is a loose piece of silk or embroidery, weighted with tassels and fringe and supported from the top edge by a crossbar connected to a pole.
If you want the look of an antique firescreen in your old world interior but can't find one that you consider affordable you can always do what designer Timothy Corrigan has done here with a large picture. I would probably look for an old needlepoint or tapestry piece to frame. No glass though! Set it on some sort of easel or just lean it and stand back and enjoy!!
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This blog post was published by Lisa Farmer
In the event that I have not credited the correct source of an image, please contact me at lisafarmerdesigns46@yahoo.com and I would be glad to correct it.