A fire screen or fireguard began as a form of
furniture
Furniture refers to objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., Stool (seat), stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (table (furniture), tables), storing items, working, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Furnitur ...
that acted as a shield between the occupants of a room and the
fireplace
A fireplace or hearth is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the design.
...
, and its primary function was to reduce the discomfort of excessive heat from a log fire. Early firescreens were generally shaped as flat panels standing on attached feet, or as adjustable shield-shaped panels mounted on tripod table legs.
Firescreens in the modern home have become decorative shields of
sheet metal
Sheet metal is metal formed into thin, flat pieces, usually by an industrial process.
Thicknesses can vary significantly; extremely thin sheets are considered foil (metal), foil or Metal leaf, leaf, and pieces thicker than 6 mm (0.25 ...
,
glass
Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...
, or
wire mesh
Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a comprehensive controlled vocabulary for the purpose of indexing journal articles and books in the life sciences. It serves as a thesaurus of index terms that facilitates searching. Created and updated by th ...
that can be placed in front of a
fireplace
A fireplace or hearth is a structure made of brick, stone or metal designed to contain a fire. Fireplaces are used for the relaxing ambiance they create and for heating a room. Modern fireplaces vary in heat efficiency, depending on the design.
...
opening to protect the room from open flames and flying embers that may be emitted by the fire.
Fire screens were used to cover the fireplace when nothing was burning inside it, and make it look more decorative.
Types of fire screen
The ''three-panel'' fire screen, which covers the fireplace almost completely, has two side panels angled away from the central panel. It is an effective way of providing decoration in a room.
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. Placed in front of the unused fireplace, the decorated screen improves the appearance of a room.
Screens are decorated with
embroidery
Embroidery is the art of decorating Textile, fabric or other materials using a Sewing needle, needle to stitch Yarn, thread or yarn. It is one of the oldest forms of Textile arts, textile art, with origins dating back thousands of years across ...
,
papier maché, painted wood or perhaps
stained glass
Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...
; the frame and feet might be carved.
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; 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. The screen might be rectangular or a more decorous shape, and is decorated perhaps with embroidery, lacquer or paint.
The ''banner'' screen is similar to a pole screen; instead of a solid screen there is a loose piece of silk or embroidery, weighted with tassels on the lower edge;
like a banner, it is supported from the top edge by a crossbar connected to a pole.
Some antique fire screens
File:Jean-Baptiste-Claude_Sené_(1748-1803),_écran_à_feu_(1787),_Museum_of_Fine_Arts,_Boston.jpg, French fire screen, 1787
File:Fire_Screen_LACMA_M.2006.51.14.jpg, Pole fire screen, Massachusetts, about 1780
File:Firescreen, about 1878-1880, Herter Brothers, New York, gilded wood, brocaded silk, embossed paper - Cleveland Museum of Art - DSC08947.JPG, Fire screen of about 1880, with brocaded silk and gilded wood
References
External links
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Fireplaces
Furnishings