Style Louis XV / Ref.15882

Louis XV period fireback depicting the Eagle of Saint John with the motto “In Principio Erat Verbum”

Important Louis XV period cast iron fireback, decorated at its center with an eagle holding in its beak an unfurled scroll bearing a Latin inscription. The whole composition is framed within a richly ornamented asymmetrical rocaille border, characteristic of the mid-18th century, composed of scrolling foliage, shells, and stylized vegetal motifs.
The composition is distinguished by the expressive quality of the eagle, depicted in profile in a lively and naturalistic posture, far removed from the rigid imperial representations that would later appear under the Empire period. The decorative treatment of the whole, highly representative of the French Rocaille taste, allows this fireback to be dated circa 1740–1760.
The inscription appearing on the scroll, now partially worn by time and successive use, seems to be reconstructable as “In principio erat Verbum”, the famous opening words of the Gospel according to Saint John: “At the beginning was the Word.”
This interpretation brings a particularly interesting perspective to the iconography of the plaque. Indeed, in Christian tradition, the eagle is the symbolic attribute of Saint John the Evangelist. The association of this eagle with the Johannine quotation strongly reinforces the hypothesis of a representation inspired by the learned religious iconography of the 18th century.
This scholarly dimension likely goes beyond simple heraldic decoration. The plaque may therefore have originated from an ecclesiastical setting or from a residence belonging to a cultivated elite, sensitive to the theological and humanist references that were then deeply present in the decorative arts.
Its exact origin remains unknown, although an origin in Eastern France appears plausible in light of the style and the frequent use of Latin mottos in the foundry productions of Lorraine and the Rhineland regions during the 18th century.