Photograph of two sculpted bronze firedogs (RCIN 1133). The figure on the left is Mars and on the right, Minerva. Both figures are shown standing on a plinth. The plinth features a royal crest flanked by male figures.

Firedogs, sometimes called andirons, were used to hold up logs in an open fireplace, allowing for the circulation of oxygen beneath the logs.

These works were displayed in the South Kensington Museum, later the V&A. A letter dated from 17th July 1882 to the South Kensington Museum on behalf of Queen Victoria requests the return of the andirons, or firedogs, to the palace to which they belong, terminating the loan to the museum which had been initiated in September 1853.