A Georgian carved fireplace centre panel. (Click on image to enlarge).
One of a pair of early Irish Regency corbel heads from a fire surround.
A collection of 14 Irish Georgian and Regency marble panels by the Dublin based Courtenay family of stone carvers comes up at Matthews auction in Oldcastle, Co. Meath on November 13. They come from the collection of a family who came to Ireland in 1610 from the village of Courtenay, north of Paris, to work on the rebuilding of the vault of Christchurch Cathedral in Dubin, which had collapsed.
For the next 400 years the family lived as an uninterrupted line of stone carvers within walking distance of the cathedral. The collection of panels being sold were originally centrepieces for fireplaces they worked on or reclaimed from fire surrounds broken up in the Victorian era. They contain Grecian style head carvings, urns and depictions of Diana and Neptune. The panels are estimated at 200-300 each.