The 69,000 euro pair of chairs.
THIS pair of Chinese chairs, estimated at 1,500-2,500, was the surprise of the sale at Sheppards in Durrow. They became the most expensive items of Chinese furniture ever sold in Ireland when they made 69,000. The chairs had been bought in China and brought back to Ireland.
They are now going back there. The buyer, who bid on-line live on the internet, lives in Beijing. They had been described in the catalogue simply as a pair of eighteenth/nineteenth-century Chinese huanghuali hooped backed ceremonial chairs, each with a rattan seat, raised on square legs, joined by stretcher rails.
See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for September 22.