A remarkable painting of the busy interior of Queen’s Old Castle in 1848 by Robert Lowe Stopford (1813-1898) at Mealy’s sale at Lotabeg in Cork on May 24 offers a rare glimpse of normal life at the height of the famine. This remarkable piece of pictorial Cork history shows people shopping, discussing purchases and interacting with each other in a most ordinary way at a most extraordinarily tragic time. Now the site of Argos on the Grand Parade the Queen’s Old Castle was, for over 100 years, one of the busiest department stores in Cork. From 1879 to 1902 it was managed by John S. Hart, whose son Vincent went on to own Lotabeg. The contents of this fine old Cork residence are being sold by Vincent’s descendants. Stopford’s watercolour is Lot 1 in a sale of 763 lots and estimated at 1,500-2,500.
Estimates range from under 100 euro to 150,000 for Sir Peter Lely’s portrait of the 1st Duke of Ormonde. One of the finest pieces of furniture is an Irish William IV circular dining table with an estimate of 20,000-30,000.
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for May 1 and April 27, 2016)
Robert Lowe Stopford’s watercolour of the interior of the Queen’s Old Castle, Cork in 1848. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,600 AT HAMMER
A Irish circular William IV dining table. UPDATE: THIS MADE 26,000 AT HAMMER