Singular opportunities to add oodles of style to your garden and home await at upcoming auctions by Sheppards in Durrow and Victor Mee in Belturbet. Extraordinary architectural ornaments and garden sculpture will grace Sheppards annual live and online sale at Glantelwe Gardens in Durrow. There is grandeur here, and art and pieces for large and small gardens among a selection which includes entrance gates, fountains, statues, lions, urns, sundials, planters, benches, seats, patio sets, staddle stones, pumps, estate railing and stone troughs.
The Sheppards sale of 850 lots offers numerous decorative objects of the sort typically associated with the pleasure grounds and gardens of the Irish country house in centuries gone by. That is no reason to prevent anyone in our 21st century from locating such objects of beauty in the lovely gardens and balconies of the cityscapes and burgeoning leafy suburbs in cities and towns throughout Ireland.
Exceptional lots include a monumental pair of Sphinxes, a pair of carved stone French rococo lidded urns on stands, a lifesize bronze stallion and jockey after Isidore Bonheur (1827-1901), a pair of 19th century Medici lions, four Francois Carre garden sunburst armchairs, a bronze crane and a set of dancers by Robin Buick RHA. Glantelwe is a secret garden nestling along the banks of the Erkina River at Durrow. The name comes from the late Middle Ages and is an Anglicised version of Gleann Tulaigh (the glen of the hillocks). The garden designer Arthur Shackleton worked with Sheppards to provide an appropriate setting for the accoutrements in this annual auction, now in its seventh year.
Auctioneer David Sheppard said: “The objects we are bringing to sale have been treasured by generations of families and will bring great joy to their new owners”. Viewing at Glantelwe gets underway on June 24. The auction is on June 27 and 28 at 10 am on each day.
Garden sculpture crops up at Victor Mee’s evening online June decorative interiors sale on June 20. Among 879 lots is a set of sandstone statues of the four seasons, life sized cast iron statues of a deer with fawn and of a deer family and a composition garden fountain on lions feet decorated with cherubs and carp. Leading art lots include works by James Humbert Craig, Cecil Maguire, Arthur Maderson and George Gillespie. Furniture ranges from an Art Deco style armchair and footstool and a chrome and walnut consul table to a 19th century Viennese carved oak armoire, a Victorian mahogany server with carved back, a 19th century burr walnut sewing table and a hand dyed aviator three seater sofa.Collectibles include a brass and oak wall mounted xylophone, a Sitzendorf Monkey Band (12 pieces), a Victrola gramophone, a copper bed warmer and a chrome and leather chess set. There are some marble fireplaces to choose from along with lanterns, mirrors, chandeliers and an Edwardian serpentine front desk. Catalogues for each of these sales are online.