antiquesandartireland.com

Castle Howard with Atlas Fountain
Copyright ® Mike Kipling

TREASURES from the collections of Castle Howard, one of Britain’s greatest and most beautiful country houses, will be offered at Sotheby’s in London this summer.  Familiar the world over as the backdrop to the TV drama Brideshead Revisited and Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, the grandeur of the house is echoed by the magnificent collections of antiquities, paintings, furniture and works of art that have graced its interiors for nearly three centuries.  A range of periods and media, from Roman antiquities to Old Master paintings and 17^th-century Italian furniture, will be offered at the Old Masters and Treasures sales in London on July 8.  The combined estimate is more than £10 million.

The Hon. Nicholas Howard said: “I am privileged to be able to say that Castle Howard is my family’s heritage and has been since it was built over 300 years ago. With that privilege comes the responsibility of ownership, and the Trustees’ unanimous decision to hold this sale is the exercise of that responsibility. If the sale helps to secure that heritage as the house moves into its fourth century then it will have achieved its goal. To this end, we have selected for sale at Sotheby’s a small number of works which, while of great intrinsic interest, have been carefully chosen so as not to detract from the overall integrity of the collection.”

The Hon. Simon Howard added: “Running Castle Howard for the last 30 years has been an immense privilege. Now, as a new chapter in its history opens, the sales that we are planning at Sotheby’s will make an important contribution to the long term future of the Castle Howard estate and collections.”

Henry Wyndham, Chairman, Sotheby’s Europe commented: “The collections at Castle Howard chart two millennia of history and 300 years of collecting, and rank among the finest private art collections in the world. The carefully selected group of works to be auctioned this summer is testament to the taste of a series of enlightened art patrons, starting with the visionary 3^rd Earl of Carlisle, and continuing through his Romanophile son, Henry, collector of antiquities and Venetian vedute, to his diplomat grandson Frederick, 5^th Earl of Carlisle, who is thought by many to have been the most refined English collector of the period around 1800.”

A pair of Italian pietre dure and ormolu-mounted ebony cabinets, roman, early 17th century, on a pair of regency rosewood and parcel gilt stands (£700,000-1,000,000).

A monumental granite vase with graceful leaf-shaped handle terminals, from Roman Egypt, circa 1st Century B.C., said to have been found in the Baths of Augustus in Rome and acquired by Frederick Howard in 1801 at the sale of the Bessborough Collection
(£400,000 – 600,000)

BERNARDO BELLOTTO
(Venice 1722–1780 Warsaw)
Venice, a view of the Grand Canal looking south from the Palazzo Foscari and Palazzo Morolin towards the
Church of Santa Maria Della Carita, with numerous gondolas and barges (£2.5-3.5 MILLION).

Studio of Hans Holbein
Portrait of Henry VIII
Three quarter length , wearing a wide velvet surcoat, holding a stick
Bears initials and dated 1542
(£800,000-1,200,000)

Around  1,600 lots will come under the hammer at three days of sales at Mealy’s in Castlecomer on March 24, 25 and 26.  The largest sale by volume conducted by Mealy’s over many years will include 300 lots from Stranocum Hall, Co. Antrim.  There is everything from a William Sadler painting of shipping off Dublin to George IV Irish mahogany sofas, a large Victorian serving table and an Edison standard phonograph.  The catalogue is online.  Here is a small sample.

WILLIAM SADLER II (1782-1839),
Shipping off Dublin, with Lighthouse and Figures (600-900). UPDATE: SOLD FOR 3,700

LARGE VICTORIAN MAHOGANY SIDE OR SERVING TABLE (2,000-4,000)  UPDATE: SOLD FOR 2,200

One of a pair of Irish George IV sofas probably by Mack Williams and Gibton (10,000-20,000).  UPDATE: SOLD FOR 12,000

AN EDISON STANDARD PHONOGRAPH (200-300)  UPDATE: SOLD FOR 300

The Dining Room at Stranocum Hall

(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for March 13, 2015).

Antique furniture, art, bronzes, chandeliers and gilt antique over mantle mirrors will come under the hammer at an auction at Wanderers RFC, Merrion Road, Dublin on March 8.  The Ashgrove Group of auctioneers in association with Drums Auctioneers will offer contents from St. Peters, Ailesbury Road, Dublin, a family home for most of the last 40 years.  Furniture includes a Bergere suite in the style of Anjelica Kaufman, a regency tradition dining table and a set of ten Chippendale style dining chairs.  The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:

A Chippendale tradition carved wood cartouche shaped mirror with exotic bird mounts.  UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,050

A set of 10 Chippendale tradition dining chairs (1,000-1,200).UPDATE – SOLD FOR 1,000

Percy French – West of Ireland cottage in a landscape (watercolour) (3,000-4,000).  UPDATE: SOLD FOR 2,300

A Regency Irish mahogany card table (600-800).  UPDATE – SOLD FOR 400

A Georgian fold over card table on platform base with lyre support (1,000-1,500).  UPDATE – SOLD FOR 800

An 1825 Cork silver freedom box with considerable history behind it comes up at the James Adam Sunday Interiors sale in Dublin on March 8. It was awarded with the freedom of the city of Cork to Vice-Admiral Robert Plampin (1762-1834), who served in the American and French Revolutionary Wars, guarded Napoleon on St. Helena and commanded the Irish Squardron in Cork. Made by Richard Garde it is estimated at 8,000-12,000. An Irish George III c1770 silver centrepiece with the marks of George Mullin is estimated at 12,000-16,000. Around 450 lots with estimated values from 50 to 16,000 will come under the hammer.  The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:

A CORK FREEDOM BOX, mark of Richard Garde of Cork, bearing Dublin hallmarks for 1825 (8,000-12,000).  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

PAIR OF WILLIAM IV MAHOGANY FRAMED SIDE CHAIRS (2,000-3,000).  UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD

LATE 19TH CENTURY GILTWOOD AND GESSO PIER MIRROR (2,000-3,000). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 2,000 AT HAMMER

ADOLF SCHREYER (1828-1899) Loading firewood in a Snowy Forest (3,000-5,000).  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

A GEORGE III WALNUT SECRÉTAIRE CHEST-ON-CHEST (5,000-7,000).  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNOLD

AN IMPORTANT IRISH GEORGE III FOUR-BRANCH CENTREPIECE EPERGNE, Dublin 1770, mark of Charles Mullen (Mullin) (12,000-16,000).  UPDATE: THIS MADD 12,000 AT HAMMER