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This mid-18th century carved centre table with characteristic Irish flourishes made £169,250 at Bonhams. (Click on image to enlarge).

AN Irish George III carved mahogany centre table made £169,250 at Bonhams in London. Bonhams catalogued the table as possibly Irish but the view of the Irish trade was that it is definitely an Irish piece and it sold accordingly. The table has a shell motif, scrolled apron and foliate carving to the legs, all strongly suggestive of an Irish mid 18th century origin.
In a catalogue footnote Bonhams observed: ” two elements in the design of the table here do not appear to be obviously paralleled on any tables securely identified as Irish. These are the gadrooned carving to the perimeter of the top and the presence of claw and ball feet. A possible exception to the latter is a carved mahogany tea table, in the collection of the Winterthur Museum, Delaware, with similar claw and ball feet, previously thought to be American and now possibly considered to be Irish”.

The table sold at Bonhams shared characteristics with tables illustrated in a 2007 book on Irish furniture by The Knight of Glin and James Peil.

A PAIR OF IRISH GEORGE II MAHOGANY SIDE TABLES CIRCA 1755, POSSIBLY BY RICHARD CRANFIELD.

WHAT promises to be the most expensive Irish furniture sold this year comes up at Sotheby’s Arts of Europe auction in London on December 4.  The sophistication of mid 18th century Irish furniture making is evident in these c1755 George II side tables possibly by Richard Cranfield. Thought to have been commissioned by John Stratford, 1st Earl Aldborough (1691-1777) the sideboard tables are estimated at £250,000-400,000.
The pair show a taste for the neo-Palladian designs of the early eighteenth century ‘slab-tables’ as promoted by William Kent and his follower John Vardy. The use in this instance of more slender mahogany tops is not only an idiosyncratic feature of Irish furniture of this date but also of the advanced style being promoted by Thomas Chippendale in the 1762 edition of his The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director. The Greek-key and juxtaposed voluted legs of the present tables closely relate to a pair of pier tables and mirrors supplied to the Rt. Hon. Thomas and Lady Louisa Conolly for the Green Drawing Room at Castletown House, Ireland and thought to have been supplied by Richard Cranfield in 1767-68 where his work is listed in the Castletown Account books.
John Stratford was a prominent Irish politician in the first half of the eighteenth century who entered the Irish House of Commons as MP for Baltinglass in 1721. He became in succession High Sheriff for Kildare, Wicklow and Wexford before being raised to Baron Baltinglass in 1763, Viscount Aldborough in 1776 and Earl Aldborough in 1777.

UPDATE:  SOTHEBY’S HAVE ANNOUNCED THAT THESE LOTS HAVE BEEN WITHDRAWN FROM THE AUCTION.  They were withdrawn following a private sale prior to the auction for an undisclosed sum.

This Cork longcase clock by Mangans made 6,200.

THIS antique longcase clock by Mangan’s of Cork sold for 6,200 at auction in Macroom. It was the top lot at the Sherry FitzGerald Hinchion sale of contents from the Convent of Mercy.  The clock had been in the convent for at least a century.

There is a long history of clockmaking in Cork city.  A tall clock on a kerbside pedestal made by Mangans has been a landmark on Patrick St., the city’s main thoroughfare, since the 1850’s.  It used to mark Mangan’s Jewellers, founded in 1817, and one of the best known shops on the street. It continued in business until the 1980’s.  Craftsmen from Mangans built the four faced clock on the church steeple at Shandon, one of the city’s most famous landmarks.

This 18th century hunt table originally from Coole Park is at de Veres. (Click on image to enlarge).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,000.

The 18th century Irish mahogany hunt table illustrated on the left has literary associations. It is from Coole Park, home to the dramatist and folklorist Lady Augusta Gregory. She co-founded the Abbey Theatre with the Nobel prize winning poet William Butler Yeats and Edward Martyn of Tulira Castle. In the early 20th century the Co. Galway house was at the centre of the Irish Literary Revival. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, John Millington Synge and Sean O’ Casey all visited.

The hunt table, which is at de Veres Interiors Auction at the Pavilion, Leopardstown Racecourse on October 21, was purchased at the Coole Park auction in 1932 by Mrs. Christina O’Malley of Barna House, Co. Galway. The house at Coole Park no longer stands.  The table is estimated at 4,000-6,000.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for October 17, 2012.)

A SET OF SIX HANS WEGNER TEAK AND CANE ELBOW CHAIRS MADE BY JOHANNES HANSEN. (3,000-5,000). UPDATE: THESE MADE 6,500.

The iconic design of the Danish chair illustrated on the left became famous in the Kennedy-Nixon US presidential debate in 1960.  The set for the first ever live televised debate by the candidates was severely modern and functional and these were the style of chair used.  A set of six of such chairs will feature at de Veres Interiors Auction at The Pavilion in Leopardstown Racecourse on Sunday, October 21. The Hans Wegner teak and cane elbow chairs were made c1949 by Johannes Hansen in Copenhagen.  They are estimated at 3,000-5,000.

Design, whether antique or contemporary, is to the fore in this auction of around 450 lots.  There is Georgian 18th century furniture, through the 19th and 20th centuries to Contemporary design. Rory Guthrie, director at de Veres said: “The combination of old and new we think works very well”. Here is a small selection. The catalogue is on-line.

UPDATE: THE SALE realised 225,000 with about 65 per cent of lots sold. The top lot was the circular dining table illustrated below which made 30,000. It was re-attributed to the Dublin makers Mack Williams and Gibton.  de Veres plan to hold another Interiors sale next Spring.

An early 19th century mahogany secretaire cabinet originally at Airfield House, Dundrum (2,000-4,000).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,000.

A MAHOGANY FOLD OVER TOP GAMES TABLE, IRISH, 18TH CENTURY. (3,000-5,000).  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD.

A MAHOGANY CIRCULAR DINING TABLE, C. 1840 (4,000-6,000).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 30,000.