This bronze statue of the Emperor Napoleon was the top lot at the opening day of the James Adam Country House Collections sale today. It made a hammer price of €8,000 over an estimate of €2,000-3,000. The statue is on a grey marble bow front plinth with imperial gilt bronze appliques to the front and sides. An oil on canvas signed and dated by Joseph Sempill, Belfast 1873 made €4,800 over a top estimate of €4,000 and a c1800 Thames Valley Windsor chair made €4,600 over a top estimate of €4,000. This was a timed online only sale.
The Country House Collections sale continues live and online at St. Stephen’s Green at 11 a.m on October 10.
Pair of George II Carved Giltwood Armchairs, Circa 1760. UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR $152,400
This pair of Irish George II carved giltwood armchairs, one bearing the label R Stahan and Co., come up at Sotheby’s in New York on October 17 as part of a sale of Classic Design: Furniture, Silver and Ceramics. They are estimated at $100,000-$150,000. The chairs may have been commissioned by Charles Moore, 1st Earl of Charleville, an Irish peer and wealthy owner of large estates in County Limerick and Charleville Forest in County Offaly, who died without issue in February 1794, the estates passing to his nephew John Bury in 1764, who would himself pass away only six months later, leaving his newborn son Charles William as heir. Charles would become an Irish MP and later peer and was made Earl of Charleville 2nd creation in 1806. He used his large fortune to commission the architect Francis Johnston (d.1829) to erect a new house on the Charleville estate between 1800 and 1812 in the form of a medieval castle. Following the death of the 5th Earl without issue in 1875, Charleville Castle and its contents passed to his sister Lady Julia, who had married Captain Kenneth Howard-Bury (1846–1885), and their son Charles would inherit the estate in 1931.
Charles Kenneth Howard-Bury was a colourful character from the waning generations of the Anglo-Irish elite. Following his education at Eton and Sandhurst he joined the army and was sent to India, where he developed a taste for exploration, learnt Hindi and Urdu and went on tiger and crocodile hunting expeditions. After distinguished service in Flanders during World War I he returned to India and went on the first British expedition to Mount Everest, where he described wolves’ footprints in the snow that were mistranslated as belonging to an ‘Abominable Snowman’, thus giving rise to the expression for the first time. On his return to Ireland he resided at Belvedere House, a lakeside Palladian villa designed by Robert Cassels in 1740 inherited from his cousin Charles Brinsley Marlay in 1912. Whilst serving in the army during World War II, Howard-Bury met the RAF pilot Rex Beaumont (1914-1988) who became his companion and settled in Ireland after the war. A former Shakespearean actor informally known as ‘Sexy Rexy’, Beaumont and Howard-Bury became prominent local figures and entertained lavishly, their guests reputedly including Princess Grace of Monaco, the Crown Prince of Sweden, Charlie Chaplin and Elizabeth Arden.
The sale includes two pieces attributed to William Moore, a c1780 demi lune side table ($30,000-$50,000) and a c1790 demi lune commode ($50,000-$80,000).
An Irish George III Harewood, Tulipwood, Burr Yew and Sycamore Marquetry Demilune Commode attributed to William Moore of Dublin, Circa 1790. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $20,320
IRISH MAHOGANY FOLD TOP CARD TABLE, C.1760. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,000 AT HAMMER
This antique Irish card table comes up as lot 331 at the second day of the James Adam annual Country House Collections sale on October 10. The estimate is €1,000-€2,000. The first day is a timed online auction while day two will be live and online from the Adams saleroom at St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin. The 757-lot auction draws together period furniture, paintings, silverware and decorative objects from some of Ireland’s finest country houses as well as from more modest collections but with the emphasis on quality and rarity. Viewing at Townley Hall near Drogheda gets underway on October 7 and the catalogue is online.
A PAIR IRISH RED WALNUT AND PARCEL GILT MIRRORS ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN BOOKER, SNR. UPDATE: THIS LOT WAS UNSOLD
Collection of 11 Midleton Very Rare Irish Whiskeys, 2014 to 2023. UPDATE: THESE MADE 8,000 AT HAMMER
Irish art and rare Irish whiskeys, wine, antiques furniture and collectibles will come under the hammer at Dolan’s timed online sale which runs until the evening of October 9. The collection of Midleton’s shown here is estimated at €8,000-€10,000. Dolans has found strong demand for such lots from around the world. The catalogue for the sale is online.
A specimen marble table. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,750 AT HAMMER
A specimen table and a military campaign travelling bookcase are among the lots of note at Aidan Foley’s last big sale at Sixmilebridge on October 2, 3 and 4. Among 1,900 los there is art by Patrick Copperwhite, Thomas Ryan, Tom Greaney, Christy Doran, Michael Hales, John Morris, Graham Knuttel and others. There is a diamond tennis bracelet, rings and costume jewellery as well as Persian rugs, Waterford Crystal and a variety of collectibles including militaria, stamps, silver and whiskeys. The Sixmilebridge auction room has been sold to a supermarket group and the auctioneer will continue to operate from rooms at Kilcolgan, Co. Galway and Doneraile in Co. Cork and online. A final smaller sale is scheduled to take place at Sixmilebridge early in November.
A 19th century military campaign bookcase at Aidan Foley’s sale. UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,200 AT HAMMER
The Blessington Commode UPDATE: THIS WAS BOUGHT PRIOR TO THE SALE BY THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF IRELAND
THE Blessington Commode – created by a refugee and asylum seeker and arguably the single most important piece of mid 18th century Irish furniture at auction in decades – comes up at the annual Country House Collections sale by James Adam at Townley Hall in Co. Louth on October 9 and 10.
Attributed to John Kirkhoffer the commode has been linked directly to a signed 1732 piece dated 1732 by the same maker in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. The Kirkhoffers were Protestant asylum seekers who arrived in Ireland as refugees from the Rhineland Palatinate area. They were in counties Kerry and Limerick before settling in Dublin. The influx of asylum seekers then – including silversmiths, clock and furniture makers from Germany, Holland and France – gave Irish craft and skill an enormous shot in the arm. John Kirkhoffer is recorded in Dublin in the early 18th century and founded a cabinet making business that lasted into the 19th century. His father Franz Ludwig arrived in Ireland in 1709. The walnut and seaweed marquetry chest was originally made for William Stewart, 1st Earl of Blessington. He had a house at Henrietta St. in Dublin and a mansion at Blessington, Co. Wicklow which was burned down in the 1798 Rebellion. The attribution to Kirkhoffer was made by Desmond Fitzgerald, the late Knight of Glin and it is estimated at €100,000-€150,000. Earlier this year a George I secretaire by Kirkhoffer was donated by benefactor David Boles to the Irish Museum of Time in Waterford.
A mid 19th century Killarney wood davenport UPDATE: THIS MADE 13,000 AT HAMMER
Adams 757 lot auction draws together period furniture, paintings, silverware anddecorative objects from some of Ireland’s finest country houses and more modest collections with an emphasis on quality and rarity. Among the main furniture lots are a pair of c1776 elliptical side tables to a design by architect James Wyatt (€60,000-€100,000), a pair of c1785 Irish side tables with inlaid marble tops attributed to Pietro Bossi and a c 1740 Irish hall table each estimated at €50,000-€80,000. An Irish giltwood rectangular mirror is estimated at €20,000-€30,000, as is a pair of Irish red walnut and parcel gilt mirrors attributed to John Booker once at Adare Manor. They lead a large selection of elegant mirrors in the sale.
A c1740 Irish hall table. UPDATE: THIS MADE 55,000 AT HAMMER
There is a Killarney davenport (€8,000-€12,000), a George II chevron banded walnut bureau (€15,000-€20,000), a pair of Irish marble topped side tables (€15,000-€20,000), a pair of c1790 torcheres (€20,000-€30,000) and a c1770 mahogany cased barometer by John Alment, Dublin set with a hydrometer and a thermometer. Other top lots include a portrait bust of Henry Grattan by Peter Turnerelli, a set of four silver entree dishes by James le Bas, Dublin, four Irish Georgian silver candlesticks and a Cork George III coffee pot by John Nicholson c1770.The Salmon Leap at Leixlip by Thomas Roberts and Lady Nugent’s Hunter by John Ferneley snr. are each estimated at €30,000-€50,000. The first 281 lots will be sold in a timed online sale on October 9. There will be a live auction at Adam’s salerooms in Dublin on the following day. The catalogue is online and there will be viewing at Townley Hall, Drogheda on October 7, 8 and 9.
A c1770 Cork coffee pot by John Nicholson. UPDATE: THIS MADE 11,000 AT HAMMER
THIS decorative card table, described as Irish by Sheppards, made a hammer price of €3,600 at the opening session of the three day Legacy of the Big House sale at Sheppards in Durrow today. It had been estimated at €3,000-€5,000. A platinum five stone ring made €18,000; an Irish brass bound peat bucket made €1,900; a Donegal carpet made €4,200 and a Donegal runner made €1,900; a Mappin and Webb plated oil lamp made €1,700; a pair of 19th century wingback armchairs made €2,400, a 1941 painting of Horses in a Parade Ring by the German artist Otto Dill made €3,200; a 19th century French kingwood commode made €2,800 and an Art Nouveau sterling silver punch bowl made €2,600.
A collection of ten artworks by Percy French sold for various prices from €3,400 to €12,000 (2). A French Empire bronze and gilded mantel clock made €6,500 and a Sevres and ormolu mantel clock made €7,000 and a late 17th century lacquered cabinet on stand made €5,500. The sale of around 1,500 lots, with 500 on offer each day, is continuing.
A Neo Classical marble chimney piece. UPDATE: THIS MADE €4,800 at hammer
The annual Legacy of the Big House sale over three days at Sheppards in Durrow on September 16, 27 and 28 offers 1,496 lots of period furniture, art, militaria, silver, jewellery, Asian art and collectibles including an electric guitar signed by the Rolling Stones. One of a number of rarities is a view of Cobh, Co. Cork before the advent of the railway built in 1860 by the early English lithographer John Brandard (1812-1863). Lot 118, which comes up on Tuesday, is estimated at €150-€200. There are Qing Dynasty hardwood palace cabinets, Limerick silver serving spoons, a punch ladle and a soup ladle, a neo classical marble chimney piece, a Donegal carpet, a platinum five stone diamond ring, art by Percy French and Mark O’Neill, Chinese ceramics and French mantle clocks among the top lots. Around 500 lots are to be sold on each day. Viewing is underway in Durrow and the catalogue is online.
John Brandard (1812-1863) lithograph titled “The Cove of Cork” UPDATE: THIS MADE €220 at hammer
Large Irish Georgian mahogany and brass banded turf bucket with rope twist handle. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,000 AT HAMMER
This good turf bucket with rope twist handle is among the top antique furniture lots at the Lynes and Lynes sale in Carrigtwohill, Co. Cork on September 23. The estimate is €2,000-2,500. Among the other main antique furniture lots are an early Georgian walnut chest on chest (€1,500-2,000), an Irish mahogany bookcase with dentil cornice possibly by Hicks (€1,000-1,500), a pair of Victorian walnut and marquetry inlaid side cabinets (€1,000-1,500) and an antique Irish oval hall mirror with green and clear glass studs. The catalogue is online.
GUITAR SIGNED BY THE ROLLING STONES. UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,600 AT HAMMER
A guitar signed by the Rolling Stones is among the more unusual lots at Sheppards three day Legacy of the Big House sale in Durrow on September 26, 27 and 28. The electric guitar is signed by Charlie Watts, Mick Jagger, Ronnie Woods and Keith Richards. Lot 14 in the auction, which comes up on September 26 is estimated at €3,000-5,000. The three day auctions offers a total of 1499 lots of antique furniture, pictures and prints, Asian art, carpets, rugs, boxes, jewellery, musical instruments, arms and armour, silver and plate and various collectibles. Viewing gets underway in Durrow on September 23 and the catalogue is online.
