This original Georgian mahogany jupe dining table made a hammer price of €42,000 at Mullen’s Classic and Contemporary interiors timed online auction which ended in Bray, Co. Wicklow on February 26. Complete with gadrooned rim and removable inlaid outer leaves it is raised on four cylindrical and leaf capped supports joined by a shaped platform centred by a leaf capped urn. In 1835 Robert Jupe patented a design for an improved expanding table and partnered John Johnstone in the firm of Johnstone Jupe and Co. in London. Jupe left the company in 1840, the firm changed its name to Johnstone and Jeanes and went on to achieve international fame.
Brilliant cut yellow diamond of 15.93 carats UPDATE: THIS MADE 260,000 AT HAMMER
THE collection of film director Sir John Boorman – whose many credits include Point Blank, Deliverance, Excalibur and Hope & Glory – will be included at Sheppards three day sale in Durrow on February 28, March 1 and 2. Sheppards say the diverse group of works on offer exhibit a lifetime emphasis on beauty and a keen eye for quality. Exceptional collectibles range from vernacular pine to period furniture and two and three dimensional works of art. The sale includes an assemblage of exceptional jewellery, diamonds and other stones from private collections including a 15 carat yellow diamond with an estimate of €250,000-€350,000. There are a number of brilliant cut diamonds of over three carats each and a variety of rings. An interesting collection of silver including a rare pair of Limerick serving spoons by Maurice Fitzgerald (€3,000-€5,000), a Cork silver sugar bowl by Daniel McCarthy (€1,500-€2,500) and a large, heavy silver soup ladle by the Cork maker Carden Terry (€2,500-€3,500). This section offers 73 lots in total.
An Irish William IV side table. UPDATE: THIS MADE 9,000 AT HAMMER
An important Irish William IV side table heads up more than 300 lots of furniture and is estimated at €10,000-€15,000. A large neo classical marble chimney piece is estimated at €8,000-€12,000 as is a George III breakfront library bookcase. There are plate buckets, centre tables, chests of drawers, butlers trays, chairs, couches, nests of tables, bookcases, desks including an unusual 19th century campaign brass bound desk and mirrors in various woods and lacquers on offer. A 19th century Killarney arbutus wood miniature cabinet depicts Ross Castle and Muckross Abbey on two panel doors which open to a series of drawers. An Audemars Piguet Royal Oak wristwatch is estimated at €30,000-€50,000. It heads up a selection of fine wristwatches at this sale.
A 17th century Dutch School portrait of a gentleman with a red hat UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,000 AT HAMMER
This oil on board of a group of musicians by Brendan McDonagh from Killoran’s Pub in Co. Sligo was prominent on the set of Normal People. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,000 AT HAMMER
A treat is in store for fans of Sally Rooney’s Normal People. A great selection of collectibles from Killoran’s Pub in Tubbercurry, Co. Sligo, used for the filming of the global hit TV series will feature at the pub and memorabilia sale by Victor Mee on February 28, March 1 and 2. Large paintings of traditional Irish musicians and an Irish country scene were seen in positions of prominence in episode 10. Many of the lots on offer feature inconspicuously in the Emmy and Golden Globe nominated series. Killoran’s is steeped in historic memorabilia. Among the lots from the pub is a pair of boots worn by late GAA midfielder Eamonn Mongey in the 1951 All-Ireland final – the last time Mayo took home the Sam Maguire. There is a collection of rare advertising mirrors, an early 20th century Paddy Pure Pot Still mirror and an Ogden’s cigarette dispensing cabinet of similar vintage. With more than 1,300 lots the sale is on view at Cloverhill, Co. Cavan today, tomorrow and Monday and the catalogue is online.
A pair of satinwood and inlaid pier cabinets. UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD
This pair of 19th century satinwood and inlaid pier cabinets will come up at Sheppards three days sale of the collection of Sir John Boorman and other clients in Durrow on February 28, March 1 and 2. A series of shelves encloses a secret compartment in each one. The estimate on lot 1137 is 5,000-8,000.
In 2022, Boorman left the elegant Georgian rectory – The Glebe, Annamoe in Co. Wicklow – where he’d lived for more than fifty years. Now aged 90, he’s moved to England to be closer to the family. The auction is on view in Durrow from 10 am to 5 pm on February 25, 26 and 27.
Pen and ink portrait of Sir John Boorman by Anthony Palliser (2009). (300-500). UPDATE: THIS MADE 260 AT HAMMER
There is an interesting provenance to this 19th century High Gothic Revival hall mirror at Mullen’s timed classic and contemporary interiors auction which runs until February 26. Lot 192 at this auction of 894 lots last came up at the Shelton Abbey, Arklow sale in 1950. That auction on behalf of the Earl of Wicklow was conducted by Allen & Townsend, Dublin and Clark, Delahunt of Wicklow. The mirror, in the manner of Augustus Pugin, has arched gothic plates in a cluster column and a gilt foliate capped frame. Lot 192 is estimated at €1,500-€2,500.
A near pair of Irish late George III side cabinets, c1800
This near pair of Irish late George III satinwood and amaranth and mahogany banded side cabinets made $11,970 at Sotheby’s in New York. The c1800 cabinets were described as in good restored condition. They came up as lot 457 at Sotheby’s Hyde Park Antiques, Past Present and Future sale (Part II). They had previously been with Partridge Fine Arts in London and were last sold at auction at Christie’s in London in 2003.
This stylish pair of early 19th century heavy gates will come up as lot 469 at Fonsie Mealy’s Making Room spring sale in Castlecomer and online on February 15. Originally at Tudenham Park, Mullingar, they are estimated at €2,000-3,000. Viewing for this sale gets underway on February 13 and the catalogue is online. Most lots, from antique furniture, mirrors, lanterns, knife boxes, clocks, chairs, peat buckets and collectibles, are to be sold without reserves.
A pair of mahogany pedestals, urns and covers UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD
A pair of George III mahogany pedestals, urns and covers will lead the James Adam At Home sale in Dublin on February 14. Each six sided urn is complete with boxwood strung turned tops and finials. The estimate is €4,000-€6,000. This 494 lot auction opens with 134 lots of silver and jewellery headed by a single stone princess cut diamond ring of 2.5 carats (€4,000-€6,000). There is temptation for collectors too in a Florentine style pietra dura rectangular table top. Inlaid with various kinds of marble and hardstone with an abundance of flowers, foliage and birds it is estimated at €2,500-€4,000.
A pietra dura table top UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
One well placed eye catching piece can change the atmosphere of a room and a sale like this is the exactly the sort of place to let your imagination run riot. There is a wide range of affordable choices from a pair of polished brass amphora shaped table lamps (€300-€500), a Persian rug (€1,500-€2,500) and a pair of 19th century cut lustre candlesticks (€50-€100) to a Meiji period Japanese carved ivory okimono of a fruit vendor (€300-€400) and a 19th century ebonised Anglo-Indian fold over card table (€300-€500). There are longcase clocks, porcelain parrots, sets of prints, clock garnitures. dining chairs, bookcases, cabinets, chandeliers, brass fenders, library chairs, fire screens and an Irish silver champagne bucket. The most expensively estimated art lot is a painting of horses with domestic fowl in a farmyard by J F Herring jnr (1820-1907) (€2,500-€3,500). The sale offers some Irish School and continental landscapes, a number of portraits, genre scenes, Snaffles prints, Spy prints, busts and bronzes. The catalogue cover lot is a pair of bronze and gilt decorated busts of Ramses, the great Egyptian Pharaoh and the Goddess Isis after Pierre Eugene Emile Hebert (1828-1893) (€1,500-€2,500).
A late 18th century oak and mahogany banded mule chest. UPDATE: THIS MADE 280 AT HAMMER
An unlikely to be repeated ever opportunity to unleash the mule and sit on Cromwell arises at at Fonsie Mealy’s Making Room spring sale on February 15. The late 18th century oak and mahogany banded specimen at the sale in Castlecomer has everything you would want in a mule chest. This character full lot comes with a hinged top above one long and two short drawers and two mock drawers. In the 17th century mule chests were used to store clothes, linens, wools and valuables. They always came with a key. This one is estimated at €400-€600.
The 468 lots on offer at affordable estimates range from heavy cast gates originally at Tudenham Park, Mullingar to artworks, rugs, tables, sideboards, display cabinets, longcase clocks, collectibles and chairs. Among these is a set of 12 sturdy 19th century Cromwellian style chairs with crested carved tops and cream hide seats. The style was popular during the Puritan period. Whether such chairs are favoured in Ireland today remains to be seen. The catalogue is online.
Three from a set of 12 Cromwellian style chairs UPDATE: THESE MADE 1,080 AT HAMMER
THIS early 19th century Irish Regency dining table originally acquired for Bantry House in west Cork comes up at Christie’s in London on February 9. The estimate is £60,000-£90,000. It was probably acquired by Richard White, 1st Earl of Bantry (d. 1851) or his son, Viscount Berehaven, later 2nd Earl of Bantry (1800-1868). The table remained in Bantry House for many year before being sold anonymously at Christie’s in 2006 for £96,000.
Bantry House has been the home of the White family and the Earls of Bantry since c1765. From about 1816 the 1st Earl (1767-1851) preferred to live at his shooting lodge, styled as a cottage orné in nearby Glengariff. After the death of his wife in 1835 he lived there permanently. It was around this time that Bantry House was made over to his eldest son, Viscount Berehaven (1800-1868), later 2nd Earl of Bantry.
Viscount Berehaven was a collector, who travelled much of Europe and transformed Bantry House to what is seen today. He furnished the house with great opulence, which included such an outstanding array of items that Bantry House became known as ‘the Wallace Collection of Ireland’. The alterations to the house took place in the 1840s, and it is therefore possible that this table was acquired by either the 1st or 2nd Earl.
The table comes up as lot 105 in a sale entitled An Opulent Aesthetic: An Important Private Collection from an English Country House. There are 266 lots in the sale including 19th century paintings, Old Masters and sporting art, antique furniture and decorative arts.
