Period furniture, paintings, silver and porcelain are well represented in next Wednesday's auction in the James Adam salerooms in Dublin, but there are a number of particularly interesting items of furniture thanks to the provenance of certain lots. A number of pieces of furniture, for example, come from Farmleigh, the former Dublin residence of the Earls of Iveagh which was bought by the state from the Guinness family last year.
Among these, probably the best is lot 150, an Irish George III mahogany hall table in the Chinese Chippendale manner thanks to its pierced fretwork frieze and blind tracery panels on the square supports. Finished with a marble top, the table's estimate is £10,000-£12,000 while that for another item from Farmleigh - lot 219, a Victorian oak bookcase decorated with elaborate applied carved scrolls - is £2,000-£3,000. Other lots from the same source include 187, a George III mahogany rectangular kneehole desk (£1,500-£2,500); 157, a 19th century mahogany torchere stand (£600-£800); and 155, a George III inlaid mahogany folding-top card table (£1,000-£1,500).
Another couple of lots have come from the old Irish Stock Exchange in Dublin. Lot 218 is a set of three Irish Victorian mahogany-framed long rectangular stools upholstered in brown buttoned hide and on turned baluster supports (£1,500-£2,000); lot 235 is a set of five Irish Victorian oak long rectangular side tables which formerly stood in the exchange's Dealing Room. Decorated in a neo-Romanesque style, the set carries a pre-sale estimate of £4,000-£5,000.
However, some of the very finest pieces in the sale have come from individual vendors. The finest among these lots is number 180, a George II mulberry-veneered bureau bookcase, its exterior relatively unembellished except for the cornice which is decorated with carved leaf scrolls; inside, there are seven fitted pigeonholes and 10 drawers above a chest of four more long graduated drawers. The estimate for this lot is £15,000-£20,000 while that for 230 - an 18th century French inlaid kingswood serpentine-front commode with gilt-bronze foliate handles and mounts and a mottled red marble top - is £10,000-£15,000.
The outstanding Irish item of furniture is lot 140, a mid-19th century Killarney wood inlaid arbutus desk with slope front and shaped backboard. Throughout, this piece of furniture has been profusely inlaid with a series of oval lozenges containing views of Killarney and the Swiss Cottage as well as trailing shamrocks. Much larger and more elaborate than the majority of Killarney work items which come up at auction, this example is expected to fetch £8,000-£10,000. The auction begins at 11.30 a.m.
