Whether or not you actually make a bid at the end of the day, a visit to the viewings at Mount John House in Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow, next week will be irresistible. Rarely does such an opportunity come along to see a gorgeous collection of paintings, silver and furniture in situ, as they were used and enjoyed. Nothing from outside the house has been added to the lots on sale.
Mrs Joan Kennedy-Kisch, whose estate is being auctioned by James Adam in association with Bonhams & Brooks on Wednesday, November 15 at 11.30 a.m., was a talented collector with a great eye, but best of all she wasn't afraid to use what she had. Everything in her collection had a practical as well as aesthetic function. The result was Mount John House, a comfortable, intimately decorated home which never felt like a museum, despite the fact that its 343 lots could realise half a million pounds.
Collectors will be envious of the huge scope which Mrs Kennedy-Kisch had in the 1950s and 1960s, when many beautiful Georgian and Victorian pieces of silver, furniture and paintings were still to be had. Nothing but the best would suit her, and she was a regular customer of La Chasse and the White House in London. Visiting London for the "seasons", Mrs Kennedy-Kisch wore only Sybil Connolly and Ib Jorgensen.
A long-standing family joke is that Mr Augustus Kennedy-Kisch, a property developer who was instrumental in developing the Stillorgan shopping centre, liked to buy his wife "pretty things". And pretty things they were: like the exceptionally fine pair of George II inlaid mahogany shaped rectangular side tables with satin wood banding and ebon stringing (£8,000-£10,000), which are surely destined for the alcoves on both sides of the marble fireplace in one of the country's most elegant homes.
Amongst the unusual items are a George III mahogany circular ribbed peat bucket, bound in brass with a swing handle (£2,500-£3,500) and a fully functional George III mahogany column barometer with brass top on brass quadruped supports made in Glasgow (£3,000-£5,000).
The 48 Irish, English and Continental paintings and prints are a delight, particularly a stunning farmyard scene of horses feeding by John Frederick Herring Senior (1850) from the Leger Galleries, London - a picture so rare that interest is expected from the US and the UK (£70,000-£90,000). Pastoral scenes and still lives abound, amongst them a rich still life of flowers in a vase by Jan Weenix (1640-1719), also from the Leger Galleries (£5,000-£8,000).
There is much to choose from in the 121 lots of high quality silver, plate, porcelain and glass, although the purist will be attracted to a pair of plain George III oval entre dishes with domed lids and oval ring handles, crested London 1785, which almost appear contemporary in their simplicity (£3,000-£4,000). Exceptional also are a pair of lustrous 136-oz weight Victorian circular serving dishes with artichoke finials and chased foliate scroll work from Robert Garrard of London (£4,000-£6,000).
Most fun item: a pair of Victorian castiron seated hounds (£3,000-£5,000).
Viewings, by catalogue only (it cost £10 and will admit two) are tomorrow from noon - 5 p.m. and on Monday and Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.).
