A late 19th-century Italian marble neoclassical sculpture of a girl sold for €50,000 – more than three times the top estimate – at Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers in Castlecomer on Wednesday. The 5ft sculpture, depicting a "young woodland nymph", was made by Italian artist Cristoforo Vicari and had been in Boden Park House, Rathfarnham, Co Dublin. The estimate was €10,000-€15,000.
Auctioneer George F Mealy said the result achieved was a "great price" and the winning bidder was an unnamed "overseas buyer".
Overall, 80 per cent of the 765 lots in the Chatsworth Spring Fine Art Sale found buyers.
An 18th-century carved Carrara marble fireplace that was once in Wolfe Tone's house, No 44 Stafford Street (now Wolfe Tone Street), Dublin, sold for €36,000, which was also far above the estimate of €15,000-€20,000. The auctioneers said the fireplace was "rescued circa 1960 from the front drawing room" of the house by the vendor.
Another marble fireplace, described as “an important George III Irish marble fireplace, c.1760” and “rescued” from No 6 Holles Street, Dublin, by the vendor in 1960 sold for €3,600 below the estimate (€4,000-€6,000).
A large carved-oak fire surround from Woodstock House, Inistioge, Co Kilkenny, sold for €2,500 (€2,000-€3,000). The house, owned by the Anglo-Irish Tighe family, was burnt down by anti-Treaty Republican forces during the civil war on July 1st, 1922. It is believed the house at Woodstock was extensively looted before it was torched. The Tighe family was in England at the time.
The auctioneers said that the fire surround had ended up in a house in Carlow.
One of the most unusual items in the auction was an example of early 19th-century French taxidermy entitled The Paper Factory – described as "a Diorama in two sections of a working factory, staffed by mice" – in a wooden case with a glazed glass front, and dated Paris 1820. It sold for €10,000, which was far more than the estimate (€3,000-€4,000).
A large 19th-century George III-style carved giltwood overmantel mirror that once hung in Clontarf Castle, Dublin, sold for €3,000 (€3,500-€5,000).
A pair of George II Irish silver candlesticks, made in Dublin circa 1743/44 by silversmith Robert Calderwood and bought from Danker Antiques in Dublin in 1974, sold for €9,000 (€5,000-€7,000).
The strongest price achieved for a piece of silver was for “a very important mid-18th-century Irish Provincial sauce ladle, by Samuel Johns, Limerick circa 1750” that had been owned by “The MacNamara Family of Moyreisk & Ballyline, Co Clare” and which made €7,600; more than three times the top estimate (€1,500-€2,000).
A Chinese carved rhino horn libation cup, estimated at €3,500-€5,000, was withdrawn from the auction.
