A slightly chipped soup bowl from a house in Co Waterford has sold for £157,250 (€195,000) at auction in London. The 18th- century French porcelain piece was among the lots in a sale of art and antiques from Mount Congreve – the Kilmeaden home of reclusive millionaire businessman Ambrose Congreve, who died last year aged 104.
Bidders from around the world spent more than £3.4 million buying 91 items, including silver, furniture, porcelain and paintings in Wednesday’s auction at Christie’s. The highest price was achieved for a single piece of silver, which sold for £343,250 – almost three times the highest estimate. The 2ft high epergne (table centrepiece), in the shape of a pagoda and made in London in 1763, was the subject of intense bidding.
Christie’s described the contents of Mount Congreve as “one of the greatest unknown and unseen collections in Ireland”.
