A fine example of decorative Killarney work is included in a forthcoming auction. Eivlín Roden reports
A fine Killarney davenport is expected to make up to €10,000 at an auction in the Great Southern Hotel, Killarney, Co Kerry next Monday. Dating from the mid-19th century and made from arbutus wood inlaid with oak, beech and satinwood, it is ornately inlaid with trailing shamrocks and scenes depicting Muckross Abbey and Ross Castle.
Killarney work is a particularly Irish type of furniture decoration which originated in the 19th century in Killarney, using the woods native to the area, such as arbutus and the native oak and beech, and employing inlaid Irish motifs like shamrocks, harps, and round towers and vignettes of local scenic areas. They were not the only ones to do this, as Dublin cabinet makers, Arthur Jones, showed yew furniture with similar inlaid motifs of ancient Ireland at the Great Exhibition in Dublin in the 1850s.
Several pieces of Killarney work furniture are in the National Museum at Collins Barracks, Dublin 7. So, if you can't get along to the auction in Killarney, give yourself a treat and go along to the museum and spend a couple of hours in the furniture gallery. Perhaps one of the prettiest pieces the museum has is a Killarney lady's work table whose marquetry top also features a vignette of Muckross Abbey as well as some of the flora native to Killarney. The museum bought this piece for its collection at the 1882 Irish National Exhibition.
Some may find the intricate inlay overpowering, as it can seem that no surface is left unembellished. And some may find the depiction of actual places on their furniture a bit tourist-like. But in the best pieces there is symmetry of decoration and there is no doubting the quality of the workmanship in each piece. In an age which welcomed decoration, the furniture found a ready market.
The name, davenport, as a term for this type of small writing desk, is said to originate from one of the first versions having being made for a Captain Davenport for use at sea at the end of the 18th century by English cabinet makers, Gillows.
The fact that it was for use at sea explains the squat firmness of shape, rather like a wide bottomed ship's decanter, designed to give stability in rolling waves. It is a practical piece of furniture, combining neatness, a writing area with plenty of little drawers and cubby-holes for stationery, and a full set of four drawers to the side to hold other larger office staples. Sometimes, as in this example, these drawers are concealed behind a door.
The davenport for auction at Ted Hegarty's next Monday is deemed by him to be the finest he has seen. It was probably made for Muckross House, but was brought by the present owners over to England where it has remained until now. With the death of a family member, the owners wish to sell it in Ireland.
A cute feature of this particular piece is the long pull-out drawer which you can see in the picture which is only unfastened by means of the little secret drawer inside the writing desk. As a result, there are two sizeable secret compartments, rather than the more ordinary one associated with writing bureaux.