Bantry House contents to woo foreign buyers

INTERNATIONAL interest in the October auction of contents from Bantry House will centre on tapestries, icons and furniture.

Irish buyers will have to dig deep into their pockets to compete with the international market for the rarities on offer.

Gobelins and Aubusson tapestries will be the focus during the on-the-premises sale at Bantry House next October 21, with viewing from October 17.

The 18th century tapestries are rare. For example, one Gobelins example is said to have hung in the Palace of Versaille.

A particularly beautiful, rose-coloured set of Aubusson tapestries is believed to have been made by the order of Louis XV, for Marie Antoinette, on her marriage to the Dauphin of France.

The 2nd Earl of Bantry, Richard White (1800-1868), travelled extensively as a young man.

The earl went as far as Russia and Poland, and formed a remarkable collection of furniture, tapestries and art.

The sale will feature a Russian household shrine, which contains 15th and 16th century icons.

Another highlight is an impressive pair of William Kent console tables.

The Bantry House archive was donated to University College Cork in 1997.

Eight important paintings by the Venetians, Francesco and Giacomo Guardi, were sold from Bantry House in 1956.

Franceso Guardi’s paintings Erminia and the Shepherds and Carlo and Ubaldo Resisting the Enchantments of Armida’s Nymphs are both now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.

The catalogue for the auction of 500 lots is being prepared with Edinburgh-based Lyon and Turnbull.

In 2010, Lyon and Turnbull sold an Irish George II side table, from the Kinnaird Estate, for £229,940.