Unusual selection of Gothic furniture on offer in Kerry sale

Des O’Sullivan reports on Puginesque lots for sale from Mercy Convents in Tralee and Rosscarbery in Co Cork.

An unusual selection of furniture in the Gothic manner by renowned Dublin makers Robert Strahan comes up at auction in Tralee on this day week.

Lynes and Lynes will offer contents from The Mercy Convent at Balloonagh, Tralee. The convent, located in a fine-cut stone building in the Pugin manner, opened in 1858 at around the same time as Oakpark House, which is located nearby. The convent furniture in the library and back parlour was acquired at auction in the 1920s from Oakpark House, which is a jewel of the Irish Gothic revival. Pugin, who designed the Palace of Westminster and a number of buildings inIreland including St Mary’s Cathedral, Killarney, pioneered the fashionable Gothic Revival style.