Lowe Stopford painting depicts life in the famine era

1848 work illustrates the Queen’s Old Castle department store and is estimated at €2,500 says Des O’Sullivan.

A fascination glimpse of life during the famine is contained in an artwork from Lotabeg.

It is to be sold at Mealy’s auction, in Cork, on May 24.

A painting of the busy interior of the Queen’s Old Castle, in 1848, by Robert Lowe Stopford (1813-1898), comes up at the sale.

Now the site of Argos, on the Grand Parade, the Queen’s Old Castle was, for 100 years, one of the busiest department stores in Cork.

From 1879 to 1902, it was managed by John S. Hart, whose son, Vincent, later owned Lotabeg.

Robert Lowe Stopford’s watercolour of the interior of the Queen’s Old Castle, Cork, in 1848. It is estimated at €1,500 to €2,500.

The contents of this fine, old Cork residence are being sold by Vincent’s descendants. Stopford’s watercolour is Lot 1 in a sale of 763 lots and estimated at €1,500-2,500.

Estimates range from under €100,000 to €150,000 for Sir Peter Lely’s portrait of the 1st Duke of Ormonde, previously illustrated on these pages.

The Meissen ewers, shown here last week, are estimated at €8,000-12,000 each.

One of the finest pieces of furniture is an Irish, William IV circular dining table, with an estimate of €20,000-30,000.

Among many lots of local interest is an 1866 1st edition of The Story of the Norman Conquest, by Daniel MacLise, from the library of Sir Robert Uniacke Penrose Fitzgerald (€120-180), and a pair of decanters made by the Cork Glass Company.

An Irish exhibition yew wood carved table by Arthur Jones of Dublin at Lotabeg (€12,000-€18,000).

There is an estimate of €5,000-8,000 on a fine, Chinese, Chippendale-style, carved, gilt wood pier mirror, by Butler, of Dublin.

An 18th century, walnut long-case clock, by William Hadlock, of Waterford, is estimated at €12,000-18,000.

The dining room sideboard is almost certainly a Cork piece and is estimated at €1,500-2,500.

There is Cork and Dublin silver, including a rare, Republican Silver strawberry dish (€5,000-8,000), made by Egan’s, in Cork, during a short period, in 1922, when silver could not be sent to the Assay Office in Dublin, because of the Civil War.

A George I Irish silver coffee pot, by John Hamilton, is estimated at €15,000-20,000. A William IV reclining armchair has an estimate of €3,000-5,000.

This William IV circular dining table from Lotabeg has an estimate of €20,000-€30,000.

Among the other rarities is a 1922 Garda Siochana night helmet (€300-500).

A carved table, by Jones, of Dublin, who showed Irish furniture at the 1851 Great Exhibition, is estimated at €12,000-18,000.

A plain, Chinese greet jade bowl, with Qianlong seal, has an estimate of €5,000-8,000, and a 1978 Mercedes 450SL, with soft and hard tops, is estimated at €12,000-18,000.

Viewing begins at Lotabeg House on Saturday, May 21, with entrance by shuttle bus from the Silver Springs Clayton Hotel. The sale is at the hotel at 10am on May 24.