Cork's Ursuline convent contents sale in online auction

French Empire and Gothic furniture among contents from the Ursuline convent in Blackrock, Cork, at Marshs sale

A Victorian dining table and Regency dining chairs from the Ursuline convent in Blackrock, Cork.

French Empire and Gothic furniture will feature alongside Regency and Victorian pieces at Marshs online sale of contents from the Ursuline Convent, Blackrock, Cork, on this day fortnight (February 26).

A pair of Victorian circular flame mahogany breakfast tables.

Prime pieces in the sale will include a Victorian D-end dining table extending to 18 feet (€3,000-€5,000), a pair of Victorian flame mahogany circular breakfast tables with inlaid foliate centre decoration (€2,000-€4,000) and a French Empire ebonized mahogany breakfront side cabinet with two mirror door centre presses (€800-€1,000).

A pair of Gothic reliquary cabinets from the Ursuline convent.

Among other lots of note are a set of 17 Regency upholstered dining chairs (€3,000-€4,000), a pair of early 19th-century carved gilt pine Gothic reliquary cabinets (€1,000-€2,000), five early 19th-century oak carved bench seats of various sizes (€800-€1,000), a pair of early 19th-century Gothic carved oak high back chairs (€300-€500) and an antique Victorian bergere invalid chair (€300-€500).

The Ursulines came to Cork in 1771 at the invitation of Nano Nagle, who later founded the Presentation Sisters. 

The sisters came from the convent in Rue St Jacques in Paris, one of the most influential convents in an order begun in northern Italy in 1535 when Angela Merici established the Company of St Ursula. 

A pair of 19th-century Gothic oak carved high-back chairs.

Between 1767 and 1770 four girls from Cork entered the convent in Paris. 

In Cork, the sisters have now left their Blackrock house and will remain in the city in new settings.

The auction will be online only. There will be in person viewing at Blackrock from February, Wednesday 23, to Friday, February 26, from 10.30am to 6pm each day.