Antiques: Irish country house furniture at James Adams sale

Skills of refugees from centuries gone by highlighted at the James Adams Townley Hall sale

The Blessington Commode at James Adams.

The Blessington Commode — created by a refugee and asylum seeker and arguably the single most important piece of Irish mid-18th century furniture at auction in decades — comes up at the annual Country House Collections sale by James Adams at Townley Hall in Co. Louth on October 9 and 10.

Attributed to John Kirkhoffer the commode has been linked directly to a signed 1732 piece dated 1732 by the same maker in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. The Kirkhoffers were Protestant asylum seekers who arrived in Ireland as refugees from the Rhineland Palatinate area. They were in counties Kerry and Limerick before settling in Dublin.

The influx of asylum seekers then — including silversmiths, clock and furniture makers from Germany, Holland and France — gave Irish craft and skill an enormous shot in the arm. John Kirkhoffer is recorded in Dublin in the early 18th century and founded a cabinet-making business that lasted into the 19th century. His father Franz Ludwig arrived in Ireland in 1709.

The walnut and seaweed marquetry chest was originally made for William Stewart, 1st Earl of Blessington. He had a house at Henrietta St in Dublin and a mansion at Blessington, Co. Wicklow, which was burned down in the 1798 Rebellion. The attribution to Kirkhoffer was made by Desmond Fitzgerald, the late Knight of Glin, and it is estimated at €100,000-€150,000. 

A Killarney Wood Davenport at James Adam.

Earlier this year a George I secretaire by Kirkhoffer was donated by benefactor David Boles to the Irish Museum of Time in Waterford.

The James Adams 757-lot auction draws together period furniture, paintings, silverware and decorative objects from some of Ireland’s finest country houses and more modest collections with an emphasis on quality and rarity.

A c1740 Irish hall table at James Adam.

Among the main furniture lots are a pair of c1776 elliptical side tables to a design by architect James Wyatt (€60,000-€100,000), a pair of c1785 Irish side tables with inlaid marble tops attributed to Pietro Bossi and a c 1740 Irish hall table each estimated at €50,000-€80,000. 

An Irish giltwood rectangular mirror is estimated at €20,000-€30,000, as is a pair of Irish red walnut and parcel gilt mirrors attributed to John Booker once at Adare Manor. 

They lead a large selection of elegant mirrors in the sale.

A c1770 Cork coffee pot by John Nicholson.

There is a Killarney davenport (€8,000-€12,000), a George II chevron banded walnut bureau (€15,000-€20,000), a pair of Irish marble-topped side tables (€15,000-€20,000), a pair of c1790 torchieres (€20,000-€30,000) and a c1770 mahogany cased barometer by John Alment, Dublin set with a hydrometer and a thermometer.

Other top lots include a portrait bust of Henry Grattan by Peter Turnerelli, a set of four silver entree dishes by James le Bas, Dublin, four Irish Georgian silver candlesticks and a Cork George III coffee pot by John Nicholson c1770.

The Blessington Commode at James Adam.

The Salmon Leap at Leixlip by Thomas Roberts and Lady Nugent's Hunter by John Ferneley Snr are each estimated at €30,000-€50,000.

The first 281 lots will be sold in a timed online sale on October 9. There will be a live auction at Adam’s salerooms in Dublin on the following day. The catalogue is online and there will be viewing at Townley Hall, Drogheda on October 7, 8 and 9.