Antiques: Townley Hall sale recalls 18th-century sporting life
'Sir Edward O'Brien in Hunting Costume of his Day', attributed to James Seymour, at James Adam.
Behind this portrait of a man on a horse — one of the leading lots at the James dam Country House Collections at Townley Hall on Monday and Tuesday — lies a partial history of sporting life in Ireland in the 18th century. Attributed to James Seymour, it is a painting of Sir Edward O'Brien of Dromoland in the hunting costume of his day, estimated at €50,000-€80,000.
Renowned for his extravagance and passion for horse racing, the 2nd Baronet of Dromoland entered the Irish House of Commons in 1727 and represented Clare until his death nearly four decades later. He epitomised a certain type of Irishman renowned in song and story in the 18th century.
This was in the century that witnessed the first steeplechase from Buttevant to Doneraile (resulting from a bet in 1752) and the Rakes of Mallow. The song, written by Ned Lysaght around 1740, describes the rakes as the true begotten sons of Bacchus spending faster than it comes. Known for his heavy gambling and reckless management, O'Brien knew the pleasures and perils of 18th-century sporting culture. On the plus side, the walled garden, the stable block, the Temple of Mercury, the octagonal pond and the Dromoland turret were all constructed under his watch. On the minus side, his lifestyle prevented him from being chosen as heir to the vast Thomond estates.
Now an annual auction fixture, the James Adam Country House Collections at Townley Hall showcases fine period furniture, paintings, silver and decorative arts. Highlights include the dress sword presented by the East India Company to Lt. Col. Barry Close featured on these pages last week (€300,000-€400,000), a painting from the circle of John Wootton (1682-1764) of a race on the Beacon Course at Newmarket with the Prince of Wales and others believed to include Sir Edward O'Brien in the foreground (€60,000-€80,000), a c1750 Irish George II mahogany bureau cabinet (€40,000-€60,000) and a portrait entitled Nellie by Sir George Clausen (€20,000-€30,000) once in the collection of the late Cork artist Marshall Hutson.
An American silver gilt dinner service (€30,000-€50,000), a pair of Limerick silver salvers by Joseph Johns (€15,000-€20,000) and a pair of silver sauce boats by Paul de Lamerie (€8,000-€12,000) feature among the leading lots.
A George III harewood and marquetry commode attributed to William Moore (€20,000-€30,000), a George III three pillar extending dining table (€15,000-€20,000), a c1850 Victorian carved oak extending dining table from Dunecht House in Scotland (€12,000-€18,000), a pair of c1770 carved giltwood console tables with yellow marble Siena tops (€12,000-€16,000), a pair of Irish stained pine side tables with green marble tops (€12,000-€15,000) and a 17th-century Louis XIV boulle and red tortoiseshell desk (€10,000-€15,000) are feature antique furniture pieces.
As in any big sale, there are plenty of pickings for those of us whose budget does not extend to an €80,000 portrait, no matter how colourful the gentleman depicted used to be. With everything from Georgian knife boxes to a Cork silver basting spoon by Carden Terry to a 1729 book on The Procedure, Extent and Limits of Human Understanding by Dr Peter Browne (1665-1735), theologian, Bishop of Cork and Ross and Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, there is a wide variety of lots at highly affordable estimates.
The sale is on view at Townley Hall, Drogheda on today, tomorrow and Monday. On Monday, an online-only auction of the first 317 lots will begin to close from 2 pm. The live and online sale of lots 400-825 will get underway at the James Adam saleroom in Dublin at 11am on Tuesday (October 14).
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