Painting of Kilkenny Castle aristocrat the top lot at Adam’s

Adam's realised a hammer price total of €1.3 million in its annual Country House Collections auction on Tuesday, October 11th, at Townley Hall, Drogheda, Co Louth, with 75 per cent of lots sold. Auctioneer James O'Halloran said most of the sold lots would be "staying in Ireland" and that it was "a very successful day".

Although Georgian furniture was billed as the star attraction of this sale, paintings produced the strongest results.

The top price – a surprise – was achieved for a 17th century painting, Lot 45, a portrait of 17th century Kilkenny aristocrat Thomas Butler, sixth Earl of Ossory. This made €68,000 – almost seven times its low estimate (€10,000- €15,000). It was bought, Adam's said afterwards, by private collectors.

The oil-on-canvas, measuring 208cm x 116cm, is "attributed to Sir Anthony Van Dyke" the renowned Flemish-born artist in 17th century England. The "attribution" of the painting means that experts believe it is his work but can't definitively prove that it is the work of the artist.

Lot 40 proved the be the ‘sleeper’. Described as “After Holbein – Portrait of a Lady, Half Length, Oil on panel, 33 x 27cm, in a maple frame”, and estimated at only €800-€1,200, it sold for €14,000.

Lot 348, Figures Skating on a Frozen River, an oil-on-panel dated 1863, by Frederik Marinus Kruseman, a 19th century Dutch artist, sold for €21,000, three times the top estimate (€5,000-€7,000).

Among paintings that failed to sell was Lot 281, a hunting field portrait of “John Osborne Pollock (1812-1886) Master of the Meath Hounds with Hounds and the Field in a North Meath Landscape with the Cavan Hills in the Distance”, by the Victorian English artist Thomas Walker Bretland (€30,000-€50,000).

The top price for furniture was for Lot 215, a Killarney-ware Davenport desk that made €31,000 – well above the estimate (€15,000-€20,000). But Georgian furniture, even when of high quality and good provenance, is a tough sell these days. Some lots sold for below their low estimate, including Lot 236, a pair of George III neo-classical satinwood pier tables that made €28,000 (€30,000-€50,000) and Lot 367, a “rare set of six George I mahogany frame chairs” that made €23,000 (€30,000-€50,000).

The lot with the highest estimate – €50,000-€70,000 – Lot 368, “an Irish George IV mahogany three-pillar dining table, in the manner of Williams and Gibton” failed to sell, as did Lot 57, “a pair of George III walnut side tables in the manner of Thomas Chippendale” (€40,000-€60,000); and Lot 43 “a large Irish George III mahogany brass-bound fuel bucket” (€15,000 - €20,000).

Lot 410, a pair of Meissen ‘Schneeballen’ porcelain vases sold for €9,000, 18 times the median estimate (€500-€600). Lot 23 a pair of ‘Great Irish Deer Antlers’ despite having some damage sold for €17,000, way above the estimate (€7,000-€10,000).

Lot 200, “a rare German 16th century wheel-lock rifle”, dated 1584, sold at the low estimate of €12,000 (€12,000-€16,000).

Lot 1, a 19th century Baltic timber-framed, iron-mounted sleigh with green painted wicker panels, sold for €1,900 (€2,000-€4,000); Lot 18, a Victorian saddle stand by Musgrave & Co of Belfast, London & Paris sold for €2,800 (€1,500-€2,500); and Lot 32, a Victorian oak-framed dinner gong and beater sold for €550 (€600-€800).

For full results see adams.ie