A STUNNING set of Harry Clarke stained-glass panels, not seen in Ireland since 1928, will be one of the most important lots at a forthcoming sale of Irish art by Christie's in London.

Queens, a series of nine stained-glass panels depicting notorious women in history, is expected to make £150,000-£200,000 at the auction on May 21st.

Harry Clarke made the panels between 1917 and 1920 for his patron, Laurence Waldron, a stockbroker who as governor of Clarke's old school, Belvedere College, had recognised his talent early on and commissioned him to produce graphic works for him.

Waldron's house, Marino, overlooking Killiney Bay, was one of the few purpose-built arts and crafts style houses in Ireland and it was filled with jewel-coloured panels made by Clarke, set into lamps and windows.

The inspiration for the Queens series was a poem of the same name, written in 1903 by John Millington Synge. The Queen of Sheba, Maeve, Cassandra and Mona Lisa all figured in the poem, and were etched and painted by Clarke into glass, along with inscriptions from the poem. The panels were inset into a window of Waldron's library in Marino.

After Waldron's death, the panels were loaned to the Dublin Municipal Gallery of Modern Art and displayed for two years on wrought iron stands designed by Clarke and made by Hicks. But in 1928 the panels left Ireland and have not been exhibited since then, although they were reproduced in Harry Clarke, A Critical Biography in 1989.

The Queens series will be on view at the Conrad Hotel for three days, May 5th, 6th and 7th, prior to the London sale.