THE AUCTION season for 2011 has all but ended. But for diehards, or anyone suffering cabin fever next week, there’s one last hurrah.
If you overdose on Quality Street, cherry brandy and Downton Abbeyand feel like getting out of the house to, eh, snoop around someone else's, then head to Dublin 4 where auctioneer Damien Matthews is selling the contents of a house in Donnybrook.
Viewing begins next Tuesday at Kildonan, 3 Eglinton Road, where the auction takes place on site on Thursday, December 29th.
The house was, until recently, home to the Teevan family. The late Thomas Teevan was attorney general of Ireland from 1953 to 1954 and a high court judge from 1954 to 1971. He died in 1976 and is best remembered as the judge in a libel case which attracted great public interest in which poet Patrick Kavanagh unsuccessfully sued the Leadermagazine for libel.
According to the auctioneer, the house is filled with “a gathering of antiques one would expect a family of such standing to have and this auction is most definitely worth viewing as it opens a window onto Dublin of the 1950s”.
The sale includes furniture, pictures, rugs, china and collectibles. Highlights include an Irish Regency mahogany serving table, 6ft wide (€2,500-€3,500); French 19th century ormolu mounted tulipwood bureau-de-dame, on cabriole legs headed by scallop-shell clasps running to paw sabots, made in Paris circa 1880 and attributed to Maison Mille (€2,000-€3,000); a William IV mahogany dining room table (€2,000-€3,000); and a brass-bound military campaign chest- of-drawers (€700-€1,200).
Pictures include a watercolour titled Old Houses Dorset Street,Dublin by Flora H Mitchell (€600-€900) and a watercolour titled Gypsy Woman at Prayerby George Campbell (€600-€900).
Members of the legal establishment might be interested in an 18th century high court judge’s wig (with original case and stand) which has an estimate of €200-€300.
But the star lot is a delightful and nostalgic watercolour, titled Fitzgerald Park, Killarney, 1943 by artist Harry Kernoff. Measuring 10 by 14 inches, it depicts a courting couple looking at a Gaelic football match on a summer's day in Kerry. GAA subjects are surprisingly rare in Irish art and this painting is likely to appeal to a very wide market. The estimate is €2,500-€3,500.
* Viewing is on the premises (Kildonan, 3 Eglinton Road, Dublin 4) from 11am-5pm on Tuesday and Wednesday with the auction to follow at noon on Thursday, December 29th
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