Adam's The History Sale Tuesday 24th April 2018

46 Tuesday 24th April 68 A CARVED STONE HEAD OF A CLASSICAL YOUTH 28cm high, 17.5cm wide Provenance:Stackallen Co.Meath. See Elizabeth Hickey Journal ofThe Royal Society of Antiquaries. 1985 € 8,000 - 10,000 In similar fashion to the carved stone head of Catherine ofValois (Lot 67), found amongst rubble after the demolition of Stackallen Church in 1960, the present lot, a head of a boy, was also intended to be used as in-fill in building work only to be rescued by a landowner in Co. Meath in the early 1970’s. Historian Elizabeth Hickey, who researched extensively on the Queen Catherine head also addressed the likely history of this piece of carving in her 1985 article‘Two Stone Heads from Stackallan, county Meath’, for the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, (JRSAIVol. 115, (1985): 140-145). She asserts that this life-sized head with curly hair, unadorned by any head covering, is more likely a piece of classical sculpture rather than medieval and that it probably dates to the early 18th century. On the basis of Dr. Harold Leask’s photograph, seen by Hickey, this head was placed at the apex of the east window of Stackallan Church. She posits that it was inserted into the east window during the 18th century rebuilding and that it represents the young Augustus Hamilton, grandson of the first Lord Boyne and heir to his titles and estates. Hickey described it thus: “It is also a beautifully carved head, the features those of a young boy with wide-set eyes, a straight nose and the full mouth so often seen in the portraiture of the period. It seems to represent the likeness of some person rather than be just a set piece. It was carefully protected by the scalloped hood of stone which indicates care and concern for its preservation beyond the normal in church sculpture.” During the course of her research, Hickey sought the assistance of the thenViscount Boyne who had, in the family collection, a portrait of the second Lord Boyne painted when he was a middle aged man.Viscount Boyne remarked that he had a long straight nose and a small chin and so could have been the boy of the stone.