Adam's HOMAN POTTERTON A LIFETIME OF COLLECTING 7th September 2021

134 135 AN IMPORTANT 18TH CENTURY IRISH WALNUT RECTANGULAR SIDE TABLE, C.1740, with flecked black Kilkenny marble top with moulded rim above a heavily carved oak leaf and acorn frieze centred with a lion mask, raised on leaf capped double scrolled legs on carved paw feet. 116 x 75cm (45.6 x 29.5”) Literature: Glin & Peill, Irish Furniture, Yale University Press, 2007, Reference number 65, illustrated page 221. € 40,000 - 60,000 Listed as number 65 in the Knight of Glin and James Peill’s Irish Furniture , published by Yale University Press in 2007, Homan’s side table is illustrated in situ in his Dublin home occupying pride of place just below his Leo Whelan portrait of socialite Guendolen Wilkinson. Described by the Knight as “A walnut side table with Kilkenny marble top c. 1740, Private Collection” this important table was in Homan’s collection for nigh on half a century and was a piece he was particularly fond and proud of. In Desmond Fitz-Gerald’s writings on the origins of a distinctly Irish design he noted how it was primarily inspired by a proto-nationalist movement at the start of the Georgian era, when the country enjoyed more settled circumstances that it had for some time. While some of the finest craftsmen employed during the period, were of French Huguenot origin, they were encouraged by a number of patrons and writers to produce work distinctly different in character from that manufactured in England. The Knight notes for example that in 1720 Dean Swift published, albeit anonymously, his pamphlet entitled A Proposal for the universal Use of Irish Manufacture in Cloaths and Furniture of Houses etc. utterly Rejecting and Renouncing Every Thing wearable that comes from England. Within two decades, another keen pamphleteer, Samuel Madden, had published a number of documents such as the Reflections and Resolutions Proper for the Gentlemen of Ireland, as to their Conduct for the Service of their Country as Landlords etc. of 1738. This popular intellectual movement led to a style of furniture design that is easily recognisable, with idiosyn- crasies that link it directly to Irish manufacturers, thus differentiating it from the work being produced by English furniture makers of the same period. It is also well noted that Irish furniture design in particular, was well behind the curve of prevailing fashions across the Irish Sea, with popular motifs being incorporated long after they were deemed old-fashioned in England. Dating from around 1740, Homan’s table has features clearly identifying its Irish origin, particularly the elab- orately carved frieze composed of bas-relief oak-leaves and acorns centred with a stylised lion’s mask with a truncated chin. The Knight, commenting on Homan’s table noted that ’The unusual leg profile of this table relates to the pair of Kilruddery tables’. Those tables, now in a private collection have similar and distinctive double scroll legs. The Kilruddery tables date to around 1730, and are “carved with acanthus leaves and have panelled feet, a popular Irish motif and one that is rare in England.” The present table however has a more robust, elaborately carved acanthus leaf capped leg and what one might call a ‘double cabriole’ terminating in a panelled ankle and elongated lion’s paw feet. Curiously the right hand frieze is uncarved and no explanation has been provided to date as to this unfinished element. The original top is of Kilkenny flecked black marble and has a thumb moulded rim. It probably originated in the fledgling Kilkenny Marble Works which was founded by William Colles in 1730. Colles’ enterprise at Maddockstown on the banks of the river Nore, was acknowledged as the first to apply water power to the sawing, boring and polishing of marble. The marble was described contemporaneously as being ‘ fully as durable and as fine a polish as any brought from Italy’.