ADAM'S Country House Collections Day II - 28th April 2026

106 580 A PAIR OF IRISH GEORGE II GILTWOOD CONSOLE TABLES, WITH LATER ASSOCIATED MARBLE TOPS, the sanded frieze boldly carved with lion mask and floral garlands, on robust acanthus capped knees and large paw feet. 189cm high, 107cm wide, 60.5cm deep € 60,000 - 80,000 This important pair of George II giltwood console tables represent some of the very finest of their type to come to market in recent years. The later associated brêche violette marble tops are a striking compliment to the dramatic giltwood and gesso frame beneath and further highlight the distinctive Roman style adopted by many Irish furniture makers of the mid-18th century. While this pair of remain distinctly Irish in their robust, hipped frames, lion mask motifs and paw feet, it is certainly worth noting the influence of the Neo-Palla- dian architects William Kent (1685-1748) and William Lovett Pearce (c.1699-1733) whose revival of Andrea Palladio’s (1501-1580’s) trea- tise on architecture was received with much fanfare in 18th century Britain and Ireland. Beneath the marble tops there is an unusual, sanded frieze punctu- ated by regularly spaced carved ‘studs’ - a departure from the foliate carved friezes we are accustomed to seeing on Irish console tables of this type. The plain and sanded panel elements and the rectangu- lar panelled legs of this pair nods to the symmetrical aspirations of the neo-Palladian taste. They bear a notable resemblance to another celebrated giltwood console table of Dromoland Castle - referenced and illustrated in Peill and Glin Irish Furniture fig. 67 p. 222. There is also a worthy comparison to a George II side table in the collection of Malahide Castle, previously gilded and similarly presented with dra- matically hipped, acanthus capped legs - also referenced in Peill and Glin Irish Furniture fig. 64 p. 221 and a gilt gesso pair from the same collection fig 126. p. 97 with almost identical lion mask, oak leaf fes- toons, acanthus capped hipped and below rectangular legs believed to have been supplied to the Talbots of Malahide Castle in the 1730s and 1740s. Sir Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, 4th Earl of Cork (1694-1753) is much credited with introducing this Neo-Palladian taste to Brit- ain and Ireland and he employed William Kent along with Scottish architect Colin Campbell to do so. Referred to as ‘The Architect Earl’ and ‘Apollo of the Arts’ Boyle’s family maintained a seat in Lismore Castle, Co. Waterford as well as swathes of land across the Munster region. This interest in the Classical was further encouraged by the publication of Kent’s designs by J. Vardy, Some Designs of Mr Inigo Jones and Mr William Kent, 1744 and the publication of another sem- inal book of architecture by a William Jones, titled The Gentleman or Builder’s Companion, 1739. Both books were available to purchase in Ireland and no doubt appealed greatly to the privileged stratum of the Anglo-Irish population who had benefitted from a trip to the Continent on The Grand Tour. The influence of Kent and Jones’s var- ious Neo-Palladian designs trickled through the furniture guilds and into the various ‘Big Houses’ of Ireland where mingling with the natu- ralistic predilections of the Irish furniture makers created a blended furniture style of International appeal and renown. Stephanie Brennan, April, 2026