Country House Collections at Slane Castle 13
th
&14
th
October 2013
9
A
s the hay-day of the Country House in Ireland recedes into an impenetrable past and dry scholars analyse
the artistic and everyday remains of an undoubted civilisation with all the exactness of an archaeological dig, it
is gratifying to be able to present a sale with such a diversity of works of art relevant to Ireland, many of them
unknown to the market.
This is the fifth sale by Adam’s to be held at Slane Castle, which with it’s restored interiors by James Wyatt and
Francis Johnston, is entirely appropriate for presenting such material.
From the sweeping panorama of Ashford’s Dawson’s Grove and the self-effacing and enigmatic Mr. Denny as
depicted by the short lived Robert Healy, to the tables that the Rt. Hon. Thomas Kennedy Laidlaw, who would
not have known that they were Irish, considered grand enough to furnish his newly acquired seat, there is much
here that gives a flavour of the Irish Country House as it was.
There are few people, who know it, who are not fascinated by Beaulieu, the early brick-built house quietly settled
into the north bank of the estuary of the Boyne. With its parish church, terraced south facing gardens, old brick
walls, ancient magnolias, ponies, geese and ducks, it is hard to recall the savagery of the 17th Century that swept
out the Plunketts and installed the hard man, Tichbourne. He built the great hall that is so memorable with its
carved wood trophies but even so the martial allusions give way to musical instruments. The house has contin-
ued in the same family, often through the female line, to this day. Beaulieu was joined, by the marriage (1890) of
Richard Johnston Montgomery to Maud Collingwood Robinson, the heiress in 1903 to another great Co. Louth
house, Rokeby Hall. Tragically all Mrs Montgomery’s children died young and the Trustees ordered the sales
of the Rokeby heirlooms. The Montgomerys secured a good part of these to add to the collection at Beaulieu.
Due to the untimely death of its late chatelaine Gabriel de Freitas, the executors have decided to sell a selection
of items from Beaulieu. The provenance of most lots in the sale is revealed when known in the catalogue. There
is also much random stuff, country house clobber perhaps, in the sale but surely it is difficult to do without the
lobster boiler (lot 295) ?!
There is no need for sentiment, a lie, or nostalgia, a trick, about these things for they can be appreciated in their
own right and the skill and craftsmanship of the people who made them, admired. Many are iconic and classic
and will enhance any contemporary or future setting.
And about the extraordinary society that ordered them, created settings for them and lived with them, histori-
ans will write a lot and probably understand very little.
