Country House Collections At Slane Castle 13th October 2015 : You can Download a PDF Version from the Bottom Menu Down Arrow Icon

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mid 18th century, retaining the cross-stitch covering embroidered by Lady Betty Fownes, with recess scrolled leaf carved
arms, on three short cabriole legs to the front, with leaf carved scroll brackets and with squared paw feet, two splayed
square legs to the back, sprung in the 19th century.
186cm wide x 70cm deep x 98cm high
Provenance: Lady Betty Fownes of Woodstock, bequeathed to her granddaughter Caroline Tighe who married Charles Hamilton
of Hamwood and thence by descent
Betty Ponsonby was unhappily married to Sir William Fownes of Woodstock. Her granddaughter records, “though an
Earl’s daughter, [she] could only write a very short letter... in a very large hand... but poor Lady Betty Fownes spent too
much of her time working cross-stitch, as many sets of chairs can testify”. She died in 1778.
A set has been re-assembled in a private Co. Kildare collection, and another is in a private Co. Wicklow collection. Both
have the same provenance as the present lot. It is likely that much of this furniture was in the Fownes’ town house, 37
Dominick Street, which was retained by the Hamiltons well into the 20th century.
€ 10,000 - 15,000