Adam's Country House Collections - 16th October 2018

194 THE MRS. NOEL GUINNESS COLLECTION OF IRISH GLASS This collection of glassware was formed by Mary “Moll” Guinness, née Stokes, during the early 20th century. Born in 1870 in India to Brig. Henry John Stokes and Mary Anne Stokes she married banker Richard Noel Guinness (b.1870) and lived at St. Nessan’s, Howth and later at Ceanchor House, Baily. Walter Frederick Osborne RHA paint- ed her portrait with her young daughter, Margaret in 1898, this work now being on view at Farmleigh in Dublin’s 3KRHQL[ 3DUN 6KH ZDV DQ DYLG FROOHFWRU QRW MXVW RI JODVV EXW RI RWKHUV RI WKH GHFRUDWLYH DUWV 0DU\ *XLQQHVV GLHG at Ceanchor House in June, 1939, predeceasing her husband who died in 1960. ‘Irish glass’ has had a special place in the cultural and social history of Ireland since the beginning of the 18th cen- tury. Over the course of two centuries the manufacture of glassware in Ireland has had a ‘Golden Age’ but has also VHHQ D GUDPDWLF FRPPHUFLDO GHFOLQH VDYH IRU D KDQGIXO RI FUDIW PDNHUV ZKR FRQWLQXH WR ȵ\ WKH ȵDJ The history of Irish glass can be traced back to Elizabethan times but it is really during the period from 1780 to WKDW ΖULVK JODVV HQMR\HG LWȇV Ȇ*ROGHQ $JHȇ *ODVV PDGH SULRU WR WKLV ZDV YLUWXDOO\ LQGLVWLQJXLVKDEOH IURP (QJOLVK glass but during this late Georgian era, Irish glass manufacturers began creating a unique Irish style both in terms RI WKH H[XEHUDQFH RI WKH GHVLJQV RI WKH REMHFWV EXW DOVR LQ WKH VW\OH RI JODVV FXWWLQJ Glass houses had been manufacturing wares in Dublin, Belfast, Waterford and Cork and principal amongst them ZHUH WKH ȴUPV RI 5LFKDUG :LOOLDPV &R DQG &KDUOHV 0XOYDQH\ RI 'XEOLQ (GZDUGV DQG 6P\OLH RI %HOIDVW 3HQURVH of Waterford and the Cork Glass Company. It was noted that with a small number of exceptions, the records of many of the glass house operators are replete with company dissolutions of partnerships, moves, bankruptcies etc. and that by the late 1870s there was no mention of Edwards, Mulvaney nor George and William Penrose. W.A. Seaby in his introduction to Irish Glass, Limerick, ROSC ’71 remarks that ‘The Glass works of Edwards in Belfast and Williams in Dublin, which had been making glass since 1764 could be regarded as the inception of an industry which was to gather momentum with the setting up of further concerns in Dublin and at the new centres of Cork and Waterford and, somewhat later, at Newry.’ Meanwhile ‘The two brothers, George and William Penrose, wealthy merchants of Waterford, established a glass house there in 1783 employing John Hill, a noted glassmaker of Stourbridge, England, together with a team of FUDIWVPHQ 8QIRUWXQDWHO\ D SHUVRQDO GL΍HUHQFH EHWZHHQ +LOO DQG KLV HPSOR\HUV IRUFHG KLV HDUO\ UHVLJQDWLRQ EXW QRW EHIRUH KH KDG KDQGHG RYHU KLV UHFLSH IRU WKH PDNLQJ RI JRRG TXDOLW\ ȵLQW HQDPHO EOXH DQG EHVW JUHHQ JODVV WR KLV IULHQG -RQDWKDQ *DWFKHOO D ORFDO 4XDNHU DQG FOHUN RI WKH FRPSDQ\ :DWHUIRUG LV MXVWO\ IDPRXV IRU LWV FXW JODVV DQG although all the Irish glasshouses employed cutters and engravers, it is the only centre from which some designs for cut glass have survived.’ Ȇ7KH ȴUVW &RUN JODVV KRXVH ZDV VHW XS LQ E\ $WZHOO +D\HV 7KRPDV %XUQHWW DQG )UDQFLV 5LFKDUG 5RZH ΖW changed hands several times during the next two decades although Hayes managed to retain a principal interest in it until the beginning of the 19th century. Meanwhile Daniel Foley, who had a glass wareroom in Hanover Street IURP DERXW HUHFWHG D QHZ JODVV KRXVH QHDUE\ LQ DQG WKH ȴUP KH IRUPHG ZDV FDOOHG WKH :DWHUORR *ODVV KRXVH &RPSDQ\ PDNLQJ ERWK ȵLQW DQG ERWWOH JODVV DQG HPSOR\LQJ PRUH WKDQ RQH KXQGUHG SHUVRQV ȇ ȆΖQ 'XEOLQ WKHUH ZHUH VHYHUDO JODVV KRXVHV SURGXFLQJ JRRG TXDOLW\ ȵLQW JODVV DUWLFOHV 7KDW RI 5LFKDUG :LOOLDPV DQG &R LV RI WKH JUHDWHVW FRQVHTXHQFH DQG LQ DERXW VHW XS D ȵLQW JODVV ZRUNV ZKLFK FRQWLQXHG LQ EXVLQHVV XQWLO about 1829. Charles Mulvany, however, set up another concern, probably near the North Strand. In 1788 he was DEOH WR DGYHUWLVH D ZLGH UDQJH RI OX[XU\ JODVV ȆIURP ȴUVW SURFHVV WR ȴQLVKLQJȇ DQG VWDWHG WKDW KH DOVR RSHUDWHG D wholesale and retail warehouse. Ȇ$ERXW 7KRPDV DQG -RKQ 3XJK IURP :DOHV VHW XS D JODVV ZRUNV LQ /L΍H\ 6WUHHW LQ SDUWQHUVKLS ZLWK *HRUJH Collins and Joseph Walsh. Thomas Pugh and his son Richard later took over the concern at Potter’s Alley, behind the Savings Bank. There they employed four German engravers and continued to manufacture coloured as well as clear glass.’ &ROOHFWRUV DQG DXWKRUV 'XGOH\ :HVWURSS 0DU\ %R\GHOO 3KHOSV :DUUHQ DQG 3HWHU )UDQFLV KDYH DOO GRQH D PDMRU VHUYLFH WR WKLV VXEMHFW ZKLFK WUDGLWLRQDOO\ KDV EHHQ UHPDUNDEO\ GLɝFXOW WR DQDO\]H DQG LQGLYLGXDOO\ KDYH OHIW D JUHDW body of work which has shone a light on the subtleties of the medium.