Adam's Country House Collections 12th & 13th October 2020

Lawless (1773-1853) was unusual as representing an indigenous family that had made a fortune from the wool trade and had converted to the established protestant church probably entirely for business reasons. Well educated and versed in the law he joined the Society of United Irishmen c.1793. A friend of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, his pamphlets against the proposed union alarmed the authorities, but unable to prove sedition, they resorted to imprisoning him in the Tower of London without charge. Released in 1801, he thought it prudent to remove himself to Rome where he collected antiqui- ties and sent them back to be incorporated into Lyons. One shipment was lost when the AID was wrecked off the Wicklow coast. As a mature man he settled down to complete the enhancement of Lyons, to improve agriculture and became a trusted advisor to the liberal Lord Lieutenant, the Marquess of Anglesea. He was given an Imperial Barony and would surely be most gratified by the splendid restoration of Lyons done by the late Tony Ryan. Several other lots in this sale have a Lyons provenance. The inexorable continuation of dispersals carried on and in 1976 Christies entered the fray with the dismal clearance of Malahide Castle, the looming catastrophe for that truly historic property avoided by the far-sighted attitude of Fingal County Council and the efforts of Matt McNulty. How- ever, Christies did a service in raising the standard of cataloguing and so leaving a comprehen- sive record of the contents at the time of sale. Most previous catalogues to which I have already alluded are completely frustrating in what they don’t tell you and, with photographs usually lim- ited, it is head-wrecking to see a full-page illustration of a piece of Edwardian tat when it is likely that a rare piece of Irish furniture is unrecorded. Illustrated in Christies Malahide catalogue are the large and decorative Chinese export deep dishes retaining their pierced maz- zarines that would have graced the Malahide dining room. The modern eye, rightly, demands clean lines and spaces, avoiding clutter and pretence. To a surprising extent Georgian styles har- monise with this, adding supreme craftsmanship and now unobtain- able materials. The Irish Regency large circular dining table is made from one piece of mahogany, the hunt table is the best ever design for eating around, the Irish old mahogany side and tea table never look out of place, and the glass and silverware fit in anywhere. Pieces like these become timeless and thus will enhance the most modern of set- tings. Of course, after the second bottle of chardonnay, minimalism might tire, time to hug the bear? Nick Nicholson