Adam's Country House Collections 18th & 19th October 2021

7 COUNTRY HOUSE COLLECTIONS AT TOWNLEY HALL 2021 After a very difficult year for everyone, Adam’s is pleased to continue its annual ‘Country House Collections’ Auction and has assembled an eclectic mix all which is typical of what might have accumulated in Country Houses. There are now only a very few of such houses occupied by the families that built them and none with their collections intact. Of course, families always ‘popped’ stuff when the wine merchant’s bill had to be confronted but also on the other hand other things fetched up through marriages or inheritance from relatives who had failed to breed. Soldiers brought back exotic items from imperial service and the great love of killing things clogged the place up with skins, heads and other animal parts, with wretched birds and fish to fill gaps. Now things circulate on an accelerated basis and new money restores houses to a condi- tion that would have bewildered the original families. Scholarship and appreciation of the artistic skills of previous eras has put value on pictures and furniture that would otherwise have been neglected and having a value is the most effective way of preserving heritage. So, it is gratifying that so much has survived and can be collected into a sale such as this which will facilitate the formation of new collections. The feeling of doom that persisted when The Knight of Glin and Desmond Guinness first set out on their crusade to rehabili- tate the arts of Ireland has gone. The glorious exhibition in Chicago was a triumphal culmi- nation of effort even if it was a warning as to how necessary it is for this country to jealously guard its heritage. Then the prevailing feeling was that with the wanton destruction of so many houses in the 1918- 1922 period and the long period of decline thereafter, that perhaps the most had gone. But families had put their silver into banks, pictures, especially portraits were kept safe and some even sent entire contents to England. Thus it is the whole gambit of Irish marquetry furniture has resurfaced, the cabinet from Mount Trenchard is preserved, the spectacular glass studied mirror is re-presented, the sto- ry of the Ladies of Llangollen comes alive. Small card and tea-tables recreate the sociability of Georgian Ireland and of course the decanter stands, plate buckets, serving and dining tables, sideboards remind of the lavish hospitality offered by a very different way of life. As plump gentlemen and gowned ladies tucked in, surrounded by portraits of ancestors and depictions of sporting life and military endeavours. It’s all here, come and get it. N.N