Antiques: Oscar Wilde's desk and a royal carriage bag

Irish Examiner

14-06-2025

Offering a range that spans everything from fossilised Irish elk horns to Oscar Wilde's desk, a landscape attributed to John Butts and a handbag owned by the last Queen of France heritage, history, beauty and rarity are not in short supply at Fonsie Mealy's summer fine art and antique sale in Castlecomer on Wednesday and Thursday (June 18 and 19).
Among many highlights are a pair of 19th-century terrestrial and celestial globes on stands by John and William Newton, London 1818 (€15,000-€20,000), a Louis XV clock and matching barometer by Julian Le Roy, Paris, 1686-1759, (€10,000-€15,000), a bronze The Cossacks Crossing the Balkans by Evgeny Alexandrovich Lanceray, 1848-1886, (€10,000-€15,000), a collection of 19th and early 20th-century erotic Indian miniatures (€7,000-€10,000) and a four-fold screen The Star of Bethlehem after Edward Burne-Jones (€4,000-€6,000).
An 18th-century Louis XV Cartel clock and matching barometer by Julian Le Roy.
Lots like these do not come cheap, but this sale of fine art, antique furniture, silver, miniatures, decorative objects and religious artefacts sourced from private estates and collectors across Ireland offers a diverse collection to suit every taste and budget. Estimates are from €30 and €40 up for lots, including a figure of Buddha and carved ebony elephants (€60-€80), a pair of Birmingham silver pillar candlesticks (€100-€150) and an Edwardian dinner gong with horn supports (€80-€120). More than 1,000 lots will come under the hammer.
The Irish giltwood side table and mirror by Arthur Jones, featured here last Saturday, is at €15,000-€20,000 among the most expensively estimated items.
The oversized slope-front desk used by Oscar Wilde. Inset, a photo of the author, poet and playwright.
There will be literary interest in a large William IV slope-top davenport attributed to Gillows with provenance to Oscar Wilde (€6,000-€8,000).
Like many items at Wilde's house at Tite Street in Chelsea, it was quietly removed by friends who offered financial support and safeguarding of personal items before the court ordered auction of his possessions after his trial and imprisonment in 1895.
The artist Mortimer Menpes, godfather to Wilde's son Vyvyan, took this desk and a French bateau bed exhibited at the Paris World Fair in 1878. The bed, also in this sale, is estimated at €3,000-€4,000.
'Fishermen by a River at Sunset' attributed to John Butts (c1728-1765).
A c1740 oil on canvas, Fishermen on a River at Sunset, is attributed to John Butts (€4,000-€6,000), the artist who started his career in Cork and was influenced by Claude Lorrain and Salvator Rosa. In a catalogue note Dr. Peter Murray explains that the attribution of this Claudean landscape to Butts is based both on the subject matter and the style of painting.
A 19th-century French gold brocade royal blue carriage bag owned by Queen Maria Amalia.
A 19th-century French royal blue gold brocade carriage bag with coronet and trestle design was owned by the French Queen, Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily (1782-1866), who was married to Louis Philippe I. Maria Amalia, niece of Marie-Antoinette, was the last Queen of France. Gifted to the Ursuline sisters, it comes to the auction by direct descent and is estimated at €800-€1,000.
A fine specimen of the elk horns and skull of the gigantic Irish deer with 14 points and spanning 98 inches is reputed to have been found in the Bog of Allen. It is estimated at €10,000-€15,000.
Viewing for this brimful-of-interest and treasure-filled sale gets underway in Castlecomer tomorrow at 1.30pm, and the catalogue is online.