Next Wednesday in Cork, local auction house Woodward's is holding a sale of Irish and English silver, and porcelain. Among the latter group is this very significant piece, a hand-painted soup tureen dating from 1836. The lot was once part of a dinner service made for official occasions in the city's Mansion House and commissioned from George Pain, an architect who had trained with John Nash in London. Pain was responsible for the design of a number of important buildings in Cork such as the churches of St Patrick and of the Holy Trinity.

The tureen carries not just the city coat of arms but much civic regalia including mace, sword and mayor's chain of office. When Cork Corporation left the Mansion House in 1847, the dinner service was dispersed and since then occasional items have surfaced. Woodward's is not prepared to give a pre-sale estimate for the lot because of its relative rarity. As already mentioned, an abundance of silver, much of it from Cork, will be offered at the same auction which is due to begin at 2 p.m.