Chinese fever at Slane sale

FOR THE second time in a fortnight, Adam’s has achieved a record price at auction in Ireland.

During its “Country House Collections” sale at Slane Castle on Tuesday, a 15th century Chinese porcelain Ming dish sold for €310,000 – the highest price for an oriental antique at auction in this country.

Two weeks ago, Adam's sold A Fair Day, Mayo by Jack B Yeats for €1 million – the highest price for a painting or work of art at auction in Ireland.

Many old Irish houses have items brought home from China – especially those where a family member had served the British in a military or administrative role.

The dish was sold by a family in Co Derry who had inherited it from an ancestor who served with the British army in China. It had been valued, for probate purposes, in November 1985 for just £1,000.

The dish, despite two hairline cracks, was bought by a London dealer on the telephone after 10 minutes of intense bidding. A Chinese man, who had travelled to Co Meath for the auction, told The Irish Timeshe had seen a similar, though smaller, dish in the National Palace Museum in the Taiwanese capital, Taipei, but believed the example at Adam's, "even with two cracks", could be worth £500,000 (€572,000).

Earlier in the sale, another dealer from London paid €35,000 for a three-inch high Chinese jade carving of a Fo dog and puppy which had been estimated at just €800-€1,200.

Adam’s managing director James O’Halloran said that 75 per cent of lots sold for a total of €960,000.

Other highlights included: a set of 24 prints by James Malton, A Picturesque and Descriptive View of the City of Dublin, €14,000 (€7,000-€10,000); an Irish Georgian mahogany hunt table, €16,000 (€10,000-€15,000); a Regency bronze hall lantern, €12,000 (€8,000-€12,000); an inlaid satinwood commode by the Dublin cabinet-maker James Hicks, €10,000 (€6,000-€10,000); a pair of antique lead sculptures of greyhounds €8,500 (€3,000-€5,000); and a Russian imperial silver cloisonné spoon €2,600 (€3,000-€5,000).