ONE WEEK after the Dáil voted to ban stag hunting, a rare Irish painting of the subject was sold yesterday at a Christie’s auction in London for £15,000 (€18,075).
The painting – John, 5th Earl Spencer, with Ward Union Hunt, 1877– had not been seen in public before and was found in storage at Althorp, the childhood home of the late Diana Spencer, princess of Wales.
The Spencer family is selling hundreds of items in a four-day series of auctions, which concludes today, expected to raise £20 million for the re-roofing and renovation of Althorp in Northamptonshire. Many of the items being auctioned are Irish, including silver, crystal and pictures collected by the earl during his two terms as lord lieutenant of Ireland during the 19th century.
The Ward Union painting was bought by an unnamed “gentleman” present in the South Kensington saleroom who outbid offers submitted by telephone and online. However, the painting, by Waterford-born artist Michael Angelo Hayes (1820-1877), failed to achieve its estimate (£15,000- £25,000). In addition to the hammer price of £12,000 the purchaser paid a buyer’s premium and tax bringing the total price paid to £15,000.
The sale of the painting was somewhat overshadowed by the high prices achieved for other Irish items. A carriage painted with the crest of the Order of Saint Patrick and “a footman’s seat with leather apron and sealskin-covered pistol holsters” which was used by Earl Spencer for ceremonial duties in Ireland sold for £51,650 (€62,238).
A collection of Victorian cut and mirrored-glass table centrepieces, described in the catalogue as “possibly Irish”, sold for £49,250 (€59,346).
Three lots of antique Irish table linen attracted considerable interest. A collector based in Kazakhstan was outbid for a set of “11 fine Irish linen napkins”, featuring a “a border of scrolling blooms and shamrocks”, made in Lisburn by William Coulson Sons in 1870. They were sold for £1,375 (€1,657).
Yesterday’s auction was broadcast live on the internet and saw bidding from collectors worldwide.
Among the more unusual items was a page-boy’s “coronation ensemble”, made in 1902, which sold for £5,250 (€6,326) – over 10 times the estimate.
The outfit consisted of “a sapphire blue wool frock coat, lace cuffs, white knitted breeches, two pairs of patent shoes, two cream-coloured waistcoats, and a black tricorn”, in a bespoke black metal trunk.
The sale continues today when Irish items to be auctioned include rare Carrickmacross lace, a Belleek dinner service and a George II Irish silver cream-jug made in Dublin by Christopher Thompson circa 1740.
Earlier this week, Christie's sold one of the Spencer family's most valuable paintings, A Commander Being Armed for Battleby Rubens for £8 million.
