A tiny brass key provides evidence of the provenance of a handsome George IV library table which is being auctioned in the James Adam salerooms next Wednesday. Inscribed on the key's tag are the words, "Duchess of Leinster" and since the table came from a contents sale at Carton House, the piece's origins seem fairly clear.
The mahogany rectangular table has a long, beaded drawer on each side; these unlock to show a compartment of four further drawers with recessed brass handles. The legs are supported by unusual heavy brass wheels. The estimate for this table is £5,000-£7,000 but this could well be surpassed. Another Irish lot in the auction which ought to excite considerable interest is a set of 12 Victorian mahogany balloon-back chairs made by Williams & Gibton of Dublin; these are expected to sell for £3,000-£5,000. A large William IV Irish serving table with typical claw feet has an estimate of £2,000-£3,000, but there is also a more modest price of £800-£1,000 on a Georgian-style mahogany painter's table by James Hicks. A nest of two Irish Victorian Killarney tables, with the usual inlay motif of shamrocks, roses and thistles, carries an estimate of £1,000-£1,200.
Walnut features strongly in the sale. There is, for example, a Victorian inlaid bookcase in this wood, with satinwood stringing as elaborate decoration (£3,000-£4,000), as well as a Louis Philippe inlaid walnut and brass-mounted side cabinet (£1,200-£1,500), a Victorian inlaid walnut davenport desk with extensively fitted interior (£2,000-£2,500) and a fine Victorian inlaid walnut circular centre table decorated with inlaid continuous border of linking scrolls and foliate sprays (£5,000-£7,000). And, as always, there is plenty of solid mahogany furniture. A pair of 19th century mahogany bookcases is expected to sell for £3,000-£4,000, a 19th century inlaid mahogany Sheraton-style bureau has an estimate of £1,800-£2,200 and a George IV mahogany inlaid gentleman's wardrobe, banded in rosewood, has a price of £800-£1,200. At just £800-£1,000, the estimate for a very large William IV inlaid mahogany double scroll-end sofa, its frame decorated with inlaid brass banding and star rosettes, seems rather low. Other lots which are liable to do particularly well include a George IV rosewood cylinder bureau bookcase (£4,000-£6,000), a pair of Louis Philippe inlaid kingwood jardiniere tables (£2,000-£3,000), a Regency brass-inlaid rosewood rectangular breakfast table, each of its cast brass toe-caps in the form of a swan (£3,000-£4,000) and a pair of George IV rosewood tub-back library chairs (£800-£1,200).
