One of the most interesting country-house sales of the season is likely to be at Rockfield in Co Meath, where Hamilton Osborne King will auction 700 lots of furniture, paintings and general antiques on October 18th. Rockfield is a large rambling Georgian house near Kells that was built and lived in by the Rothwell family for centuries. It was bought about 30 years ago by the Camerons, a farming family who recently sold Rockfield back to a descendant of the Rothwells.
The Camerons are now selling a good deal of the contents of the house but there will also be a wide selection of furniture and paintings from other houses, including some items from Millicent in Sallins, Co Kildare. One of the most notable pieces in the sale - although it is not part of the original Rockfield furnishings - is a fine Irish mahogany horseshoe-shaped drinking table dating from 1830 and attributed to Mack, Williams & Gibton.
A rare piece that will appeal to serious collectors of Irish furniture, it would once have stood in the hall of a country house, probably in a good hunting county. The table would have been put around the hall fire after hunting with the brass swivel coaster keeping the claret flowing "until the gentlemen collapsed under the table", says Hamilton Osborne King's Nick Nicholson. It is expected to fetch £7,000 to £9,000.
Also worth noting among the furniture lots is a Dutch burr walnut cabinet with marquetry and ebonised details. It came from Millicent House in Sallins and has a pre-sale estimate of £3,000-£5,000. An early 18th-century walnut chest, lot 303, carries the same estimate, while a pretty mahogany rosewood and satinwood banded sofa table of small proportions is expected to make £2,000-£3,000.
An important Oriental rug, The Bidjar carpet, has a rich rust and blue pattern on an indigo blue ground. It could fetch up to £15,000. Also among the more expensive lots is a late 17th-century portrait of a young man as Saint Blaise. From the circle of Carles Le Brun, it is valued at between £8,000 to £12,000. There is a good collection of oak furniture, including a large oak and fruitwood dresser that could be Welsh and is thought to date from 1800. It has a top estimate of £6,000. A handsome oak wardrobe from the same period is estimated at £2,000-£3,000, while an oak slope-front bureau is valued at £2,500-£3,500. As well as silver and porcelain, there are lots of essential country-house requisites - shotguns, including a pair by William Monk (estimate, £5,000-£8,000); horse traps and garden ornaments, mirrors, clocks, ornaments, games, saddles and riding gear, pine furniture and kitchen items, with estimates starting from under £50.
