Viewing in Fitzwilliam Square house offers an opportunity to see how the other half lives
WHILE CHRISTIE’S in London prepares for next month’s auction of art and antiques from Lyons Demesne, the Co Kildare home of Ryanair founder, the late Tony Ryan, a sale of contents of a house in Dublin next Tuesday is also attracting considerable interest.
Adam's is selling the contents of 24 Fitzwilliam Square for the owners, Imagemagazine founder Kevin Kelly and his wife Rose.
Although the auction will be in the Adam’s saleroom on St Stephen’s Green, the viewing takes place – from today – in the house itself. It offers the kind of opportunity to see how the other half lives that seems guaranteed to draw a crowd.
Over 600 lots will go under the hammer including paintings from the Irish, English and Dutch schools, fine English and French furniture, silver, clocks, china, objets d'artand decorative pieces.
The Kelly Collection was assembled over four decades and, according to auctioneer James O’Halloran, is “one of the most impressive collections in Dublin today”.
In a catalogue note, Rose Kelly recalls how she and her husband began collecting art and antiques 40s ago when they were an “impecunious” young married couple then living in Foxrock.
They bought, first from Dublin antique shops and later at fairs and from dealers in London, Paris, Monte Carlo and New York. She writes: “To be a collector you don’t necessarily need a lot of money, but you do need time, patience, and, above all, a good eye”.
Among the furniture highlights is a pair of French Louis XV giltwood Marquise armchairs made by Jean Baptiste Lelarge (1743-1802), upholstered in yellow floral silk and estimated at €40,000-€50,000. They came from Partridge, New Bond Street.
The pictures include a 17th century portrait of a Dutch lady by artist Jan Anthonisz van Ravesteyn estimated at €5,000-7,000; oils by Grace Henry, wife of Paul Henry; and a 19th century pair of oil-on-canvas depictions of hunting dogs by artist Samuel Spode, Pointers in a Landscapeand Setters in a Landscape(€10,000- €15,000).
Among the various collectibles are an Edwardian silver and yellow enamel six-piece dressing-table set (€400-€600) consisting of two hair brushes, a hand mirror, comb and two clothes brushes, which look as if they could have come from the Downton Abbeyprops department.
Pretty much everything in the house is for sale, from a shelf of leather-bound law books to a Sanyo microwave oven. The Kellys, who have also put the house up for sale, are selling – quite literally – the shirts off their backs. The quirkier lots include a collection of women’s Charvet shirts (€100-€200) and two linen gentleman’s dress shirts (€30-€50). Other clothes, shoes and accessories include items by Armani, Chanel, Dior, Givenchy, Hermès, Lanvin, Prada, Gucci, Yves St Laurent and Louis Vuitton.
