NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1880

Mount Congreve was built in about 1760 by the local architect John Roberts, who subsequently designed and built most of the 18th century public buildings in Waterford, including both cathedrals. The house stands in a splendid position above the River Suir, in the south east corner of Ireland and indeed its original Irish name, Bruachaille, means "the edge of a cliff". Robert's client was John Congreve of Waterford, whose father, the first Ambrose Congreve, had played a prominent part in the development of the city until his early death in 1741. Ambrose Congreve had been a successful merchant, banker, politician and land developer, and his son was following the trend for a successful businessman to acquire a country estate when he bought a tract of land a few miles outside the city. The Congreve family remained in constant residence from the second half of the 18th century and the estate passed in direct descent from father to son until the relatively recent death of the late Mr Ambrose Congreve.

On inheriting the house in 1963 Mr Congreve remodelled and embellished the house and continued adding to the collection of fine French and English furniture that had been amassed by his ancestors. The present Agra carpet had pride of place in the main Library, where, similar to the photograph taken of it at Strawberry Hill, London on the following page, it was warmly decorated with rich red walls. An extremely similar, but slightly smaller, related carpet sold in the in these Rooms, Davide Halevim: Magnificent Carpets and Tapestries, 14 February 2001, lot 100.