Lot Essay
Castletown, County Kildare, was built as a political 'power house' between 1722 and 1725 by the Speaker of the Irish House of Commons, William Conolly (1662-1729). Designed by Alessandro Galilei and continued by Sir Edward Lovett Pearce, it remained unfinished and partially undecorated on Conolly's death in 1729. Sir John Perceval, later first Earl of Egmont, writing to Bishop Berkeley in August 1722 remarked on the patriotic political motivation underlying the building of the house and recommended that Conolly should use Irish materials for the building and furnishings, 'I would even carry my zeal to things of art: my hangings, bed, cabinets, and other furniture should be Irish...'. Castletown was Ireland's Houghton and Conolly's vision for this new symbol of Ireland was modelled on Walpole's great country seat which was used for his famous 'congresses'.
These two side chairs, or back stools, are part of a set which must have been made for one of the main reception rooms at Castletown. They may have been made in Dublin considering the advice given to Conolly and where there were craftsmen capable of making them. It is possible they may have been used in the dining room where Mrs. Delany describes Speaker Conolly's widow, Katherine, entertaining lavishly until her death in 1752.
Evidence of these chairs being part of a larger set is suggested by the existence of other examples. A cut-down chair was found at Castletown when it was bought by the Hon. Desmond Guinness for the Irish Georgian Society in 1967. Another was in the possession of the Dublin dealer, Louis Cohen, in the 1960s and this always had an association with Castletown. A further example, in poor condition, was sold by the James Adam saleroom in Dublin on 26 November 1985 and this was also said to have originated from Castletown. It has been reproduced by the Kindel Furniture Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan, for their Irish Georgian line
The only surviving inventory of Castletown was complied by James Adam in 1893/4 when the house was let to the Wills family. It listed 'three Antique chairs with gilt legs in blue silk...' and an armchair en suite in the first floor Blue Bedroom. These are probably the remains of the set relegated to a bedroom in the 19th Century because of the changing taste of that period. Very little Georgian gilt furniture survived in house and most of Castletown's finest pieces dated from Lady Louisa Conolly's extensive decorative schemes carried out there after her marriage to Thomas Connolly, the Speaker's great-nephew, in 1758. However, furniture from the earlier period must have existed as the Oxfordshire traveller, John Loveday, describes the main rooms as 'well furnished' in 1732 when the Speaker's widow held court there. The only other surviving piece from this early Georgian period was photographed for an article by Margaret Jourdain in 1937. This was a magnificent Kentian gilt scrolled side table centred with a female mask which stood between the windows in Mrs. Conolly's first floor boudoir. It is listed in the 1893/4 inventory and has recently surfaced in Messrs. Mallet in London.
This side table and pair of gilt chairs are historically important as the only reminders of the early 18th Century furnishings of Ireland's first and greatest Palladian house
These two side chairs, or back stools, are part of a set which must have been made for one of the main reception rooms at Castletown. They may have been made in Dublin considering the advice given to Conolly and where there were craftsmen capable of making them. It is possible they may have been used in the dining room where Mrs. Delany describes Speaker Conolly's widow, Katherine, entertaining lavishly until her death in 1752.
Evidence of these chairs being part of a larger set is suggested by the existence of other examples. A cut-down chair was found at Castletown when it was bought by the Hon. Desmond Guinness for the Irish Georgian Society in 1967. Another was in the possession of the Dublin dealer, Louis Cohen, in the 1960s and this always had an association with Castletown. A further example, in poor condition, was sold by the James Adam saleroom in Dublin on 26 November 1985 and this was also said to have originated from Castletown. It has been reproduced by the Kindel Furniture Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan, for their Irish Georgian line
The only surviving inventory of Castletown was complied by James Adam in 1893/4 when the house was let to the Wills family. It listed 'three Antique chairs with gilt legs in blue silk...' and an armchair en suite in the first floor Blue Bedroom. These are probably the remains of the set relegated to a bedroom in the 19th Century because of the changing taste of that period. Very little Georgian gilt furniture survived in house and most of Castletown's finest pieces dated from Lady Louisa Conolly's extensive decorative schemes carried out there after her marriage to Thomas Connolly, the Speaker's great-nephew, in 1758. However, furniture from the earlier period must have existed as the Oxfordshire traveller, John Loveday, describes the main rooms as 'well furnished' in 1732 when the Speaker's widow held court there. The only other surviving piece from this early Georgian period was photographed for an article by Margaret Jourdain in 1937. This was a magnificent Kentian gilt scrolled side table centred with a female mask which stood between the windows in Mrs. Conolly's first floor boudoir. It is listed in the 1893/4 inventory and has recently surfaced in Messrs. Mallet in London.
This side table and pair of gilt chairs are historically important as the only reminders of the early 18th Century furnishings of Ireland's first and greatest Palladian house