Anyone who had a good week in Cheltenham and are now seeking to invest some of their winnings might be interested in a selection of equestrian paintings at Mealy's two-day auction, from Tuesday.
Among the lots are two that originally hung in Mount Juliet – the Kilkenny sporting estate previously owned by the late Maj Victor McCalmont – that were sold by Sotheby's during the famous house clearance sale in 1987 and that are now back on the market.
Lot 13 Voltigeur with John Marson Up is a painting of the racehorse that won the St Leger and the Epsom Derby in 1850, from the "studio of John Frederick Herring snr" (estimate €2,000-€3,000). Lot 252 (which the auctioneer said "needs to be cleaned and relined" is Faugh-A-Ballagh with F Bell Up and depicts the racehorse bred by George Knox of Kildare and owned by Mr E Irwin, who won the St Leger in 1844, and is attributed to the "Circle of John Frederick snr" (€2,000-€3,000).
Other equestrian lots include 470, The Tetrarch, Portrait Study in a Stable by Henry Frederick Lucas-Lucas depicts the famous racehorse dubbed the "spotted wonder", who won all seven of his 1913 starts. He later went to Ballylynch Stud, near Mount Juliet (€1,200-€1,500).
In the same theme, lot 516: A Chestnut Hunter in a Landscape with Sugar Loaf Beyond from the Grounds of Powerscourt Estate" by Charles Grey (€1,000-€2,000) depicts a horse given to the artist by Lord Powerscourt.
The auction also includes a collection of antique clocks and timepieces assembled by the late Co Clare collector Michael Guerin.
“His lifelong passion for collecting and his careful restoration of antique clocks has led to this outstanding and varied collection of clocks from across Ireland and Europe,” Mealy’s said.
Lot 75 is an eye-catching 19th-century brass "skeleton" mantel clock (€700-€1,100) "in the form of the Sir Walter Scott monument in Edinburgh" on an oval white marble base inside a glass dome.
Lot 268 is a 19th-century German cuckoo clock (€200-€300). Among a selection of grandfather clocks is lot 468 by Chris Hull of 18th-century Dublin (€3,000-€4,000), and lot 976, "a very rare 18th-century red 'Chinoiserie' lacquered clock by James Defontaine of London (also €3,000-€4,000).
Separately, collectors of pewter will be interested in the extensive collection of the late Geoffrey O’Connor of Co Kerry.
For collectors of taxidermy there is a tiger skin but, more unusually, lot 50 is a “brown bearskin rug, unmounted with full head and glass eyes, open-mouthed with teeth, the arms and legs with claws” (€780-€850).
Viewing for the auction – which has more than 1,000 lots – begins tomorrow from noon in the saleroom at Castlecomer. The catalogue is also online at mealys.ie
