Adams
Lot 194
AN IRISH GEORGE III MAHOGANY BREAKFRONT BOOKCASE, part of the original furnishings of Ely House, Dublin, the dentil moulded cornice above a four door bookcase, decorated with Gothic lancet glazing bars above fielded cupboard door base. 282cm high, 346cm wide Provenance: Collection of Fine Art Property of Dr. Thornley Stoker, Ely House, 8 Ely Place, Dublin, 8th November, 1910, lot 863 This handsome Chippendale pattern mahogany bookcase was lot 863 in one of the most spectacular house contents auctions Dublin has ever seen. Taking place in November 1910, it was that of Dr. Thornley Stoker whose fierce reputation has faded, but that of his brother Bram has only gone stratospheric thanks to his creation, “Dracula”. The sale of over 1600 lots represented a life-time of collecting. George Moore leaves a description of Sir Thornley hopping about the antique dealers in Grafton Street ‘Like an old magpie’ prying out spoons and forks. Moore, unsuccessfully, tries to persuade the grumpy old doctor to back Hugh Lanes project for a Modern Art Gallery in Dublin. Moore, a neighbour frequently visits Dr Stoker and well knows his fine collection housed in his palazzo, Ely House, but can’t resist retelling Dublin cynicism as to its genesis. “Up and down Liffey Street, lately, on the trail of a Sheraton sideboard and Naylor has been asked to keep it till an appendices should turn up; the Chinese Chippendale mirror over the drawing-room chimney piece originated in an unsuccessful operation for cancer; the Aubusson carpet in the back-drawing room represents a hernia; the Renaissance bronze on the landing a set of gall-stones; the Ming Cloisonné a floating kidney; the Buhl cabinet his opinion on an enlarged liver; and Lady Stokers jewels a series of small operations performed over a number of years”. Moore declares the collection will never be sold in his lifetime but on his death, there will be a great auction. This bookcase, filled with part of Dr. Stoker’s china collection is given a full-page illustration and is described as ‘Chippendale’. A bookcase of similar design, with the addition of a broken triangular pediment, c.1766, is illustrated in Gilbert, ‘The Life and Works of Thomas Chippendale’ (1978), p.41
