Renowned
Decades of detrimental decline were halted with the restoration of the Miller’s house and the grain store, Renowned landscape designer Arthur Shakleton was commissioned to create a new garden centred on the ruinous mill along the banks of the river Erkina. Arthur Shakleton’s impressive portfolio includes Fruitfield, Grange, and Capard House in county Laois, Butler House and Lacken Mill in Kilkenny City and internationally renowned gardens at Ashford Castle and Dromoland Castle. Some of his high profile clients include Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ryanair founder, the late Tony Ryan.
GERTRUDE JEKYLL (1843-1942), AS A YOUNG GIRL IN A WHEELBARROW
Of the cast iron garden benches in the sale, 15 are painted white. The great Gertrude Jekyll (1843-1942), horticulturalist and garden designer, must be turning in her grave. ‘The common habit of painting garden seats a dead white is certainly open to criticism,’ she wrote, expressing a preference for furniture painted grey ‘the colour of old weather’. White paint jumps to the foreground, distracting the eye, and disrupting the sense of mystery. But Jekyll would have liked the wheelbarrow (Lot 309: est. €300 to €500) a faithful reconstruction of an old wheelbarrow in wood. There’s a photo of her as a small child, nestled in just such a wooden barrow.
The most mysterious piece of all is catalogued as an “Art Deco limestone garden sculpture of abstract figures with long flowing robes” (Lot 87: est. €2,500 to €3,500). The figures are abstracted and angular. They could be angels or demons. They could be ghosts. Their forms are dynamic; their faces angular and strangely elegant. At 140 cm high, the sculpture is monumental in scale and carved in a way that’s respectful to the block of stone. The back is curved. It has a patina of verdigris and moss. There’s hieroglyph on the front that could be a signature.
Marker
‘It reminds me of Oscar Wilde’s tomb in Paris,’ says Michael Sheppard. ‘Do you think it could be a grave marker?’
‘Don’t say that or nobody’s going to buy it,’ Philip Sheppard says.
They are cousins. There’s a lot of repartee.
‘I’d run away with it all the same,’ Michael says. ‘I like it because I don’t know what it is.’
His cousin nods sagely. ‘I like the idea of something that perplexes people. The reason I’d want it is because nothing could compare with it. You could probably interpret it in a million different ways and you’d probably be wrong about it every time.’
Viewing is from 11 am to 5 pm each day and admission is free
PREVIEW: 24 – 26 June 10am – 5pm
Glantelwe Gardens, Mill Road, Durrow, Co. Loais, R32 F7XW
AUCTION: 27 – 28 June
Live In Durrow & Online | www.sheppards.ie
The Square Road, Durrow, Co. Loais, R32 FN88
ORDER OF SALE:
27 June | Lots 1- 400
28 June | Lots 401- 876
See also: Smart Locks: What You Need to Know
