The Crafts of Ireland

Regarded as one of the most important art treasures of the world, The Book of Kells is a stunningly decorated manuscript of the gospels written around the year 800 for the monastery at Kells in County Meath. The Tara Brooch and the Ardagh Chalice both display the astonishing skill of 7th century goldsmiths. The designs are highly colourful, the profuse decorations intricate and precise. The brooch was found on a beach North of Dublin, the chalice in a field in County Limerick. Both are now in the National Museum.
A millennium later and craftsmanship in Ireland was still internationally famous. Bossi's inlaid marble chimmneypieces are now worth well into six figures - one was sold three years ago for £260,000. The Booker brothers made looking glasses in Dublin's Parliament Street in the early 18th century. Museum pieces, they too have been sold for over £200,000. The Irish rococo stucco work of the Francini brothers and their followers has never been equalled. In the hands of these maestros plaster cherubs seem to float across ceilings, and baskets of lucious fruit spill wantonly down swag encrusted walls.

Architecture in this island outpost of Europe developed a unique version of Paladianism. Sir Edward Lovett Pearce, whose cousin Vanbrugh designed Blenheim and Castle Howard, was one of the great architects of 18th century. The stately mansions designed by his successor Richard Castle, the later gothic castles of Francis Johnston, the elegant classicism of James Gandon and William Morrison, these have given Ireland a fabulous architectural heritage. Add to this the exquisite Casino, designed by Sir William Chambers for Lord Charlemont and considered to be the finest piece of architecture in Europe, and the Swiss Cottage, designed by John Nash, George IV's favourite architect. Within a country the size of Maryland you have the heritage of all Europe.

Irish silver, glass and furniture are all specialist fields to themselves. Waterford Crystal, established by Penrose in the 1780s, is still world famous. Irish furniture, with its vigorous and unrestrained carving, is unmistakable. And Irish silver has long been collected for its rococo splendour and rich decoration. In modern times the painter Jack B. Yeats, brother of the poet W.B. Yeats, has become amongst the most sought after expressionists in the world.

Though the names of Ireland's literary giants - Swift, Goldsmith, Joyce, Shaw and Wilde, echo round the world, Ireland's visual heritage has long been a secret, shrouded in mystery to those outside the circle of cognoscenti. With Country House Tours, the veil is drawn aside. Our contacts can bring you into the best collections, organise interesting and articulate experts to guide you, and reveal the full rainbow of applied and decorative arts that have flourished in Ireland for the last 5,000 years.