WHYTE'S THE ECLECTIC COLLECTOR SATURDAY & SUNDAY 25 & 26 July 2020

48 History 60 Circa 1842. A silver Celtic Revival fibula brooch presented to Lady Emily Ponsonby An idealised late Bronze Age Irish dress fastener of ‘slug fibula’ type, decorated with incised lines on the bow and a chevron pattern around the terminals. Inscribed in Irish old script ‘le deag toil Comraide ui Conailain don bamtigearnna Emili’, which translates as ‘with best wishes [from] Corry Connellan to Lady Emily’, with pin back. Gifted by James Corry Connellan to Lady Emily Ponsonby, daughter of the 4th Earl of Clarendon, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1846-1852; Private collection. Ornamental Irish Antiquities, By Waterhouse and Company, Dublin 1853, page 3: “For several years past, the only ornaments, of a national kind to be had in Ireland, were made from bog-oak, both inelegant in design, and rudely finished. The first successful attempt at the redemption, that we are aware of, was made by ourselves, at the suggestion of Corry Connellan, Esq., of Dublin Castle, in the year 1842, by converting copies of antique Irish Fibula ( with the addition of a joint and pin ) in Brooches. In their original form, these curious gold ornaments were apparently useless, and total inapplicable to modern purposes. For a considerable time, this was the only ornament, essentially Irish, to be found amongst the jewellers of Dublin, and might have remained so, but for the free access, granted to the public by the Royal Irish Academy, to their collection of antiquities.” Condition: Fine. James Corry Connellan (1807-1885) was a barrister and Secretary to Lord Clarendon, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He was accused by Isaac Butt of secretly organising, under Clarendon’s instructions, the funding of arms shipments to Orangemen. With research notes and copies of relevant texts. Estimate €1500-€2000 (approx £1,360-£1,820) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot 60