Glenarm’s Irish furniture does not disappoint, with three rare wake tables, a 19thcentury desk from Carlton House, a yellow silk–upholstered 19th-century sofa, a pair of 18th-century scalloped-back chairs and a suite of 1840s red leather club-like dining chairs that one Mr. Whitbread, a brewer, sent to the family because he found the Irish Chippendales uncomfortable when he came to visit. “A rather nice house present,” says Randal. “And they are the most comfortable dining chairs—though they encourage slobbish posture.”

Like any great house, the castle has its share of ephemera: an extremely rare Jacobite drinking glass, a chest said to be from the Spanish Armada ship “Girona,” (which wrecked nearby), a collection of 18thcentury chinoiserie, a French 19th-century skittles game and bed linens from 1754 hand-embroidered by Lady Antrim.

One exciting discovery seems to lead to the next. In between option trades in his London office, the future 15th Earl of Antrim is hot on the trail of a 10,000-yearold set of giant Irish elk antlers that were once at Adare Manor in Limerick. The Collecting Earl would be proud.

Sallie Brady is an ART & ANTIQUES New York correspondent.

FOR MORE INFORMATION
The Irish Landmark Trust, Dublin and Belfast
Includes Glenarm’s restored Barbican Gate among its properties. 011.35.3.16.70.47.33. www.irishlandmark.com.
Ireland’s Painters (1600–1940) by Anne Crookshank and The Knight of Glin (Yale University Press, 2002).
Irish Furniture by The Knight of Glin and James Peill (Yale University Press, 2007).

For an extensive in-print booklist relating to Irish art, antiques, architecture and decorative studies, contact The Irish Georgian Society. Dublin, 011.35.3.16.76.70.53; New York, 212.534.4849. www.igs.ie