Formal dinners were elaborate affairs, where etiquette and aesthetics were as important as to the quality of the meal, which by today’s standards would have seemed a little rich for modern palates. Light was really important and its availability shaped most domestic activities. This can be seen in the dinning room, hung with an early nineteenth century oil chandelier. Such improvements in lighting, over expensive wax and unpleasant smelling tallow candles, allowed the main meal of the day to move from the mid afternoon to early evening by the turn of the nineteenth century.
Mahogany Plate Bucket, with a slit for carrying warmed plates. Irish 18th century.
Placed in bucket are Dublin delft plates.
Large Mahogany Peat Bucket, bound with four brass hoops, Irish about 1780, more commonly used in a country home.
Portrait of Anthony Morris Storer: dated 1794. By Sir Martin Archer Shee, PRA.
Commode containing a Chamber Pot, used by gentlemen after Dinner and after the Ladies had withdrawn to the Drawing Room upstairs.
This mahogany wine cooler is lined with lead. Irish, circa 1810. Made by Mack, Williams & Gibton.
Designed by Francis Johnson.
ALSO ON THE GROUND FLOOR: