Arthur James Jones and Son
Irish, active mid-19th century
Ireland
Pole-Screen
INV-2225
Arthur James Jones and Son
Irish, active mid-19th century
Irelandc. 1851
Pole-Screen
Arthur James Jones and Son Irish, active mid-19th century Ireland
screenfurniture
Date
c. 1851
Medium
Irish bog yew and mirror glass; brass mount
Dimensions
222 × 45.8 × 45.1 cm (87 3/8 × 18 × 17 3/4 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of Kay and Frederick Krehbiel
The firm of Arthur James Jones and Son of Dublin displayed a large suite of elaborately carved furniture made from Irish bog yew at the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in London in 1851 and again at Dublin’s Great Industrial Exhibition of 1853. The suite included, among other objects, a tilt-top table, an etagere, and pair of pole fire screens, one of which is seen here.
The furniture's carved iconography references the country’s historic events, extinct and existing flora and fauna, mottoes, legends, monuments, and antiquities. Rising from a tripod base consisting of helmeted heads of ancient warriors, the pole terminates with a copy of an antique bronze spearhead. An ancient Irish Gallowglass (a heavily armed warrior), is depicted on the looking-glass shield.
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