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The Ker family of Portavo and MontaltoDavid Ker (1530-1610) settled in Ballymena in County Antrim in the second half of the 16th Century having fled Scotland after the murder of David Rizzio (private secretary to Mary Queen of Scots) in 1566. By the 18th Century the family had prospered in the linen industry, and David Ker (1710-1770) a banker and merchant purchased Portavo in County Down for his eldest son, David (1751-1811). This David Ker was a voracious purchaser of land and by 1800 had acquired a number of estates culminating in the purchase of Montalto from the Earl of Moira in 1800. He and his brother had taken the Grand Tour together in 1771, where David eloped with a Venetian singer by the name of Madelna Guardi, by repute the daughter of Venetian painter Francesco Guardi. Following the death of his young wife David Ker returned to Italy with his three daughters, leaving his son to be educated at Eton. In Italy he began to collect in the best traditions of the Grand Tour, purchasing a Raphael portrait and sending ‘three cases’ of purchases from Rome to Ireland and later another ‘containing a Scagliola table’ in 1794. This visit, which lasted two years, culminated in David Ker sitting for Angelica Kauffman and, at her suggestion, his daughters sat for Francis Xavier Fabre. His son David Guardi Ker married Lady Selina Stewart, the fourth daughter of the 1st Marquess of Londonderry. This David Ker devoted his life to the collection of books and prints. He also served as MP for Athlone and later Downpatrick, the seat he purchased from Lord de Clifford in 1844. His eldest son David Stewart Ker (1816-1878) started life as one of the richest commoners in Ireland, he married Anna Dorothea Blackwood, daughter of the 3rd Lord Dufferin and Claneboye, of Clandeboye, County Down. However by the time of his death in 1878, he was bankrupt and considered ‘quite mad’. He began the first dispersal of the family collections assembled by his father, grandfather and great uncle, following the disastrous fire at Portavo in 1844. First sold were books and prints at Christie’s in a series of seven day sales in 1847, 1848 and 1849, followed by endless dispersals of renowned pictures. His son Alfred David Ker (1843-1877) did his best, in his short tenure, to bring some order to the family finances, but with his death at the age of 34, the estates and possessions devolved to Richard Blackwood Ker (1850-1943), his brother, who married Edith Rose of Wolston Grange, Warwickshire. ‘Dick’ Ker’s greatest love next to women was horses, and being totally untrained in the management of estates was, like his father, eventually declared bankrupt. Montalto was then sold in 1912 to the Earl of Clanwilliam and the family returned to Portavo, where he built a ‘shooting box’ from the ruins of the mansion which had been destroyed by fire in 1844. He was succeeded by David Alfred Ker (1878-1954) who spent most of his life in minority controlled by Trustees. His son David Richard Ker (Dick) (1920-1997) finally sold Portavo in 1980 and it is his son David (born 1951) who is now making dispersals from the Ker collection. David Ker had an interest in works of art and collecting from an early age, and after a career in property he started the David Ker gallery in 1980 and in 1993 formed Simon C Dickinson Ltd with Simon Dickinson. Having recently moved to a smaller house, this sale includes furniture and works of art both inherited and acquired which can no longer be accommodated and so the time has come for further sales from the collections of the Ker family.When I first began my career in decorating, working for Nicholas Haslam in Pimlico in the 1980’s, I spent endless lunch hours in Dave Ker’s rabbit warren of a picture Gallery around the corner in Caroline Terrace. He and his wife, Twinks, then opened a wonderful antique shop in his gallery in Bourne Street. It was not only the most entertaining place to be at lunch time but the source of endless inspiration. They had a true eye for collecting and the store was a huge influence on me.This collection is a reflection of their fabulous eclectic taste something that never goes in or out of fashion and has a confidence and an originality that is rare to find. Cath Kidston MBE
A VICTORIAN BIRCH LIBRARY MAGNIFYING GLASS
MID-19TH CENTURY
Details
A VICTORIAN BIRCH LIBRARY MAGNIFYING GLASS
MID-19TH CENTURY
With a turned handle
17 in. (43 cm.) long
MID-19TH CENTURY
With a turned handle
17 in. (43 cm.) long