Art Institute of Chicago

Pole-Screen

Arthur James Jones and Son

Date

c. 1851

Medium

Irish bog yew and mirror glass; brass mount

Culture

Dublin

Department

Applied Arts of Europe

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

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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