Fine Arts: A sale to reflect Ireland’s rich rural history

Sheppard’s Irish Vernacular auction is full of unusual items from a humble lambing chair to a medieval communal drinking vessel

Staffordshire Group, two Irish colleens (€100-€200), at Sheppard’s Irish Vernacular auction

Humankind’s evolution is marked by those light-bulb moments that occurred over millennia. Think back two million years to the morning in Africa when one of our earliest ancestors stood up tall on two legs, and set off walking to conquer the planet.

On a less august plane, another landmark day was when an ancient Egyptian gave serious thought to sitting down and invented the chair. Until then we squatted on the ground or on a ...