Annual Delaware Antiques Show 2019

The first brainstorming session for an exhibition title considered an invented word, Eirelooms—a combination of the Gaelic name for Ireland with the idea of an heirloom. The artwork seen here most certainly represents cherished heirlooms. Generations have preserved these items, perhaps for their time and place of creation or ownership histories but also for their sustained power as cultural signifiers. A few incorporate political issues into an artistic and practical object, as with the inscription on a ceramic jug citing the life and death dates of Daniel O’Connell, an Irish politician whose public speaking style influenced that of American Frederick Douglass (fig. 1) . The lasting power of O’Connell’s ideas and words advocating justice and equality resonated with abolitionists on both sides of the Atlantic. Two works printed on paper are links to social issues in their time that may remind us of our own. Sir John Perceval (fig. 2) , an Irish aristocrat, was an early supporter of better living conditions for those in overcrowded British prisons. Working with James Oglethorpe, he advocated for the establishment of the American colony of Georgia as a humane haven for inmates. Likewise, the Hibernian Society of Philadelphia, founded in 1790, provided financial and cultural assistance to Irish immigrants searching for religious freedom and economic opportunities in the young United States (fig. 3) . The society’s certificate was designed by Irish immigrant John James Barralet not long after he arrived in Philadelphia. Both objects provide the basis for a deeper look into the stories highlighted by these connections. Fig. 2. Sir John Percivale Baronet of Burton in the County of Cork in Ireland , mezzotint engraved and published by John Smith, London, 1715–25. Gift of Mrs. Waldron Phoenix Belknap 1967.0975 Fig. 3. Certificate of the Hibernian Society of Philadelphia, designed by John James Barralet, Philadelphia, 1796–98. Museum purchase 1964.0183 — 23 —