Commission for Castle Oliver in Ireland
In the later part of 2006 Triton were approached to undertake a very special commission for Castle Oliver in the county of Limerick in Southern Ireland.
The castle was originally built by the Oliver Gascoigne sisters, Isabella and Elizabeth, circa 1850. Sadly by the late 1980’s the once magnificent building had been steadily pillaged, suffering the loss of virtually all its most beautiful and valuable features. Now, under the current owner, the castle has undergone a programme of serious and sympathetic refurbishment.
Tritons part in the restoration first and foremost was to restore the dramatic life size Gryphon’s to the castle balustrading. (Other parts of the commission were to include the restoration works to the balustrading itself and major renovation to the fountain on the east terrace).
The original Gryphons, eleven in all, were placed in position in the 1850’s. By 1890 the Gryphons had gone, although there is no accurate record of their disappearance or demise. It has been suggested that they may have disintegrated over the period but this has never been substantiated. The only point of reference that Triton had as a starting point for the origination of the Gryphons was the architects, George Fowler Jones, etching from The Builder magazine November 23rd 1850.
As with all projects that Triton undertake the company strives to take a sympathetic approach to the work, not only achieving a likeness as close to the original subject as possible, but also to “update history” by enhancing the subject with any changes that would have naturally occurred. The original Gryphons, undoubtedly, would only have held the shield bearing the Oliver Gascoigne coat of arms, with our clients permission we produced two further shields, one being the Trench family coat of arms, and the other the coat of arms of the current custodian, thus updating 150 years of history at Castle Oliver.
We are pleased to announce that we have been given kind permission to produce a Limited Edition of 100 pairs of the Castle Oliver Gryphons, complete with a plaque with the edition number to the base of each Gryphon, accompanied by a certificate of provenance and a complimentary copy of the book “Castle Oliver & The Oliver Gasgoines”, beautifully illustrated and written by the author Nicholas Browne.
The release date for the Limited Edition Gryphons is the 14th November 2008. The Gryphons will be available with two plinth options, the larger of which will make a very grand statement with a combined height of over 3 meters.
Web site: http://www.castleoliverireland.com/
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