Writing desk where Oscar Wilde penned classic works expected to fetch thousands at auction

Irish Post

05-06-2025

TWO antique items which belonged to Oscar Wilde are expected to fetch over €10k when they go under the hammer this month.
A desk and a bed once owned by the Irish literary icon will feature in Fonsie Mealy's Summer Fine Art & Antique Sale.
The Davenport desk, which was made in 1830, stood in Wilde's study when he lived at 16 Tite Street in west London's Chelsea.
It is believed to have been where he wrote some of his most notable works.
The Davenport desk which belonged to Oscar Wilde
Dublin-born Wilde moved into the Victorian home in 1884 with his wife Constance.
They went on to have two sons whilst living in the property, where they remained until Wilde's arrest and prosecution for 'gross indecency' in 1895.
During his time there, he wrote classics including The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest.
The desk was removed from the house by his friend, the artist Mortimor Menpes, shortly before the court-ordered auction of Wilde's possessions following his trial and imprisonment.
So too was a French bed once belonging to Wilde's mother, which is also up for auction in this month's sale.
Oscar Wilde's mother's bed will go up for auction this month
A richly carved walnut and ebonised bateau bed, the item, like the Davenport desk, was removed from Wilde's house by Menpes prior to the auction of his possessions on April 24, 1895.
'It was originally purchased by Lady Wilde (Oscar Wilde's mother) during a visit to Paris in 1878,' the auctioneers state.
'Believed to have been acquired at the Exposition Universelle - the Paris World's Fair of that year - the bed reflects the grandeur and decorative exuberance of mid-late 19th-century French design,' they add.
'The headboard is surmounted by an exquisitely carved coat of arms for the city of Paris, featuring the city's crest—a ship and three fleur-de-lis—topped by a coronet and framed by an oak branch with detailed leaves and acorns on one side, and a finely rendered stem of laurel on the other.
'Below this, a flowing scroll bears the Parisian motto Fluctuat nec mergitur ('[She] is rocked by the waves, but does not sink'), a symbolic and poetic touch befitting the Wilde family's taste for art, symbolism, and continental flair.'
The bed is expected to fetch up to £4k when it goes under the hammer this month, while Wilde's writing desk is estimated to sell for up to £8k.
Fonsie Mealy's Summer Fine Art & Antique Sale will take place at their auction house in Co. Kilkenny on June 18 and 19 at 10.15am.