This important Irish cabinet was most likely built by a man named Egan, who was a cabinet maker and inlayer, who kept an establishment at Main Street in Killarney Ireland. He was best known for his Eagles and Stags which were his favorite figures.
The cabinet is 42″ tall and 32″ wide. The sloping top when raised discloses six small drawers and there is a secret drawer below. The two doors when open show five large drawers, each drawer depicting a different building. These buildings are: Muckross Abbey, Ross Castle, the ruins of Innisfallen Island and the roofless church of Aghadoe. On the top of the cabinet there is a back splash with an inlaid picture of a Stag, an eagle and a harp with crown. Under the lid of the cabinet is an inlaid picture of a harp.
The cabinet is built from woods from Killarney, Arbutus woods; yew, holly, and bog oak.
The thatched cottage on the top of the cabinet is Glena Cottage. Queen Victoria visited the cottage which burnt down in 1916. On the side of the cabinet is an inlaid picture of a large house that has been identified as Killarney House. The house was the residence of the Earl of Kenmare, where Queen Victoria was entertained in 1861.
*Note paper is from the Irish Press dated November 25, 1953
But “Country Life” is not exclusively English, it touches Scotland and Wales and Ireland. In last week’s issue, for instance, there is a query from a reader writing from England who possesses what he calls a “Kilarney cabinet.” He thinks his family acquired it about 1850. It is obviously from its photograph a beautiful piece of craftsmanship about four feet high by three wide. When its doors are opened six medallions are to be seen representing among other places, Muckross Abbey, Ross castle, ruins on Innis fallen and the ancient church at Aghadoe. The owner thought that the medallion of a cottage was of a cottage at Blarney Castle but the Editor says “no” and that it is a cottage at Killarney Known as the “The Countess’s Cottage.” He states that the cabinet is made of arbutus wood, that it was probably made to order and that only one other in known to exist. He quotes Mr. and Mrs. S.C Hall as noticing four such wood carvers in Killarney in 1843: only one exist now. I suppose he is referring to the one who has his workshop in the Gap. I saw his work a year or two ago. By Lennox Robinson 1953