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    • Archive for April, 2016

    BASQUIAT TOUR DE FORCE AT CHRISTIE’S

    Thursday, April 14th, 2016
    Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) Untitled Acrylic on canvas Painted in 1982 © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat / ADAGP, Paris / ARS, New York 2016.

    Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) Untitled
    Acrylic on canvas
    Painted in 1982
    © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat / ADAGP, Paris / ARS, New York 2016.

    Jean-Michel Basquiat’s explosive tour de force, Untitled, 1982, will lead Christie’s sale of post war and contemporary art in New York on May 10.  It is estimated to make more than of $40 million. Executed in Modena, Italy this is an epic painting, with its monumental size and visceral energy marking it as one of the artist’s most seminal works. As well as having been chosen for the cover of the artist’s Catalogue Raisonné, Untitled has been included in every major Basquiat retrospective and contains Basquiat’s heroic portrait of himself as a fiery black devil rising amidst an explosion of paint that has been thrown onto the canvas in the manner of Jackson Pollock. It is the dynamism and spontaneity with which Basquiat constructs his painterly surface that distinguishes this work as a masterpiece, especially considering this ambitious work was painted when the artist was only 22 years old.

    Brett Gorvy, Christie’s International Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, remarked: “We are very proud to lead our evening sale with this truly exceptional work by Basquiat. Untitled is a remarkably powerful canvas, which instantly engulfs any viewer standing in its monumental presence. Untitled is among the top three paintings from the tremendously important body of work that the artist executed in 1982 while in Modena, Italy, which would go on to shape the rest of his career”.

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    A TIME CAPSULE OF CALDER IN INDIA IN 1955

    Wednesday, April 13th, 2016

    A time-capsule collection of sculptures by Alexander Calder (1898-1976) created before and during his three-month visit to India in 1955 will be among the highlights at Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art evening auction in New York on May 10. Created before and during his three-month visit to India in 1955 the works capture Calder’s special relationship with the Sarabhai family, who hosted the artist for three weeks at their home in Ahmedabad.  At auction for the first time they testify not only to Calder’s ability at the height of his powers, but also to the extraordinary cultural dialogue fostered by the architect Gira Sarabhai and her family following the Indian Independence Act of 1947.

    Alexander Calder (1898-1976) - Frangi-Pani ($2.5-3.5 million).

    Alexander Calder (1898-1976) – Frangi-Pani ($2.5-3.5 million).

    Alexander Calder (1898-1976) -Sumac 17 ($4-6 million)

    Alexander Calder (1898-1976) -Sumac 17 ($4-6 million)

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    FROM EARTH TO FIRE: EUROPEAN CERAMICS, SILVER AND OBJECTS AT SOTHEBY’S

    Wednesday, April 13th, 2016

    The first sale at Sotheby’s exclusively dedicated to European Ceramics, Silver and Objects of Vertu at Sotheby’s in almost a decade will take place in London on May 10.  Testament to the ever-growing appetite of international collectors for unique pieces encapsulating the finest craftsmanship and materials of their time, the 265 lots in the sale are led by Dutch silver, ceramics and glass from the collection of the renowned Amsterdam antiques dealer Joseph M. Morpurgo. The focus of the “From Earth to Fire” auction is on the creation of pieces born from the earth and transformed through the kiln into exquisite works.  The sale also includes sculptural Paul Storr silver, early Chelsea porcelain scent bottles and a private collection of French gold boxes. Estimates range from £2,000-70,000.

    A pair of Victorian silver table centre dessert bowls Paul Storr for Storr & Mortimer, London, 1838 (£50,000-70,000)

    A pair of Victorian silver table centre dessert bowls
    Paul Storr for Storr & Mortimer, London, 1838 (£50,000-70,000)

    An agate cup and cover Jean-Valentin Morel, Paris, circa 1836-40 (£40,000-60,000)

    An agate cup and cover
    Jean-Valentin Morel, Paris, circa 1836-40 (£40,000-60,000)

    A selection from the auction.

    A selection from the auction.

    An English opaque-white glass vase and a cover, circa 1760 (£7,000-10,000)

    An English opaque-white glass vase and a cover, circa 1760 (£7,000-10,000)

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    IS IT OR IS IT NOT BY CARAVAGGIO?

    Wednesday, April 13th, 2016
    The large canvas possibly by Caravaggio

    The large canvas possibly by Caravaggio

    Is it is or is it not by Caravaggio? Amid expert disagreement over whether a painting found in an attic near Toulouse is a Caravaggio, France has placed an export ban on the work for 30 months so it can be studied in depth. It was found in an attic in April 2014 when the owners of a house went to fix a leak. It is a painting of the beheading of Holofernes by Judith from the Book of Judith. Another version of the work, discovered in 1950, is at Rome’s National Gallery of Ancient Art.

    If it does turn out be to by Caravaggio the 400 year old canvas could be worth as much as 120 million euro.  But it might be by the Flemish artist Louis Finson who was familiar with Caravaggio. It is currently being studied at the Louvre.

    When The Taking of Christ by Caravaggio was discovered in Ireland in 1990 it was authenticated relatively quickly.  The provenance of the work, now in the National Gallery in Dublin, was painstakingly unearthed and traced back to Rome via Scotland.

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    A 1922 LETTER OF APPEAL TO IRISH AMERICANS FROM MICHAEL COLLINS

    Tuesday, April 12th, 2016
    The Michael Collins letter to the editor of The Boston Globe.

    The Michael Collins letter to the editor of The Boston Globe.  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    A February 1922 letter from Michael Collins to the Editor of the Boston Globe appealing for support from Irish Americans comes up at the History sale at James Adam in Dublin on April 19. Written on the notepaper of the Provisional Government it mentions Collins’ relatives in Boston, and the liberality of friends of Ireland in Boston in supporting the Irish struggle for Independence with money. ‘Now that Freedom is on the eve of attainment I ask through the ‘Boston Globe’ on behalf of the Provisional Government, that they be equally liberal with their sympathy and patience, thus assisting us in restoring to the people of Ireland control of their own destinies” the letter goes on.  It is estimated at 12,000-15,000.   The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:

    ATRICK PEARSE Collection of booklets including An Macaomh, Poems, The Spiritual Nation, The Murder Machine, The Separist Idea (150-250)

    PATRICK PEARSE
    Collection of booklets including An Macaomh, Poems, The Spiritual Nation, The Murder Machine, The Separist Idea (150-250)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 80 AT HAMMER

    KEARNEY (PEADAR), THE SOLDIER'S SONG, FIRST EDITION WITH MUSIC Four printed pages, in two parts, 31 x 24cm approx.. Written in 1909-1910 by Peadar Kearney, music by Paddy Heaney and arrangement by Cathal MacDubhgall. Later to become "Amhrán na bhFiann" (1,500-2,000)

    KEARNEY (PEADAR), THE SOLDIER’S SONG, FIRST EDITION WITH MUSIC
    Four printed pages, in two parts, 31 x 24cm approx.. Written in 1909-1910 by Peadar Kearney, music by Paddy Heaney and arrangement by Cathal MacDubhgall. Later to become “Amhrán na bhFiann” (1,500-2,000)   UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,500 AT HAMMER

    A $10 REPUBLICAN BOND CERTIFICATE, ISSUED JANUARY 21ST 1920 BY DE VALERA, President of the Elected Government of the Republic of Ireland, to Lucille Gallagher, No. 149790 (200-400)

    A $10 REPUBLICAN BOND CERTIFICATE, ISSUED JANUARY 21ST 1920 BY DE VALERA, President of the Elected Government of the Republic of Ireland, to Lucille Gallagher, No. 149790 (200-400)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 350 AT HAMMER.

    ALL IRELAND GAA FOOTBALL MEDAL - LOUTH 1910 (2,000-3,000)

    ALL IRELAND GAA FOOTBALL MEDAL – LOUTH 1910 (2,000-3,000)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,000 AT HAMMER

    A 1919-21 WAR OF INDEPENDENCE MEDAL, with Comrac Bar, black and tan ribbon and clasp bar (300-500)

    A 1919-21 WAR OF INDEPENDENCE MEDAL, with Comrac Bar, black and tan ribbon and clasp bar (300-500)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 300 AT HAMMER

    IRISH WAR NEWS. THE IRISH REPUBLIC. VOL. 1 NO. 1 DUBLIN, TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 1916 (600-800)

    IRISH WAR NEWS. THE IRISH REPUBLIC. VOL. 1 NO. 1 DUBLIN, TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 1916 (600-800) UPDATE: THIS MADE 420 AT HAMMER

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    A BOTTLE OF VERY RARE POT STILL IRISH WHISKEY

    Sunday, April 10th, 2016
    The Irish pot still whiskey

    The Irish pot still whiskey  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 6,600 AT HAMMER

    A bottle of pot still 1916 whiskey from the long vanished Allman’s Distillery in Bandon, Co Cork comes up at the James Adam history sale in Dublin on  April 19.  Founded in 1826 Allman’s had a huge reputation.  It survived the famine and Fr. Matthew’s total abstinence campaign to become one of the most celebrated Irish whiskey producers. When the influential English journalist Alfred Barnard came to visit in 1886 he described it as the most successful rural distillery in Ireland. Barley was plentifully supplied by local farmers and the distillery had an internal village of around 200 employees including coopers, carpenters, coppersmiths and maltmen. The distillery imported specially sherry-seasoned casks from Cadiz. This is now common practice but Allman claimed to have been one of the first distillers in Ireland to do so.  The malting facility was second only to Guinness in Dublin. At a time when Irish whiskey was outselling Scotch by three cases to one Allman’s whiskey earned a popular following in Scotland and was a key brand there during the 1860’s.

    According to Adams this particular example, bottled by the Nun’s Island Distillery in Galway,  may be the oldest unopened expression of Irish single pot still whiskey. The style called “Irish pot still” or “single pot still” whiskey is a uniquely Hibernian variety. It is defined by the grain ingredients, a mixture of malt with a fine grist of “green” unmalted barley for texture and spice.   Whiskey made in a pot still without the green barley is not, by this definition, “Irish pot still whiskey”. Originally introduced as a means of dodging the Malt Tax, the use of raw barley has been a feature of Irish whiskey since the 18th century, became ingrained in the taste and was retained even after the tax was repealed in 1880. Barnard describes how the distillery separated its barley into raw gristing and malting facilities and ran them through two distinct runs in order to make “both Old Pot Still Whisky, designated Irish, and Pure Malt Whisky, both of a superior quality”.

    War, prohibition and competition from cheaper and more rapidly produced blended whiskeys meant Allman closed in 1925.  Trading as “Allman, Dowden and Co.”, its agents continued selling off stocks until 1939. In Bandon the Old Still Bar (converted from the distillery offices) proudly retained a bottle until 1971.  Most of the contents boiled away in a tragic fire that struck the pub that year.  This bottle is estimated at 6,000-10,000.

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    A WEEKEND OF ANTIQUES AT CASTLETOWN HOUSE

    Saturday, April 9th, 2016
    Castletown House in Celbridge, Co. Kildare is the venue for an Irish Antique Dealers Association Fair in conjunction with the OPW today and tomorrow.  It will run in the stables wing from 10 am to 5 pm on April 9 and 10 with 20 IADA dealers of fine furniture, paintings, silver, jewellery, books, prints, porcelain and works of art.
    Curiosities include buttons embroidered by Countess Markievicz while in jail in England at Courtville Antiques. George Stacpoole of Adare will bring drawings by members of the Gore Booth family. Weldons will show a rare piece of Irish gold jewellery, a c1835 gold pendant by Joseph Johnson with a 6.8 carat mixed cut pink topaz. Vanessa Parker Rare Books will bring a first edition of the Sinn Fein Rebellion Handbook published in 1917 and the Whitley Art Gallery will offer Japanese woodblock prints.

    The First Month (Mitsuki)` , Japanese Woodblock Triptych by Kunisada, 1847-1852

    The First Month (Mitsuki)` , Japanese Woodblock Triptych by Kunisada, 1847-1852

    The Sinn Fein Rebellion Handbook

    The Sinn Fein Rebellion Handbook

    An Irish gold pendant with a topaz

    An Irish gold pendant with a topaz

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    SIGNAC, DERAIN AND VLAMINCK AT SOTHEBY’S NEW YORK

    Saturday, April 9th, 2016

    Vibrant paintings by Signac, Derain and Vlaminck will lead Sotheby’s evening sale of Impressionist and Modern art in New York on May 9.  Paul Signac’s Maisons du port, Saint-Tropez ($8-12 million) is a pointillist painting from 1882.  Inscribed Op.237 it has remained in the family collection of Ambassador John Langeloth Loeb, Jr. since his parents acquired it in 1958.  It is at auction for the first time.

    Andreì Derain’s Les Voiles rouges ($15-20 million) and Maurice de Vlaminck’s Sous-bois ($12-18 million) were acquired in 1954 by art patron and philanthropist Sarah Campbell Blaffer of Houston, Texas. She was the daughter of William Thomas Campbell, the founder of the Texas Company, later known as Texaco. They have remained in her family’s collection since.  Only four major Fauve paintings have sold at auction since 2010.  These are considered the finest works to have come to auction since Derain’s Arbres a Collioure sold for £16.3 million in June 2010.

    (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for April 28, 2010)

    Andre Derain - Les Voiles rouges

    Andre Derain – Les Voiles rouges

    Paul Signac - Maisons du port, Saint-Tropez

    Paul Signac – Maisons du port, Saint-Tropez

    Maurice de Vlaminck - Sous-boix

    Maurice de Vlaminck – Sous-boix

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    ROCK ICONS BY JULIEN’S AUCTIONS IN NEW YORK IN MAY

    Friday, April 8th, 2016

    From Elvis to Bowie, Lady Gaga to Duran Duran, the Rock Icons sale by Julien’s Auctions at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square, New York on May 21 covers a lot of rich ground.  Hundreds of pieces of iconic rock n’ roll memorabilia will go under the hammer in a live and online sale.   The biggest musical icons of our time are included.  Here is a small selection:

    ELVIS PRESLEY’S GIBSON DOVE GUITAR ($200,000-300,000)

    ELVIS PRESLEY’S GIBSON DOVE GUITAR ($200,000-300,000)  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $334,000

    LADY GAGA’S FIRST CHILDHOOD PIANO ($100,000-200,000)

    LADY GAGA’S FIRST CHILDHOOD PIANO ($100,000-200,000)

    A 1966 Gretsch Tennessean bass guitar used by John Taylor in Duran Duran’s hit 2004 music video “REACH UP FOR THE SUNRISE. ($10,000-20,000)

    A 1966 Gretsch Tennessean bass guitar used by John Taylor in Duran Duran’s hit 2004 music video “REACH UP FOR THE SUNRISE. ($10,000-20,000)

    "From Nahodka Westward by Train," painted in 1994 by David Bowie and Beezy Bailey ($20,000-25,000)

    “From Nahodka Westward by Train,” painted in 1994 by David Bowie and Beezy Bailey ($20,000-25,000)

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    THE UNIQUE PINK UNVEILED AT SOTHEBY’S TODAY

    Thursday, April 7th, 2016
    The Unique Pink.

    The Unique Pink.

    The “Unique Pink” at 15.38 carats the spectacular stone is the largest fancy vivid pink pear-shaped diamond ever offered at auction, was unveiled at Sotheby’s in London today. It comes up at Geneva on May 17.  The stone’s exquisite pear shape and brilliant cut accentuate its exceptional saturation, placing it in a rarefied category even among the world’s most beautiful diamonds. In addition to receiving the highest possible colour grading for a pink diamond from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), the “Unique Pink” has been found to be Type IIa, displaying “exceedingly pure structure”. The estimate is US$28-38 million.
    David Bennett, Worldwide Chairman of Sotheby’s International Jewellery Division, commented: “It is difficult to imagine a diamond that better illustrates the term Vivid Pink than this outstanding stone. The colour is simply astonishing and, for its size, it is in my experience truly unique.”

    UPDATE: This sold for US$31.5 million

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