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The impact of global warming is highlighted in an art exhibition at the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin until April 27. Unquiet Earth – Variants in Nature showcases paintings, ceramics and glass by artists Barbara Cullen, Annemarie Durcan, Colette Edwards, Maresa Edwards, Colette O’Connell and Niamh Synnott.
1903 All Ireland Football Championship medal at Fonsie Mealy. UPDATE: THIS MADE €8,000 at hammer
The Kingdom’s first All Ireland football championship in 1903, objects that might grace a great library or Modernist design spearheaded by Mies van der Rohe are among the array of fabulous choices at auction right now.
The market is positively heaving with the sort of lot that will set the pulses of serious collectors racing.
Among the highlights at Fonsie Mealy’s two day rare book and collectors sale in Castlecomer starting on April 30 is a 1903 All Ireland Football Championship medal. In the 17th staging of the competition Kerry, under the captaincy of Thady O’Gorman beat London, captained by Sam Maguire on a scoreline of 0-11 to 0-3 in front of a crowd of 10,000 at Jones Road. The historic nine carat gold inscribed and hallmarked Celtic Cross design medal in the auction is estimated at €5,000-€7,000. Kerry won back to back football championships and a 1904 winners medal is estimated at €3,500-€5,000. In 1904 the team was captained by Austin Stack.
Portrait of John Byron from the studio of Sir Joshua Reynolds at Adams. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
From a portrait of Captain Byron, grandfather of the poet, to a Carthaginian terracotta figure of the Tanith, mother goddess of fertility and the moon, the annual library collection sale at James Adam on April 29 is brimful of interest. The portrait of John Byron (1723-1786), also known as Foul Weather Buck, from the studio of Sir Joshua Reynolds is estimated at €20,000-€30,000. Once shipwrecked off Chile he was considered one of the finest sailors in England who circumnavigated the globe and claimed various Pacific islands for the crown. His numerous expeditions are commemorated in a line inscribed in the gilt frame from Byron’s Epistle to Augusta: Our grandsires fate of yore/He had no rest at sea.
A pair of brown leather button back armchairs at Adams. UPDATE: THESE MADE €2,800 at hammer
Desks, models of yachts and even a carved marble head of a philosopher once decorated many grand libraries and can be found here too. An important consideration in any library is a comfortable chair or two. This sale has the most seductive looking examples including a pair of brown leather button back armchairs and a pair of nicely worn Victorian armchairs designed for extreme comfort. Why anyone would ever construct a chair that is not comfortable is beyond me though sadly they exist in plenty.
The Barcelona day bed designed by Mies van der Rohe in 1930 is a comfortable classic to be found at de Veres Art and Design auction on April 29. In brown leather created from a single hide and labelled Knoll International it is estimated at €6,000-€8,000. Among the pioneers of modern architecture Mies was the last director of the Bauhaus before emigrating to the US after the rise of Nazism. In a furniture market flooded with replicas this auction offers unique items of quality in both art and design. The catalogues for these three sales are online.
Barcelona day bed by Mies van der Rohe at de Veres. UPDATE: THIS MADE 6,000 AT HAMMER
UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $2,833,000
Red Canna by Georgia O’Keeffe is among the highlights at Christie’s Modern American Art sale in New York on April 17. Painted in 1919 it is estimated at $1 million – $1.5 million (€910,000-€1.37 million). There is art by Jacob Lawrence, Stuart Davis, Arthur Dove, Henrietta Shore, Helen Torr, Norman Rockwell, Maxfield Parrish and many more on offer.
This oil on canvas by Nathalie Du Pasquier from her exhibition Saint Fairy Anne at Kerlin in Dublin is entitled Coming back from Egypt 2, 2024. The play on words title – a phonetic Anglicisation of “ça ne fait rien” or “it doesn’t matter” – is as good a description as you can find of paintings that splice together still life composition, architectural plans, industrial drawing and playful text fragments with blocks of colour, simplified. Bordeaux born Du Pasquier first discovered pattern and texture in West Africa in the 1970s. A founding member of the Memphis design group she has lived in Milan since 1979. The renowned and widely exhibited artist designed textiles, carpets, furniture and objects before dedicating herself mostly to painting in 1987. The art in this not to be missed show is characterised by bold shapes, linear motifs, dynamic composition and glorious experimentation. It runs until May 17.
The Trinity by Sean Keating. UPDATE: THIS MADE €13,000 AT HAMMER
There is no shortage of spectacular vernacular at the next James Adam timed online auction which draws to a close from 11 am on April 16. The title of the auction – Irish Vernacular – might suggest ordinary common or garden lots but nothing could be further from the truth.
The sale is a celebration of very fine Irish skill and creativity down through the centuries. The artist Sean Keating gives us a different take on a well worn subject. In The Trinity – at €10,000-€15,000 the most expensively estimated lot – the traditional figures have been substituted with three ordinary people from the west of Ireland. The arched canvas is reminiscent of traditional altar pieces but the figure in the centre, the position most often associated with Christ, is a woman in a tartan shawl standing in front of a donkey and cart.
18th century Irish limestone chimneypiece from Tipperary. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,600 AT HAMMER
Among other leading lots are a c1750 Irish silver dish ring made in Dublin but lacking a maker’s mark, an 18th century Irish limestone chimney piece from Tipperary with its original carved sandstone inset, a Roscommon grey limestone chimney piece with moulded top, a c1940 Celtic Revival silver tray, an 18th carat gold antique Claddagh ring, a 19th century painted pine settle bench and an Irish naturalistic log bucket.
Two large Carrigaline Pottery jugs UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD
Irish Vernacular covers as multitude, from a cased diorama of a three masted schooner in full sail on choppy seas, a painted timber model of a currach and another of a Galway Hooker to three Irish limestone specimens on stands, a cast iron weather vane with a silhouette of a hunter and his hound in pursuit of a rabbit, a milking stool, a carved duck decoy, wrought iron gates and a Tara brooch.
The auction offers opportunities to pick up something for a song that with just a little imagination could be turned into a conversation piece or converted to a more modern decorative use. An Irish Victorian green painted footbath, stamped Maguire & Catchell, Dublin, is estimated at €100-€200, a limestone duck trough at €300-€400, a timber butter paddle and mould at €50-€100 and a black painted cast iron pot at €80-€120.
There is a selection of pine and painted pine cupboards, an oak linen press, an Irish oak cradle, an oak wall cabinet, wash stands, kitchen tables and desks. chairs, stools, boxes and wall hangers. An Irish lustre ware ceramic bowl, pottery jugs from Arklow and Carrigaline, mugs and hot water jugs will stimulate collectors with an eye to nostalgia.
A small selection of bygone advertising material includes an Admiral brand famous rum sign by John Daly and Co., Cork, a Perry’s Ale mirror and a Jacob’s Cream Crackers sign. There is art by Markey Robinson, Maurice MacGonigal, Rowland Hill, Erskine Nicol among a total of 260 lots.
An Admiral brand advertising sign by John Daly and Co. Cork. UPDATE: THIS MADE 110 AT HAMMER
Evie Hone (1894-1955) – SUMMER IN THE PARK. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,800 AT HAMMER
Summer in the Park, a gouache on paper by Evie Hone, kicks off Morgan O’Driscoll’s off the wall online art auction which runs until April 14. Lot 2 in the sale is another gouache, Study for a Rug by Mainie Jellett. Both works are estimated at €800-€12,000 and both artists are currently the subject of a major exhibition on pioneering Irish Modernists now underway at the National Gallery of Ireland which runs until August 10. The catalogue for the auction is online.
Mainie Jellett (1897-1944) – STUDY FOR A RUG. UPDATE: THIS MADE 650 AT HAMMER
A PAINTED TIMBER MODEL OF A GALWAY HOOKER. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,300 AT HAMMER
This painted timber model of a Galway hooker is at Adams timed online Irish Vernacular sale on April 16. A total of 260 lots will come under the hammer, including Irish silver, oak and pine furniture, lustre ware, wrought iron gates and duck decoys. The catalogue is online and the auction will be on view from April 12.
15th century medieval elm figure of Saint Fiacre
A rare 15th century medieval elm carved figure of Saint Fiacre, the Irish priest, abbot, hermit and gardener of the 7th century sold, sold at Woolley and Wallis today for £15,750 – 10 times its auction estimate of £1,000-£1,500.
Saint Fiacre is believed to be the patron saint of gardening and gardeners due to his skills in cultivating plants. He was born into an aristocratic family in 7th century Ireland and died c670. He dedicated his life to religion and became a monk. He developed the ability to make plants grow with ease and is also believed to have learned the healing powers associated with herbs.
Legend has it that Saint Fiacre had a vision telling him to go to France where he founded a small monastery in the Diocese of Meaux, which became a sanctuary of healing and retreat. His garden was filled with medicinal plants and flowers renowned for their healing powers. The carved figure stands at 83cm tall and presents him wearing a hood over his habit, holding a bible and spade. It was offered in The Howard Collection of Oak and Works of Art.
Western Procession by Mainie Jellett. Photo, National Gallery of Ireland
Pioneering Irish Modernists are celebrated in a major exhibition which opens on April 10 at the National Gallery of Ireland. Mainie Jellett & Evie Hone – The Art of Friendship brings together 90 works. It explores their experiences in the 1920’s where they studied with the French Cubists André Lhote and Albert Gleizes in Paris and the south of France. traces their careers back to Ireland and highlights the early convergences and later divergences in their styles. The paintings, stained glass and preparatory drawings reveal how both women were trailblazers in Irish art while remaining connected to conventional themes like religion and landscape. Hone (1894-1955) was an early pioneer of Cubism before turning to stained glass, Decoration by Jellett (1897–1944) was one of the first abstract paintings shown in Ireland when it was exhibited at the Society of Dublin Paintings group show in 1923. The first joint exhibition of their work since 1924 runs until August 10.
John Shinnors – Over Hook Head (Dunmore East in the distance). UPDATE: THIS MADE 17,000 AT HAMMER
This fairly figurative oil by John Shinnors is lot 21 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International online art auction on April 8. It is estimated at €15,000-€20,000. After the excitement of the Art Evolve fair which drew large crowds to the RDS over the weekend viewing for this auction continues at the Minerva Suite at the RDS in Dublin today. The auction will get underway at 6.30 pm tomorrow.
