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    NATIONAL ANTIQUE FAIR AT LIMERICK RACECOURSE

    Saturday, March 16th, 2024
    A dramatic Irish weatherscape by Camille Seaman

    St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland and if you drive to Limerick racecourse today and tomorrow you can hunt for all sorts of treasures on this long weekend of national celebration.  There will be dear little shamrocks and plenty of other expensive baubles too. With its ample parking and ease of access Limerick Racecourse has proved itself to be an ideal venue for this extensive quarterly National Antiques, Art and Vintage.  With its antique shops, art galleries and vintage dealers this one will welcome a selection of new dealers along with members of the Irish Antique Dealers Association and regulars like Eily Henry with vintage fashion, Weldons with collectible silver and jewellery and Treasures with Irish art. Newcomers like Rory O’Hanlon will offer a selection of metal objects in brass and bronze along with watches and Gloria Neumann offers antique furniture, porcelain and glass. The Purple Onion Gallery will bring dramatic work by acclaimed American photographer Camille Seaman who lived near Kilkee, Co. Clare for a few years. The national antique fair is a fully indoor event where you can expect the unexpected and even get a new collecting habit underway.  Anyone for some colourful Murano or militaria?

    A vintage headpiece 

    THE WAY WE DRANK THEN

    Tuesday, March 12th, 2024
    A selection of wine glasses c1740-1758

    Among many treasures at the National Antiques, Art and Vintage fair at Limerick Racecourse on March 16 and 17 are these 18th century wine glasses. They will be on the stand of Norman Allison from Annamoe Antiques of Co. Wicklow, who will bring a selection including Oriental rugs and carpets, Chinese bronze vases and antique furniture. All the wine glasses pictured here have engraved scenes but what is most remarkable to contemporary eyes is their capacity, or lack of it. Wine glasses have been getting bigger and bigger over the centuries as the world has become wealthier and more wine is being produced in more places. There will be plenty of scope at this upcoming fair – billed as Ireland’s largest – for a little bit of whatever you fancy yourself.

    THE WORLD’S PREMIER FAIR UNDERWAY AT MAASTRICHT

    Saturday, March 9th, 2024

    The starting point for the Sarah Myerscough Gallery exhibit at TEFAF Maastricht, which opens to the public today and runs until March 14, is monoliths.  Place one in the landscape and the surroundings are changed.  Structures like Stonehenge or the metal monoliths of Utah signal other worldly and mystic influences.  Myerscoughs Monolith exhibition presents work that supports a magical view of the world while being at the same time grounded in the expertise and innovation of contemporary designers.  Pictured here is Conical 2024 by John Makepeace, made of oak, ripple sycamore, bog oak, magnolia and cotton velvet. Widely regarded as the world’s premier fair for fine arts, antiques and design the 37th edition of TEFAF has brought 270 prestigious dealers from 22 countries to Maastricht.

    THE REAL STORY OF BEAUTY AND THE BEAST IN FONTANA PAINTING AT TEFAF

    Friday, March 8th, 2024
    Lavinia Fontana – Portrait of Antonietta Gonzales, 1592T

    This re-discovered portait of Antonietta Gonzales by Lavinia Fontana is at Rob Smeets Gallery of Geneva on Stand 348 at TEFAF Maastricht which runs until March 14. Like her father and siblings Antonietta suffered from hypertrichosis or werewolf syndrome, a genetic disease that causes invasive hair growth. Her father Petrus Gonzales was offered to Henri II, King of France, as a gift for his coronation and worked at the royal court under the title Monsieur Sauvage. His eventual marriage to Catherine Raffelin, Antonietta’s mother, is believed to be the basis for the story of Beauty and the Beast.

    Lavinia Fontana, regarded as the first professional woman artist in European art history, is able to capture the tenderness of the ten year old Antonietta with a clear empathy between artist and sitter.

    AN IRISH CONSERVATION PROJECT TO FOCUS MINDS AT TEFAF

    Tuesday, February 20th, 2024
    Ludovico Mazzolino – The Crossing of the Red Sea

    The programming schedule for TEFAF Maastricht includes Conversations on Conservation on March 9 at 3 pm. This will focus on the conservation of Ludovico Mazzolino’s (c. 1480–c. 1530) masterpiece, The Crossing of the Red Sea (1521). The National Gallery of Ireland has received funding from TEFAF to restore the work, which has been part of its collection for over a century. The painting, in its current fragile state, cannot be safely displayed. The Crossing of the Red Sea requires extensive conservation efforts. The National Gallery of Ireland will collaborate with experts in Mazzolino’s work to better understand his artistic practice so that this rare large-scale painting can be sensitively restored and made accessible to the visiting public.

    TEFAF will run from March 9-14 at the MECC Maastricht. It will be preceeded by invitation only days on March 7 and 8.

    (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for January 16, 2024).

    NATIONAL ANTIQUES FAIR AT LIMERICK RACECOURSE

    Saturday, January 27th, 2024
    Annamoe Antiques will feature this 19th century Amharic Ethiopian wall painting on linen

    Whether it be pre-loved Rolex watches, art, antique jewellery, collectible silver, vintage fashion or collectibles the National Antiques Fair at Limerick Racecourse has it on offer this weekend.  Dealers from right around the country will bring their  collections and contribute to an extraordinary assemblage of desirable objects to tempt collectors.  Opening times are from 11 am to 6 pm on both days.

    WINTER DECORATIVE FAIR GETS UNDERWAY IN LONDON

    Tuesday, January 23rd, 2024
    Living in Style Gallery will feature this mid-century modern Italian lotus shaped desk lamp

    The Winter 2024 Decorative Fair opens today at Battersea Park in London and runs until January 28. Since 1985 the design trade has flocked to The Decorative Fairs, which run three times a year, to source the finest choice of unusual and practical English and European antiques, super-stylish 20th century pieces, garden antiques, and a multitude of truly distinctive decorative items that are the making of unique and individual interiors and exteriors. Top trends currently include antique blue and white china and delftware, old-fashioned hall chairs, statement lights, traditional mahogany side tables, art nouveau glass, classical garden statuary, farmhouse refectory tables, modernist studio ceramics, dressers and small decorative mirrors.  Landscape pictures and portraits are also making a comeback.

    ALL KINDS OF EVERYTHING AT NATIONAL ANTIQUES FAIR

    Monday, January 22nd, 2024
    Colin Meyler of Inch, Co. Kerry will bring this oil on paper by Mary Swanzy to the National Antique Fair in Limerick next weekend.

    The National Antiques Fair at Limerick Racecourse next weekend is not set up as some sort of antidote to the Eurovision Song Contest – Ireland’s entry is due to be chosen on the Late Late next Friday evening – but it most definitely promises all kinds of everything. The way we lived, the music we listened to, the way we wore, the way we dined, and all sorts of half forgotten objects that used to accompany our everyday lives will be displayed here in abundance.

    The Purple Onion of Roscommon will bring Patti Boyd’s limited edition photo of Paul, Ringo and John

    The younger moneyed crowd, keen to add to their collections of art or carats, will  have their eye on expensive artworks by luminaries like Mary Swanzy or Kenneth Webb or set out to browse among the jewellery dealers, oldies like me will see things to bring us back…. Back to a time when the word brunch was unknown and when it was not unusual to get breakfast underway with half a grapefruit in a glass bowl along with a shaped spoon and a serrated silver knife designed to segment it, adorned perhaps with half a red cherry. If you feel a pang of nostalgia for those days then dealer Edwin Mercer has just the thing. He will bring a boxed grapefruit set, dated to 1927, with cut crystal dishes, two Sheffield silver spoons and serrated knife in a box set retailed by D. Stewart, Jewllery, Stirling.

    Edwin Mercer will bring this 1927 boxed grapefruit set

     A limited edition photo of Paul, Ringo and John by model and photographer Pattie Boyd, married sequentially both to George Harrison and Eric Clapton, will be of interest to Beatles fans. Art by Mary Swanzy does not turn up at fairs every day but dealer Conal Meyler from Inch will bring an unframed oil on paper. He deals mostly in 17th and 18th century Chinese porcelain and effects and is a relative newcomer to the fairs.  A large fair like this one is dynamic and in an era when so many antique shops have vanished a number of new dealers are emerging.  There will be more than 80 shops, dealers and galleries present and nine of them are making a first appearance.Fair organiser Robin O’Donnell of Hibernian Antique Fairs will bring a late 18th century Irish coromandel wood campaign chest.  He describes it as the best example of a military campaign chest that he has come across in 40 years in the antiques business. It is complete with carrying handles and a fully fitted bureau.With dealers from all over the country this two day fair will run from 11 am to 6 pm on January 27 and 28.  If the idea of a stroll into Aladdin’s Cave floats your boat then this promises to be a not to be missed show.

    Robin O’Donnell will bring this late 18th century Irish campaign chest in coromandel wood 

    A WONDERFUL TIFFANY PEONY LAMP

    Sunday, January 21st, 2024

    This Tiffany peony lamp is being shown by  Macklowe Gallery, New York at the premier art, antiques and design fair in the United States, the New York Winter Show. Now in full swing there is a total of 70 internationally known dealers taking part.  Museum quality works from antiquity to the present day are on display.  This year the show is celebrating its 70th anniversary.  It runs until January 28.

    THE WINTER SHOW IS ABOUT TO KICK OFF IN NEW YORK

    Thursday, January 18th, 2024
    One of a pair of Louis XV period armchairs which Galerie Léage, Paris will bring to the Winter Show

    More than 70 internationally renowned dealers from Europe and the Americas have assembled in New York for The Winter Show which runs from January 19-28 after the opening night party on January 18. The premier art, antiques and design fair in America will feature a breadth of works spannign 5000 years from antiquity to today. Pictured here is one of a pair of A La Reine armchairs of the Lous XV period attributed to Louis Delanois and carved with gilt wood. They will be exhibited by Galerie Léage, Paris.

    “In the 70 years that The Winter Show has shown in New York, it has consistently addressed the shifting role and value of art, antiques, and design within our communities,” said Helen Allen, Executive Director of The Winter Show. “We are thrilled to celebrate this momentous anniversary with returning presenters and patrons, while also welcoming new audiences to the Show and to the mission of East Side House. We are part of an exciting revival honoring objects that prioritize craftmanship and style. More importantly, each presentation honors a story of the past and its continued legacy in the present moment. The Winter Show offers a platform for a generation with renewed interest in design lead by storytelling, craftsmanship, and sustainability, and invites visitors to participate in an experience that also supports New Yorkers in need.”