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White plaster portrait bust of Charles Stewart Parnell
A plaster portrait bust of Charles Stewart Parnell is the leading lot at the sale by South Dublin Auctions on August 9. Created by artist Mary Grant in 1892 it is likely that this is a cast after the one in the National Portrait Gallery in London. The estimate is €3,000-€6,000. Among 1380 lots on offer are contents from a Limerick antique shop, a London penthouse, jewellery and small collectible pieces.
David Ffrench Le Roy – STILL LIFE CHEESE WINE & GRAPES
This oil on board by David Ffrench le Roy is at an online auction of Irish paintings by Adams Blackrock which runs until August 12. Lot 33 is estimated at €500-€600 in a sale of 421 lots. Online sales of jewellery and watches and of antiques and furniture are running concurrently at Adams Blackrock. The furniture sale includes this canteen of assorted silver flatware, with an estimate of €1,000-€1,200. All catalogues are online.
CANTEEN OF ASSORTED SILVER FLATWARE
This Italian sandstone model of three cherubs at play following a classical design heads up Fonsie Mealy’s sale of garden furniture and outdoor effects in Castlecomer on August 12. The estimate is €1,500-€2,000. There are 192 lots on offer with estimates from €40 to €2,000. Among them are statues, urns, garden seats and tables, a horse trough, a 19th century pony trap, mill wheels, bird baths and advertising signs. The catalogue is online.
Nude by the Sea is the title of this arresting 1941 oil on canvas by Ireland’s pioneering abstract and modernist artist Mainie Jellett (1897-1944). With its intensity and flowing background it must have seemed beyond futuristic to most Irish viewers in 1941. It was shown at the Jellett exhibition at the Irish Museum of Modern Art from December 1991 to March 1992 and at a retrospective of the artist at the Municipal Gallery in Dublin in 1962. The painting was catalogued for that show as Composition with Figure. Nude by the Sea is among a selection of works already consigned to Whyte’s next sale of Important Irish Art, which is to take place on September 28. Not surprisingly Whyte’s anticipate significant interest in this bright and highly polished work by an important figure in Irish art history.
This George III side table made €1,200 at hammer at Adams.
At a time when stylish but everyday antique furniture has been all but ignored by the market it was cheering to see a number of pieces making above estimate prices at Adam’s warehouse auction in Dublin last week. The top lot in the sale, a Georgian semi-elliptical side table with an inlaid top and compartmental frieze, made €1,200 at hammer over a high estimate of €800.
Then an Edwardian mahogany wardrobe with twin astragal glazed doors made €1,200 at hammer over a top estimate of €700.
An Edwardian mahogany Carlton House desk made a hammer price of €800, at the top of the estimate. An Edwardian brass framed four glass ceiling lantern made €550 over a top estimate of €400. While these are bargain prices when compared to what the same pieces might have made decades ago things are different now. It might be over optimistic to view such results as a straw in the wind but they are nonetheless encouraging.
Adams will conduct valuations on jewellery, watches, Irish art and fine and decorative art in Cork by appointment only on Tuesday August 4, in Belfast on August 5 and in Dublin on August 6.
An Edwardian wardrobe with astragal glazed doors made €1,200 at hammer at Adams.
A c1750 Irish silver coffee pot UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,000 AT HAMMER
Irish silver, furniture by renowned Dublin maker Robert Strahan and a white gold diamond flower head cluster ring are among the offerings at Hegarty’s online auction in Bandon on August 5.
The faded and now indecipherable maker’s mark on an ornate c1745 Dublin made Irish silver cream jug with a shaped rim and C scroll handle offers a timely lesson. It is important to preserve hallmarks by keeping a thumb upon them when polishing and shining the silver. The cream jug is estimated at €600-€800.
An elegant George II silver coffee pot made by William Townsend in Dublin c1750 is estimated at €3,500-€4,500. The baluster form pot has an ebonised handle, a domed hinged cover with finial, an acanthus leaf mounted on the spout and a circular spreading foot.
An 18 carat white gold diamond flower head cluster ring features a central round cut diamond surrounded by eight diamonds in a raised setting. The total diamond weight amounts to 1.8 carats and the estimate is €2,500-€3,500.
Lot 128 is a two door side table by Robert Strahan. Just 20 inches deep it would fit in most modern homes. There is a raised gallery back and a carved border, with fleur de lys carving on the two doors. The estimate is a mere €400-€800. The catalogue for the auction is online.
A diamond flower head cluster ring UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Johnny Marr’s Rickenbacker 330 Jetglo 1982. Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd.
Johnny Marr, regarded as the guitar genius of a generation, co-founded the groundbreaking 1980’s band The Smiths at the age of 18 in 1982. Since then the Manchester born Irish musician originally named Maher has been a member of The Pretenders, The The, Electronic, The Healers, Modest House and The Cribs. He has collaborated with a roll call of greats across indie, rock, pop and film including The Pet Shop Boys, Talking Heads, Bryan Ferry, Beck, Hans Zimmer, Oasis, Pearl Jam, Noel Gallagher, Billie Eilish, Blondie, Gorillaz and Franz Ferdinand.
Around 80 guitars along with amps and equipment integral to his extraordinarily wide ranging career will come under the hammer at Marr’s Guitars: The Johnny Marr Collection at Christie’s in London on September 17. A 1960 Cherry Red Gibson ES-355 will lead the sale (£100,000-£150,000) (€117,000-€175,600). His 1982 Rickenbacker 330 Jetglo, for many the guitar most strongly associated with his melodic Smiths era sound, is estimated at £60,000-£80,000 (€70,250-€93,660). Estimates in this auction of 95 lots range from £1,000 tp £150,000 (€1,170-€175,600). Johnny Marr will donate 100% of the sale of ten lots to benefit the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association and The National Autistic Society. In June Marr released “Spin” as the lead single for his album The Age of Everything due to be released in October.
Johnny Marr’s 1960 Cherry Red Gibson ES-355. Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd.
Claude Monet – Bord des falaises à Pourville, c1882, estimated at €11–15 million. © Christie’s Images Limited 2026.
Claude Monet died in 1926 and to mark the centenary Christie’s has just announced the auction of Bord des falaises à Pourville estimated at €11–15 million. Encouraged by his dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, Monet travelled to Pourville in Normandy in 1882 for what would become one of the most prolific periods of his career. Part of a landmark series within the artist’s oeuvre, Bord des falaises à Pourville is further distinguished by its exceptional provenance, having come directly from Paul Durand-Ruel’s personal collection. The painting will highlight of Christie’s sale of the Durand-Ruel Collection in Paris next October 22 during Art Basel Paris week.
The Bayeux Tapestry. © La Fabrique de patrimoines en Normandie, Antoine Cazin
If you thought that getting tickets for Glastonbury was difficult then try getting to see one of the wonders of the medieval world. The 70 metre long Bayeux Tapestry, depicting events leading up to the Norman Conquest and the Battle of Hastings in 1066, is the hottest ticket in London town. The tapestry has returned to England for the first time since it was made nearly 1,000 years ago. Historians believe it was commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux, half brother to William the Conqueror.
Stitched in wool on linen fabric – so not actually a tapestry – it was made by women in England, possibly nuns, before being taken across the Channel. It offers a vision of life in 11th century England before and after the Conquest, from castles, warfare and ships to clothing, food and furniture. It will be on display laid flat and in one long line at the British Museum from next September until July 2027. Demand has been unprecedented with almost 100,000 tickets sold on the first day. Around 7.5 million visitors are expected to see it in England, with tickets being released in phases by the British Museum.
Bayeux Tapestry
Jackson Pollock’s Number 7A 1948 is the most expensive painting sold at auction this year.
Record half year results at Christie’s and Sotheby’s reveal an international market that is booming. In an unequal world that is wealthier than ever before it has been an extraordinary year so far on many fronts.
In the first six months of 2026 consolidated sales at Sotheby’s hit $4.4 billion (€3.85 billion), a 58% increase on the same period in 2025. Christie’s reported first half revenues of $4.6 billion (€4.02 billion) in the same period and sold the most expensive painting.
Jackson Pollock’s Number 7A 1948 made a record $181.2 million (€158.39 million) in New York in May, a record for the artist and a record for a painting sold at auction this year.
All markets are subject to highs and lows but the current boom is different. This market is driven by quality. Buyers are parting with their money with great discrimination. Speculative spenders are absent. The onus on auction houses is to find works to sell that are of museum quality.
Constantin Brancusi – Danaïde sold for $107 million (€93.53 million) at Christie’s.
How is this achieved? Much of the answer lies in collections. The taste for high art develops as serious interest grows. Most people expand their horizons during their collecting journey. There is so much to learn. Art collecting is a lifetime interest that richly rewards anyone, wealthy or not. But the fabulous collections amassed by discriminating and wealthy collectors over many years underpin the successes seen so far in 2026.
The Pollock painting came from the private collection of the late Condé Nast publisher S I Newhouse. The sale price nearly tripled the previous record for the artist and propelled the Newhouse Collection forward to achieve $631 million (€551.56 million). The 20th Century evening sale at Christie’s on the same May evening in New York made $490.3 million (€428.57 million) for an evening art sale total of over $1.1 billion (€960 million).
Pablo Picasso – Portrait of Dora Maar from the Lewis Collection.
At the Masterpieces from The Lewis Collection sale at Sotheby’s in London 25 paintings made £296 million (€342.95 million) and nine works, led by Modigliani’s Seated Nude with Necklace (£48.2 million – €55.84 million), sold for more than ten million. In total the collection of former Tottenham Hotspur owner Joe Lewis made £355.02 million (€417.43 million) to become the highest value single owner collection ever sold in the UK. In New York Robert Mnuchin’s collection of the titans of American Abstract Expressionism made $173 million (€152.22 million).
The first single owner design sale at Sotheby’s new hq at The Breuer building in New York – the collection of Jean and Terry de Gunzberg – made $96 million (€83.91). This was the most valuable design sale in US auction history.
Both Sotheby’s and Christie’s have a pipeline of autumn and winter sales that promise to make 2026 a year to remember in the saleroom.
The New York home of Terry and Jean de Gunzburg.
