The complete bar from Kiely’s of Mount Merrion at Aidan Foley’s sale.
The complete bar from Kiely’s of Mount Merrion or a De Sede white modular sofa first launched in 1972 – the choice is yours at upcoming auctions by Aidan Foley and James Adam this month.
The sofa would have been very much out of place in a traditional setting like Kiely’s but would make itself very much at home in any large luxurious contemporary space. Designed by Eleanoa Peduzzi-Riva, Ueli Berger, Klaus Vogt and Heinz Ulrich it is complete with 22 sections with which multiple compositions can be created. At their Mid Century Modern sale in Dublin on May 21 Adams estimate it at €10,000-€15,000.
The bar at Kiely’s is a real deal throwback, laden with memory. It is a highlight at Aidan Foley’s online auction in conjunction with Niall Mullen at Oldcastle on May 21 and 22. All sorts of pub memorabilia will come under the hammer and the catalogue is online. The estimate on the complete bar is a mere €1,000-€2,000.
DS-600 modular sofa in white leather at James Adam.
The Allnatt, a fancy vivid yellow diamond of 101.29 carats at Sotheby’s, Geneva.
Kashmir sapphires, Burmese rubies, Colombian emeralds and lots and lots of diamonds – what’s not to like? Traditionally this is the month for sales which bring a global audience of very rich buyers to Geneva for eye watering jewels with all sorts of exotic provenance and stories histories.
The collections of modern and historic jewellery at sales like these are fascinating. Some lots make millions. But passion for fine jewellery is not the exclusive preserve of the super rich. There will be plenty of pickings for the rest of us at sales on May 14 at both James Adam in Dublin and Matthews in Kells and O’Reilly’s in Dublin on May 15 with no shortage of choices across all price levels.
An exceptional pigeon’s blood ruby and diamond ring at Christie’s. The 5.03 carat ruby originated in Burma (Myanmar).
On the international scene yellow diamonds are the flavour of the month this month. Christie’s will offer The Yellow Rose in Geneva on May 15, an unmounted rare fancy intense yellow pear modified and brilliant cut diamond of 202.18 carats. Like most intense yellow diamonds it is from South Africa where deposits are rich in nitrogen.
Sotheby’s claim to have one of the world’s most significant fancy vivid yellow diamonds as a highlight of their magnificent jewels sale in Geneva on May 14. The Allnatt – named for its first recorded owner Major Alfred Allnatt, renowned British racehorse owner, philanthropist and patron of the arts – weighs in at 101.29 carats and is celebrated for its richly saturated gold colour, older cutting style and elegant 1950’s mounting by Cartier. It too originates in South Africa and the estimate is 5.6 million – 6.5 million Swiss francs (€5.74 million – €6.67 million).
Both sales are distinguished by one of a kind pieces and historic and modern jewellery from houses like Harry Winston, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Tiffany, JAR and many others.
Turquoise, lapis lazuli and diamond bracelet at Adams.
Meantime in Ireland viewing is underway both in Dublin and in Kells for the jewellery sales on May 14 at Adams and Matthews and the regular monthly jewellery and silver sale at O’Reilly’s of Francis St. in Dublin takes place on Wednesday. Top lots at Adams include a c1960 Serpenti bracelet watch and a ruby and diamond ring both by Bulgari. Each is estimated at €40,000-€60,000. A rare turquoise, lapis lazuli and diamond bracelet by Fred, Paris c1960 is estimated at €20,000-€30,000.
A Trinity bangle by Cartier is estimated at €6,000-€8,000 while a Trinity ring by the same maker (€700-€900) is one of a selection of lots available at under €1,000 in a catalogue with 268 lots in total.
A vintage diamond and enamel ring by David Morris hallmarked London 1975 is the top lot at O’Reilly’s with an estimate of €58,000-€65,000. It comes with a gold rope link and black enamel surround. A total of 234 lots will come under the hammer.
A selection of lots from Matthews
In Kells the auction at Matthews will offer silver and gold from various executor instructions, pawnbrokers unredeemed pledges and lots from private clients. The top lot is a Toi et Moi diamond ring (€12,000-€18,000). There is much to choose from in a wide selection of rings, brooches, bracelets, earrings, pendants and wristwatches. Happy hunting….
THIS triptych by Francis Bacon – a lithograph in Arches wove paper and number 2 from an edition of 60 – comes up as lot 22 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish online art auction which runs until May 20. Each is signed on the lower right. It was co-published by Edition Frédéric Birr and Michel Archimbaud for Librairie Séguier, Paris in 1989. The estimate is €20,000-€30,000.
DISCOVERY, 1952 – JACK BUTLER YEATS RHA (1871-1957)
The distinguished London-based art critic, John Berger, who visited Jack B. Yeats in Dublin in September 1956, wrote to him about this painting a few weeks later. ‘In your canvas called Discovery, the explorer has to enter the cave, walk past the last lights that circle and fly as though they were moth and candle in one, and go even further, trailing a scarf of shadow – but then suddenly in the explorer’s close-up face it is the spectator who makes the discovery. Perhaps all art’s rather like that. But many must be richer for the discoveries that are made through your being the explorer – I among them’.
Discovery is, at €300,000-€500,000, the most expensively estimated lot at Whyte’s sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on May 27. The catalogue is online.
Johannes Vermeer, (1632–1675) – Mistress and Maid, ca. 1666?67. The Frick Collection, New York, photo: Joseph Coscia Jr.
Vermeer Visits at the National Gallery of Ireland from May 11-August 18 will reunite Mistress and Maid from the Frick with the gallery’s own Vermeer, Woman Writing a Letter with her Maid. While The Frick Collection’s New York residence is currently undergoing a renovation, Mistress and Maid makes an exceptional trip to Dublin, marking only the second time it has left New York since its acquisition in 1919. Before the paintings were on display at the Rijksmuseum’s Vermeer exhibition in 2023, they were last united at the auction of French copper industrialist Eugène Secrétan in Paris in 1889. The painting rarely travels outside its home in New York under the conditions of its bequest.
Mistress and Maid is unusual in Vermeer’s oeuvre in that the composition focuses almost exclusively on the interaction between the figures – the mistress pausing her writing in surprise at the arrival of a letter brought by a maid. The painting is exceptionally large in comparison to Vermeer’s other genre scenes, measuring over a metre in height.
Johannes Vermeer, (1632–1675) – Woman Writing a Letter, with her Maid, c.1670. Presented, Sir Alfred and Lady Beit, 1987 (Beit Collection). Image, National Gallery of Ireland.
The Freedom of the City of Waterford. A Rare Irish gold Freedom Box, William Currie, Dublin, 1752-3
This gold freedom box from an American family collection comes up at Sotheby’s sale of gold boxes and Faberge in Geneva which runs until May 13. It was one of three gold and one silver-gilt freedom boxes given to Lionel Cranfield Sackville, Duke of Dorset, as follows: Waterford, by William Currie, Dublin, circa 1752, (the current box); Kilkenny, also by Currie, Dublin, 1753; Trinity College, Dublin by David King, Dublin,1733, all gold, and in silver-gilt, Wexford, also by Currie, circa 1755. The arms on the cover are those of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lionel Cranfield Sackville, 10th Earl and 1st Duke of Dorset, 1687-1765, K.G., P.C., twice Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1730-37 and 1751-55). The estimate is 15,000-25,000 CHF (€15,350-€25,580).
This George III chest with later paint in Willow Pattern and similar lined drawers is on the stand of Drennan and Sturrock at the Spring Decorative Fair at Battersea Park in London from May 7-12. The fair will feature furniture, lighting, decoration, art, textiles, jewellery and bags. The chest can be found on stand B29 and is priced at £4,200.
A c1838 Cork cream jug with melon body by Richard Garde. UPDATE: THIS MADE 600 AT HAMMER
In Ireland we have a knack for a material that lends grace, style and permanence to all sorts of settings and occasions. So in a fickle era when fashion in antiques and everything else is fast moving it is heartening that silver has retained an enduring appeal.
Special silver sales at Woodwards in Cork, like the one coming up on May 11 are always popular. This one offers some Cork silver – always a draw for serious collectors – along with a selection of Irish flatware, Georgian and Victorian English silverware and plate and the estate of a collector of Royal Irish Silver. Prime lots include a 1970 pair of heavy entree dishes and covers with detachable handles by the Royal Irish Silver Co., Dublin (€2,000-€3,000), a c1775 sugar bowl with scalloped rim by Peter Wills, Cork (€700-€1,000), a c1838 cream jug with melon panelled body by Richard Garde, Cork (€500-€1,000), a pair of 1961 sauce boats (€600-€800) and an Irish butter pail design sugar bowl (€400-€800) both by William Egan and Sons.
A sugar bowl of butter pail design by William Egan & Sons Cork, with Gleninsheen Collar commemorative hallmark for 1973. UPDATE: THIS MADE 850 AT HAMMER
The Italian Version of Popeye Has no Pork in His Diet by Jean-Michel Basquiat at Christie’s
The Italian Version of Popeye Has no Pork in His Diet, a lawn being sprinkled, a haunting portrait of a lover and muse, scientific literature and Irish and Mexican myth getting the surreal treatment all feature at the big art sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in New York this month.
The 20th/21st Century series at Christie’s and masterworks spanning more than a century of production at Sotheby’s underline the glorious diversity of Modern, Contemporary and Post-War Art and the boundary pushing art of now.
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s arresting 1982 work The Italian Version of Popeye has no Pork in His Diet will be a highlight at Christie’s 21st Century evening sale on May 14. Peppered with figures, numbers, shapes and crossed out words it mixes symbols, text and portraiture and is estimated to achieve around $30 million (€28.03 million). It is part of a series featuring tied together wooden supports on which a canvas has been mounted.
In a market that is weaker than latter years Basquiat continues to exert strong pulling power. A highlight at Sotheby’s Contemporary Auction in New York on May 13 is one of the most significant paintings created jointly by Basquiat and Andy Warhol during their famed period of collaboration from 1983 – 1985. “Andy would start one and put something very recognizable on it, or a product logo, and I would sort of deface it” Basquiat said once, while Warhol credited Basquiat with getting him into painting differently. Untitled (1984), a large scale example of this collaborative series, is estimated in the region of $18 million (€16.82 million).
Now aged 86 David Hockney continues to make great art today (he says he does not feel his age when in the studio). Hockney’s mesmerising A Lawn being Sprinkled at Christie’s dates to 1967 and is estimated at $25 million – $35 million (€23.36 million – €32.7 million). It is from the Los Angeles collection of legendary screenwriter, producer and activist Norman Lear and his wife Lyn Davis Lear.
Portrait of George Dyer Crouching by Francis Bacon at Sotheby’s.
Francis Bacon’s Portrait of George Dyer Crouching at Sotheby’s Contemporary evening auction on May 13 dates to 1966 and is the first of a cycle of ten monumental portraits of Dyer created between 1966 and 1968. It offers a haunting glimpse of Dyer – who died from a drugs and drink overdose in Paris two days before the opening of the Francis Bacon Retrospective at the Grand Palais in 1971 – both as hero and a figure of vulnerability. The estimate is $30 million – $50 million (€28.03 million – €46.72 million).
Les Distractions de Dagobert by Leonora Carrington at Sotheby’s.
Born in 1917 to an upper class Catholic family in rural north west England Leonora Carrington’s childhood was shaped on one hand by rigid social structures and on the other by magical myths from her Irish grandmother and nanny. She returned often to Irish legends, especially in works like Les Distractions de Dagobert which is rife with Celtic imagery. Following a rebellious youth, a brief sojourn with the Parisian Surrealist group and a harrowing flight from war torn Europe Carrington painted this tour de force at the age of 28. The centrepiece at her first retrospective exhibition at the Pierre Matisse gallery in New York in 1948 it is at Sotheby’s Modern evening auction on May 15 with an estimate of $1
An image of Samuel Beckett by Louis le Brocquy was the most expensive lot sold at Sotheby’s Irish art sale in Paris today. It made 88,900 against an estimate of 40,000-60,000 in a sale that brought in €529,463. Halloween by Colin Midleton made 63,500 against an estimate of 50,000-80,000 and an image of James Joyce by le Brocquy brought in 63,500 against an estimate of 50,000-70,000. Among the other top lots were A Shining Palace, Venice by William Leech (50,800), Tangier by Sir John Lavery (38,100), Two Clowns Fooling by Camille Souter (21,590), Later Love by Rowan Gillespie (19,050) and Head by Louis le Brocquy (19,050). A 1922 drawing of Michael Collins by Hazel Lavery made 13,970 against a top estimate of 5,000.
