The Tain, Army Massing (1969). (Click on image to enlarge).
A complete set of 20 Aubusson tapestries of Louis le Brocquy’s images from Ireland’s epic saga An Táin Bo Cuailgne (The Cattle Raid of Cooley) made 294,000 including fees at Whyte’s Irish art auction in Dublin on May 21. An anonymous Irish collector bid 245,000 for the set. The estimate was 250,000-300,000.
Each one from the set is signed by maitre-lissier Rene Duche and signed, numbered, titled and dated by le Brocquy and Duche. They were exhibited at Agnew’s in London in May 2001, and purchased there by the vendor from last night’s sale.
The sale grossed over 1.3 million. See post on antiquesandartireland.com for May 15, 2012.