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  • Archive for August, 2017

    GONE WITH THE GAVEL AT SOTHEBY’S

    Wednesday, August 30th, 2017

    Vivien Leigh’s collection. to be auctioned in London on September 26, was unveiled in full by Sotheby’s today. Hundreds of items owned by the star of Gone With the Wind include diaries, family photographs, paintings, library and personal belongings.  Highlights include an inscribed silver goblet by Georg Jensen, a wedding present to Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier from Katharine Hepburn, their maid of honour. A first edition of Casino Royale, the first James Bond novel, is estiamted at £7,000-9,000 and there is a selection of items at £1,000 and under, £500 and under and £100 and under.

    PHOTOGRAPHIC STILLS FROM GONE WITH THE WIND

    Gold ring Laurence Olivier Vivien Eternally

    A PORTRAIT OF VIVIEN LEIGH BY AUGUSTUS JOHN

    A WOVEN SILK EVENING SHAWL BY PIERRE BALMAIN (£50-100)

     

     

    NEW YORK AWARD FOR DESIGN IRELAND

    Sunday, August 27th, 2017

    The Design and Crafts Council of Ireland booth featuring seven Irish makers won the best curation award at the Accent on Design Awards at this years NYNOW.   The booth w0wed visitors from throughout the US and more than 80 countries.  The seven brands it featured are Arran Street East, Avoca Woollen Mills, Bunny and Clyde, Field Apothecary, J. Hill’s Standard, Stable of Ireland and Diem Pottery.  Each is featured on DesignIreland.ie, the online platform developed by the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland.

    Bunny and Clyde nursery and children furniture

    A selection of products form Arran Street East

    THE POET TURNED PAINTER OF COOLE PARK

    Sunday, August 27th, 2017
    All that remains of the house at Coole Park – home to Lady Gregory and forever associated with the Irish literary renaissance – is the plinth on which it once stood.  Two pastels of the vanished house by the poet WB Yeats will come up at Sotheby’s sale of 220 lots of the Yeats family collection in London on September 27.
    Like the rest of his siblings the poet WB Yeats was a trained artist. He dearly loved this house and the grounds on which it stood, now a nature reserve. His poem The Wild Swans at Coole was inspired by this landscape near Gort and he described it as “the most beautiful place in the world”.
    The most expensively estimated lot in the sale is the long series of letters he wrote to Olivia Shakespear, his life long friend and first lover, which is estimated at £250,000-350,000.  The Runaway Horse is the most valuable of the 35 artworks by Jack B Yeats and is estimated at £150,000-250,000.  Many lots from among the personal effects of John Butler Yeats and his children, poet WB, embroidery designer Lily, printing press pioneer Lolly and artist Jack, have much more affordable estimates.
    Among these is a textile by Lily illustrating The Lake Isle of Innisfree (£1,500-2,500), the Yeats family dining table acquired by WB with money awarded when he won the Nobel Prize in 1923 (£1,500-2,500), a portrait by WB’s muse and sometimes lover Maud Gonne of her daughter Iseult (£2,000-3,000), Jack’s artist palette (£200-300), WB’s late 19th century Canton chess set (£2,500-3,500), the Yeats family scrapbook with 47 drawings by William, Jack, Lily and Lolly (4,000-6,000) and a handmade boat by the Poet Laureate John Masefield (£700-900).

    Highlights will be on view at the RHA Gallery in Dublin from September 14-16 and viewing in London gets underway on September 22.  The auction on September 27 is on the same day at Sotheby’s annual Irish art sale.

    Coole, coloured pastels by William Butler Yeats (£7,000-10,000) UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £43,750

    WB Yeats Writing Bureau, England 18th century (£20,000-30,000)  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £187,500

    Jack Butler Yeats – William Butler Yeats reading in the garden Bedford Park (£8,000-12,000)  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £30,000

    The Yeats family dining table (England 20th century) 1,500-2,500.  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £8,000 AT HAMMER

    SHEPPARDS SALE ON VIEW IN DUBLIN THIS WEEKEND

    Friday, August 25th, 2017

    Antique furniture, silver, a pair of 18th century English paintings, chandeliers, mirrors and collectibles will all feature at Sheppards sale of contents from Lota, Brighton Road, Foxrock, Dublin on August 29.  Viewing is at the Dublin house from August 26-28, the sale takes place at Sheppards in Durrow, Co. Laois.  The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:

    Cork Regency serving table (5,000-7,000)

    19th century French chandelier (2,500-3,500)

    Irish silver claret jug Dublin 1843 (3,000-5,000)

    A pair of 18th century English School artworks (3,000-5,000)

    RARE BRUSH WASHER FROM NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY

    Thursday, August 24th, 2017

    Ru guanyao brush washer from the Northern Song Dynasty.

    AN extremely rare Ru guanyao brush washer from the the Northern Song Dynasty comes up at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong on October 3.  From the Le Cong Tang collection it is one of only four known heirloom Ru wares in private hands and is estimated to make as much as US$10 million. Ru guanyao, the court ware of the late Northern Song (960-1127), was commissioned by the imperial court and is the most revered of the Five Great Kilns. Its quasi mythical status over the millennium can be attributed to its short-lived production period, generally believed to not have exceeded twenty years. With its glowing, intense blue-green glaze, its luminous, complex interlaced ‘ice crackle’ pattern, its classic, excellently proportioned shape, and its three fine ‘sesame seed’ spur marks, this brush washer, formerly in the collection of the Chang Foundation in the Hongxi Museum, Taipei, is a pre-eminent example of Ru guanyao and incarnates to perfection the ware’s revered qualities. While seemingly small and unobtrusive, these understated aesthetics reflect the calibre and meticulousness of its craftsmanship, a quiet metaphor of Chinese philosophy celebrated by erudite connoisseurs and scholars throughout time.

    Other major highlights include an exceptional Xuande-marked porcelain jar painted in rich tones of cobalt-blue with a pair of makaras which was part of the 1968 Oriental Ceramics Society Exhibition, an extremely fine and rare blue and white ‘bajixiang’ bowl which has not been seen in the market for thirty years and an important documentary Tibetan gilt-inscribed jade river pebble ‘kapala’ box which marked the occasion in 1783 when the Eighth Dalai Lama was presented with an imperial jade edict by the Qianlong Emperor. A total of six sales this season offer more than 230 lots estimated in excess of HK$600 million / US$77 million.

    THE STORY OF IRISH FOOTBALL AT WHYTE’S

    Wednesday, August 23rd, 2017

    The Fergus Reid Collection of Irish Football Programmes will be a feature at Whyte’s Eclectic Collector sale in Dublin on September 9.  A devoted Bohemians supporters he was a lifelong collector of football programmes. The collection  follows the story of Irish football from the 1930’s to the new millennium.  The earliest international programme is for Ireland v Hungary in Dalymount Park in December 1936.  Some of the most sought after are for matches between domestic teams and the giants of European football like the game between Manchester United and a Home Farm selection at Dalymount Park in 1956 less than two years before the Munich air disaster. The match programme is signed by teams and managers.

    Collectibles including historical documents and artefacts, sporting memorabilia, militaria, coins, banknotes, rare books, silverware and curios will all feature in this sale.  The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:

    Busby’s Babes v Home Farm Selection, 1956  UPDATE: THIS MADE 210 EURO

    IRELAND V. HUNGARY 1936  UPDATE: THIS MADE 420 AT HAMMER

    19TH CENTURY SOUTHERN AFRICAN SPEARS  UPDATE: THESE MADE 170 AT HAMMER

    AN EDWARD VII GOLD SOVEREIGN  UPDATE: THIS MADE 240 EURO

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    WILLIAM IV CARD TABLES AT WOODWARDS IN CORK

    Tuesday, August 22nd, 2017

    A  pair of William IV card tables and a pair of Coalbrookdale garden benches are feature lots at the Woodwards sale in Cork on August 26.  The auctioneers will offer contents from two estates and three house sales. There is an Eileen Gray c1027 chrome table, a Sheraton inlaid credenza as well as a commode, a bonheur du jour and a walnut desk all in the style Louis XV. There is a selection of collectible items including old comics, glass and porcelain.  The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:

    A selection of comics and annuals

    An Eileen Gray e1027 table

    A Sheraton credenza  UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,400

    A bonheur du jour  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 1,800

    PIANO PLAYED BY STEVIE WONDER AT McILROY WEDDING AT AUCTION

    Saturday, August 19th, 2017

    The Yamaha baby grand piano. UPDATE: THIS MADE 7,800 AT HAMMER

    The baby grand piano played by Stevie Wonder at Rory McIlroy’s wedding is among the lots at Aidan Foley’s two day sale of contents from Ashford Castle in Cong, Co. Mayo on August 21 and 22.  The black Yamaha is estimated at 2,000-3,000.  The sale of around 900 lots will feature residual contents from the hotel before it was refurbished by its new owners.  On offer is everything from sideboards to mirrors to wine racks, occasional tables and upholstered armchairs.

    Two previous auctions of contents from Ashford Castle by Aidan Foley were sold out in July 2014 and February 2015.  The sale next week is of contents put aside for possible use in the refurbishment which were in fact never used. An Irish 18th century architects table with a panel bookcase top is estimated at 3,000-5,000, a 19th century serpentine walnut cabinet is estimated at 1,200-1,500.
    (See post on antiquesndartireland.com for August 16, 2017)

    THE LIVES AND LOVES OF THE YEATS FAMILY AT SOTHEBY’S

    Saturday, August 19th, 2017

    The lives and loves of the Yeats family will be illuminated in letters, works of art and personal effects to be sold at Sotheby’s in London on September 27.  The sale of over 220 lots from one of Ireland’s most internationally known families of the 20th century comprises the personal effects of John Butler Yeats and his four children, poet W.B., embroidery designer Lily, printing press pioneer Lolly and artist Jack. Highlighting the collection is an archive of 133 letters from WB Yeats to his life long friend and first lover Olivia Shakespear spanning over 40 years from 1894 to 1936.  They offer drafts of his poems, advice on her novels, his work, life and reading and changes in Irish society in a total of about 350 pages.  The estimate is £250,000-350,000.

    The Runaway Horse is the most valuable of the 35 artworks by Jack Yeats in the sale. It is estimated at £150,000-250,000.  The auction  contains the largest ever offering of works by John Butler Yeats (1839-1922) whose eleven sketchbooks depict his family, the Irish countryside and celebrated contemporaries and friends such as John O’Leary, Hugh Lane, Sarah Purser and Mary Walker.  His final self portrait commissioned by the New York lawyer, collector and patron of the arts John Quinn in 1911 is estimated at £30,000-50,000.

    The property is from the three children of Michael Yeats (WB’s son) from the family home near Dublin.  The family have made many generous donations to the National Library over the years including the WB Yeats medal for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

    Series of 133 letters signed by WB Yeats to his friend and early lover Olivia Shakespear (250,000-350,000)  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    John Butler Yeats – Jack in a straw hat £10,000-15,000  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 10,000

    John Butler Yeats – Self Portrait, New York (30,000-50,000)  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £87,500

    MAN RAY PHOTOGRAPH OF JAMES JOYCE

    Friday, August 18th, 2017

    James Joyce by Man Ray

    This 1922 photograph of James Joyce by Man Ray comes up at Whyte’s Eclectic Collector sale in Dublin on September 9.  The framed photogravure print is estimated at 700-1,000.

    In other Joyce related material the auction includes a first signed American edition of Ulysses estimated at 1,500-2,000.

    There is a wide range of collectibles on offer.  The sale features historical documents and artefacts, sporting memorabilia including The Fergus Reid Collection of Irish Football Programmes, medals and militaria, edged weapons and firearms, a range of gold and silver coinage and banknotes.

    There are rare books including first editions by Oliver Goldsmith, James Joyce and Flann Ó Briain; early printed maps of Ireland and America; Polar Exploration books and collectibles, antique silverware, vertu and curios.