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  • Archive for April, 2018

    A 1911 MALEVICH LANDSCAPE AT CHRISTIE’S IN JUNE

    Wednesday, April 18th, 2018

    Kazimir Malevich, Landscape, 1911

    Kazimir Malevich’s Landscape (1911) will be a highlight of Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art evening sale in London on June 20.  This will be part of a series of auctions taking place from June 15 to 21 under the umbrella of ‘20th Century at Christie’s’.

    The monumental, square-format landscape is from ‘The Red Series’, a group of works characterised by gestural brush strokes and an expressive use of colour, referencing both Fauvism and Cubism, and anticipating Malevich’s move towards Suprematism. The red-hot gleam on the horizon is a direct depiction of the sun, one of the unique features of the painting that foretells the primacy of colour that would define Suprematism.

    Landscape was first exhibited in the ‘Moscow Salon’ in February / March 1911. It was shown the following year in St. Petersburg as part of ‘The Union of Youth’, where Malevich represented a radical collective known as ‘Donkey’s Tail’.  In 1927, he was invited to Germany to show his work for the first time outside Russia and brought with him the best works of his career to date. Landscape was one such work and remained in Berlin after Malevich returned to Russia. Due to the rise of totalitarianism in Germany and in his home country, the artist lost control of his works abroad before he died in 1935. Landscape resurfaced after the war and was acquired by the Kunstmuseum Basel, where it hung for over 50 years, before being restituted to the heirs of the artist.  It is estimated at £7-10 million.

    POSTER OF THE FIRST DAIL AT WHYTE’S ECLECTIC COLLECTOR SALE

    Tuesday, April 17th, 2018

    A poster of the sitting of the First Dail in 1919.  UPDATE: THIS MADE 460 AT HAMMER

    A poster of the sitting of the First Dail in the Mansion House, Dublin in 1919 is among the lots at Whyte’s Eclectic Collector sale in Dublin on May 5.  Centred with a photograph of the sitting the poster is surrounded by oval photograph portraits of the elected members. In an oak frame it is estimated at 300-500.

    The auction will offer historical documents and artefacts, sporting memorabilia, film posters, rock and pop collectibles, medals and militaria, coins and a collection of James II “Gunmoney”, banknotes, rare books, early printed maps of Ireland and elsewhere, antique silverware and curios including antique tribal masks from the Congo.  More than 500 lots will come under the hammer.

    AN IRISH SILVER GIFT FROM HENRY FORD TO THE ROCKEFELLERS

    Monday, April 16th, 2018

    This two handled Irish silver cup was a 1940 wedding gift to David and Peggy Rockefeller from Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ford of Dearborn, Michigan.  It will come up at Christie’s in New York on May 10 as part of Christie’s auction of the Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller. The sales of approximately 1,550 auction lots includes one of the largest and most important collections of decorative arts to come to market in decades. Around 900 lots will come up at the New York saleroom on May 8, 9 and 10 and there will be a companion online sale of 650 lots to open worldwide on May 1. A number of philanthropic causes are to benefit from the auction.

    The silver cup, with the mark of Robert Calderwood, Dublin c , is estimated at $2,000-3,000 dollars.  Banker and philanthropist David Rockefeller, who died last year aged 101, was chairman of Chase Manhattan Corporation.  His wife, the former Peggy McGrath, died in 1996.  They had six children.

    UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $3,250

    BASEBALL BAT GIFT FROM BABE RUTH TO THE GAA AT FONSIE MEALY

    Monday, April 16th, 2018

    A baseball bat given by Babe Ruth to the GAA comes up at Fonsie Mealy’s Rare Book and Collectors sale at the Ormonde Hotel in Kilkenny on May 2.  The most famous of all players Babe Ruth’s career in major league baseball spanned 22 seasons from 1914 to 1935.  He gave this original Spalding B12 baseball bat to Frank McGrath, manager of the Tipperary team, on their visit to the US in 1926.

    The handle grip is stamped 35″.  Lot 812 also includes a gold shield shape stamped on an enamel inset medal to commorate Ireland v. America, Polo Grounds, May 30th, 1926. The lot comes complete with a manuscript provenance letter from the family and is estimated at 4,000-6,000.

    UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,200 AT HAMMER

    140th ANNUAL EXHIBITION OF DUBLIN PAINT CLUB

    Sunday, April 15th, 2018
    The 140th annual exhibition of the Dublin Painting and Sketching Club  opens today at CHQ, Custom House Dock. This return to the city centre is celebrated in a River Liffey theme to this large national group show.  For the past 19 years the venue has been in Dun Laoghaire. Around 170 works by 100 artists will offer a broad range of styles to suit both traditional and contemporary taste. Along with the River Liffey them are landscapes, still lifes, portraits, floral studies, animal and life studies. The founders of the club in 1874 included Bram Stoker, Alfred Grey and Alexander Williams.  The show continues until April 29.

    Margo Banks – Liffey Source, Wicklow

    Aidan Hickey – River Spirit

    Patrick Cahill – The Luas in Abbey St., evening light.

    Darragh Treacy – Winter Light, the Liffey.

    VARIETY AT ADAMS AT HOME SUNDAY SALE

    Thursday, April 12th, 2018

    There is plenty of variety in the nearly 500 lots at the At Home sale at James Adam on Sunday April 15.  The catalogue is online.  Here is a small selection:

    A 1960S THREE PIECE “INDEPENDENCE” SOFA SUITE BY KARL WITTMANN, comprising two easy chairs and a sofa (3,000-5,000)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 8,500 AT HAMMER

    JOHN FREDERICK HERRING SENIOR (1795 – 1865) ‘Feeding time’ (4,000-6,000)  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    AN IRISH GEORGE III MAHOGANY LONGCASE CLOCK, by William Cartwright of Dublin (3,000-5,000)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,200 AT HAMMER

    A BURR WALNUT, EBONY AND IVORY INLAID SIDE CABINET IN THE AESTHETIC TASTE, C.1870, attributed to Lamb of Manchester (1,500-2,500)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,400 AT HAMMER

    IRISH ART AT DE VERES SALE IN DUBLIN

    Wednesday, April 11th, 2018

    There will be a sale of Irish art by de Veres in Dublin on April 17. Artists represented include William Scott, Paul Henry, Roderic O’Conor, Gerard Dillon, Daniel O’Neill, Tony O’Malley, Mark Francis, Patrick Scott and Rowan Gillespie. The venue for the auction is the Royal College of Physicians on Kildare St.  Viewing opens on April 13 at de Veres on Kildare St.  The catalogue is online.

    Patrick Scott HRHA
    FIRE ISLAND (3,000-5,000)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 7,500 AT HAMMER

    Gerard Dillon
    CLOAK & CUPBOARD (4,000-6,000)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 12,000 AT HAMMER

    ANTIQUE AND GARDEN FURNITURE AT WOODWARDS

    Tuesday, April 10th, 2018

    Antique and garden furniture will be on offer at Woodwards sale in Cork on April 14.  There is a Sheffield five piece silver service (2,000-3,000), a pair of large garden vases (1,800-2,200), a Victorian d-end dining table (800-1,200) and a Georgian rosewood card table (800-1,200).

    Among the other lots are a yew chest of drawers (300-400), a pair of cast iron garden benches (1,500-2,000), a set of four garden statues (500-800), a set of balloon back dining chairs (300-400), a Victorian breakfront sideboard (400-600), a pair of Georgian lockers (300-400), a round walnut centre table I400-500) and a selection of bookshelves.  There is a selection of Waterford Crystal, jewellery, rugs, porcelain and collectibles.  The catalogue is online.

    Sheffield five piece silver service

    A pair of Georgian style chests

    IS CHANGE ON THE WAY TO BROWN FURNITURE MARKET?

    Sunday, April 8th, 2018

    This chair now at Apter-Fredericks was at the 1954 Grosvenor House Antiques Fair where it was described as having survived since about 1750 with the patina of age unspoilt by restoration.

    For many years now the market for so called “brown furniture” has been in the doldrums.  At last this just might be starting to change. Renewed interest in antique furniture has been noted on the international market.

    After the Winter Antiques Show in New York premier London dealers Apter-Fredericks reported that they had engaged with clients in a way that suggested brown furniture might be back. Since the January show Apter Fredericks say that English furniture continued to sell well in February and March.  Demand, they say, has returned and regular sales are continuing.
    New York’s winter show is the leading art, antiques and design fair in the US. If influential designers  and their clients there are showing interest in brown furniture it is safe to assume that the rest of the market will not be far behind.  Such a development is as welcome as it is long overdue.
    This should be of great interest in Ireland as we tend to mirror international trends very closely.  Things are improving here since the depths of the recession, but when it comes to antique furniture there is still an awful lot of ground to be made up.
    Apter-Fredericks, a long established third generation London institution based on Fulham Road in Chelsea, report that designers and clients alike are recognising the warmth that rich woods and patina bring to a room.  “As news of this renewed interest spreads so will the finer things start coming to the market”.  This institution will always select furniture based on colour, patination, originality and value.  And so should you.

    PERFECT 102 CARAT DIAMOND SOLD PRIVATELY THROUGH SOTHEBY’S

    Friday, April 6th, 2018

    102.34 carat perfection

    The only known round brilliant diamond over 100 carats to have achieved perfection by all critical criteria: colour, clarity, cut and carat has been acquired through Sotheby’s Diamonds by a private collector.  The identity of the new owner has not been revealed.  Sotheby’s say it was purchased for a price per carat which far exceeds that for any colourless diamond sold at auction.  The current auction record price per carat for a white diamond is US$260,252, set at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong in 2013.

    Coinciding with the sale of Sotheby’s has sourced  two white stones, each one weighing over 50 carats, and both of the same extraordinary colour and clarity as the 102.34 carat stone.  They will come up in Geneva on May 15.

    The first of the two stones is a round, brilliant cut diamond which, at 51.71 carats, ranks as the second largest D Flawless brilliant-cut diamond ever to have appeared at auction.  It is estimated at US$8.2-9.5 million. The second stone, similarly perfect, weighs 50.39 carats but is oval, rather than round; it too is the second largest D Flawless diamond of its shape ever to have come to auction. It is estimated at US$7.3-8 million.