antiquesandartireland.com

Information about Art, Antiques and Auctions in Ireland and around the world
  • ABOUT
  • About Des
  • Contact
  • Archive for June, 2019

    MASTERPIECE IN FULL SWING AT CHELSEA IN LONDON

    Sunday, June 30th, 2019

    FROM Jacobo Bassano to Picasso to Richard Diebenkorn and Sean Scully the Masterpiece fair at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea in London until July 3 offers an unmissable selection of art and antiques. Masterpiece offers the finest works of art, design, furniture and jewellery from antiquity to the present day. It gives collectors and unparalleled opportunity to discover exceptional works across a range of price points. Launched in 2010 to fill the gap created after the end of the old Grosvenor House Antique Fair Masterpiece has established itself as the world’s leading cross collecting fair.  Exhibitors include many of the leading art dealerships in the world spanning all eras and disciplines.

    As in all top global fairs now there is scrupulous vetting in operation.Exceptional Irish antique furniture is offered by Rory Rodgers on stand B20 and fine antique furniture can be found on stands like Ronald Phillips, Apter-Fredericks and Edward Hurst.Modernity of Stockholm offers vintage Scandinavian design with a focus on furniture, lighting and textiles.  The large collection here includes design classics by Hans Wegner, Finn Juhl, Arne Jacobsen, Alvar Aalto, Axel Salto and Josef Frank.There is ancient art and antiquities, contemporary jewellery, rare books and illustrated manuscripts, Indian art and a huge selection of contemporary art.  Book dealer Peter Harrington will showcase an exceptional collection of Ian Fleming material which includes inscribed first editions of every James Bond book published in the author’s lifetime.

    A carved giltwood console table by John Linnell at Thomas Coulbourn

    AT HOME SALE AT JAMES ADAM DUBLIN

    Friday, June 28th, 2019

    The At Home sale at James Adam in Dublin at 11.30 a.m. on June 30 features a wide variety of lots including silver, art, antique furniture, jewellery and collectibles including a Lalique Ceylan glass vase and some Russian Gardner porcelain figures made in Moscow in the 19th century. The catalogue is online.

    A Russian Gardner porcelain figure of a peasant woman, Moscow, 19th century (1,000-1,500). UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,500 AT HAMMER

    ONE GIANT LEAP AT CHRISTIE’S, NEW YORK

    Thursday, June 27th, 2019

    Nearly 200 rare artefacts celebrating space exploration 50 years after Apollo 11 will come up at Christie’s in New York on July 11. One Giant Leap: Celebrating Space Exploration 50 Years After Apollo 11 includes nearly 200 artifacts from NASA missions of the Sixties and Seventies including the Gemini and Apollo programs. The sale highlight is the Apollo 11 Lunar Module Timeline Book ($7- 9 million) used by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to navigate the lunar module Eagle onto the surface of the moon in July 1969. 

    Tranquility Base Photograph The iconic picture of Buzz Aldrin by Neil Armstrong inscribed by Aldrin with Armstrong’s name for the landing site. Buzz Aldrin was photographed by Neil Armstrong moments after both began exploring the surface of the Moon. This large image is inscribed “Tranquility Base, July 20, 1969, Buzz Aldrin and is estimated at $7,000-9,000.

    MASTERPIECE NOW UNDERWAY IN LONDON

    Thursday, June 27th, 2019

    The Masterpiece Fair gets underway in London today and runs until July 3. Located at the South Grounds of the Royal Hospital in Chelsea Masterpiece has established itself as the world’s leading cross-collecting fair. It offers the finest works of art, design, furniture and jewellery, from antiquity to the present day and is billed as unmissable at the height of the London summer season.

    Among the works on show is a beautiful Enignum ash console 2017 by internationally acclaimed Cork furniture maker Joseph Walsh at the Sarah Myerscough stand. It is priced at 48,000 euro.

    Works by Joseph Walsh on display at Sarah Myerscough at Masterpiece. (Photo Ollie Hammick)

    AFFORDABLE IRISH ART ONLINE AT MORGAN O’DRISCOLL SALE

    Wednesday, June 26th, 2019

    A selection of more than 400 lots of affordable Irish art is offered at Morgan O’Driscoll’s current online auction. The sale runs until July 1 between 6.30 p.m. and 11.30 p.m. and the catalogue is online.

    Banksy – Happy Chopper (print) (400-600) UPDATE: THIS MADE 500 AT HAMMER

    IRISH SILVER MOUNTED CARRIAGE PISTOLS AT THOMAS DEL MAR

    Tuesday, June 25th, 2019

    A pair of 12 bore Irish silver mounted pistols by William and John Rigby, Dublin will come up at Thomas Del Mar’s auction of antique arms and armour in London on July 10. The DB Percussion carriage pistols are Numbers 10959 and 10960 for August 1859 and estimated at £12,000-15,000. They are in very good condition throughout.

    A pair of 12 bore Irish carriage pistols

    A CARAVAGGIO AT AUCTION IN TOULOUSE

    Monday, June 24th, 2019

    This painting of Judith and Holofernes – believed to be a long lost work by Caravaggio – will come under the hammer in Toulouse on June 27 with an estimate of 100-150 million.  The case for this being a work by the master is compelling, not categoric.  It was discovered by auctioneer Marc Labarbe in an attic in Toulouse five years ago.  The family that owns it have lived for decades in Toulouse and descends from a Napoleonic officer who took part in the Spanish campaign from 1810-1814. After the discovery of what was instantly recognised as an important 17th century Italian work Labarbe called on art appraiser Eric Turquin. Aided by a team they researched the work for two years. The French Ministry of Culture classified it as a major treasure, which prevented it from being taken out of the country for a period of 30 months.  The Louvre, which has three works by Caravaggio and a budget that is not limitless, decided not to buy it.  The deadline expired last December.  There are 68 known paintings by Caravaggio, only four in private hands. Marc Labarbe discovered an Imperial Chinese scroll in 2011 which subsequently sold for 22 million.

    UPDATE: THE PAINTING WAS SOLD TO A FOREIGN BUYER SAID TO BE CLOSE TO A MAJOR MUSEUM TWO DAYS PRIOR TO AUCTION. THE PRICE WAS NOT DISCLOSED.

    VELAZQUEZ PORTRAIT OF PAPESSA AT SOTHEBY’S IN JULY

    Sunday, June 23rd, 2019

    A newly discovered portrait of Olimpia Pamphilj by Diego Velazquez comes up at Sotheby’s Old Master sale in London on July 3. Lost for almost three centuries, this captivating portrait once formed part of the collection of Don Gaspar Mendez de Haro y Guzman, 7thMarques del Carpio. It was last recorded in 1724. Olimpia Maidalchini Pamphilj – sister-in-law, reputed lover and puppet master of Pope Innocent X – controlled all aspects of Vatican life and was known as Papessa. Her influence over the pontiff was well-known with one Cardinal, Alessandro Bichi, on the election of Innocent in October 1644, supposedly angrily declaring, “Gentlemen, we have just elected a female pope.”  

    Olimpia Pamphilj by Diego Velázquez UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £2,495,000

    Painted in 1649-50 during Velázquez’s second trip to Rome, the Portrait of Olimpia Maidalchini Pamphilj is estimated at £2 – 3 million. Sotheby’s say that this is one of the strongest Old Master sales ever staged with major works by the titans of British Art – Thomas Gainsborough, John Constable, J.M.W. Turner – as well as leading Renaissance and Baroque painters Botticelli, Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Sir Peter Paul Rubens.

    OUT OF THE ORDINARY COLLECTIBLES AT SHEPPARDS

    Saturday, June 22nd, 2019

    Out of the ordinary collectibles like a pair of Chinese Qing astronomers chairs, a hardwood temple plaque, an electrified dolls house and a rather fine Cork Regency brass inlaid chest abound at Sheppards two day sale in Durrow on June 25 and 26. The sale offers residual contents from Castle Blunden in Co. Kilkenny as well as lots from other clients. The auction of over 1,200 lots is conveniently broken up into four sessions starting at 10.30 am and 2 pm on each day.  The Cork chest is distinguished by brass inlay and turned spiral columns.  It is estimated at 2,500-3,500.  A Neo Classical marble chimney piece is the sort of lot that might find a new home relatively easily in these post recession times.  This one, lot 825, is estimated at 4,000-6,000. There is a more modest estimate of just 100-150 on an attractive Victorian bentwood rocking chair.  The catalogue is online at www.sheppards.ie and there is iewing in Durrow is from 10.30 am to 5 pm for the next three days.

    Cork Regency chest of drawers  UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,200 AT HAMMER

    GILMOUR’S GUITARS TOTAL $21.5 MILLION – ANOTHER PINK FLOYD RECORD

    Friday, June 21st, 2019

    The guitar collection of Pink Floyd singer and songwriter David Gilmour has become the the most valuable collection of musical instruments ever sold at auction at Christie’s in New York last night. The white glove auction of 126 guitars in New York totalled $21.4 million and attracted bidders from all over the world. His iconic 1969 Black Fender Stratocaster made $3.975 million, a record for any guitar sold at auction. The ‘Black Strat’ was Gilmour’s primary performance and recording instrument integral to recording many Pink Floyd’s greatest albums including The WallWish You Were Here, and Dark Side of The Moon, as well as his solo albums. The start of the sale had to be delayed for one hour to accommodate the unprecedented number of bidders who queued around the block in Rockefeller Center.

    David Gilmour and his Black Strat

    The entire proceeds from the auction will be donated to the charity ClientEarth. This week in a statement David Gilmour said: The global climate crisis is the greatest challenge that humanity will ever face, and we are within a few years of the effects of global warming being irreversible. As Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist said in a speech earlier this year “Either we choose to go on as a civilisation, or we don’t”. The choice really is that simple, and I hope that the sale of these guitars will help ClientEarth in their cause to use the law to bring about real change. We need a civilised world that goes on for all our grandchildren and beyond in which these guitars can be played and songs can be sung.”

    The previous record for collection of musical instruments was Eric Clapton’s guitar collection which sold in 1999 ($5,072,350) and in 2004 ($7,438,624), realizing $12,510,974 in total.