The catalogue note by Eamonn Mallie tells us that Basil Blackshaw was not normally given to making double portraits. Graham and Jude was an exception almost by accident. At the heart of Northern Ireland’s art scene Graham and Jude Gingles – he a sculptor and painter, she Blackshaw’s sitter for more than three decades with a doctorate in anthropology – attended a party at the home of Northern Ireland sculptor Bob Sloan in 2001. There Blackshaw executed a quick sketch of his good friends and prevailed on Bob Sloan to take some photographs of the couple. The artist identified the potential in the backdrop of the parallel lines of the venetian blinds sliced down the middle by the two figures. The resulting portrait is lot 88 at Sotheby’s Eclectic online auction which runs to May 18. It is estimated at £15,000-20,000.
The trade in fake antiquities is reported on today in the British Museum blog. St John Simpson, Assistant Keeper of the Middle East Department at the museum, recounts a story of trunks consigned from Bahrain to an address in the UK being opened at Heathrow last year. Filled with objects that seemed to have originated in ancient Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) and dating to 2000BC to 500 BC the cuneiform tablets represented a virtually complete range of basic types known. These range from school texts for trainee scribes, administrative texts, royal inscriptions, mathematical texts and others resembling official documents from temples and public buildings. There was also an inscribed amulet resembling a unique example excavated at the Late Assyrian capital of Nimrud.
Not one of them was ancient. The clay was all of a similar type, a clue to the fakery, and had been fired in a kiln, proving they came from a modern workshop. Not all the writing made sense and it was the wrong kind of clay for tablets that would have been simply sun dried. Not long after this two more trunks arrived at Heathrow with figurines and animal pottery vessels. “It immediately confirmed our suspicions and made us realise that there are surely more trunks of fakes somewhere out there…” Simpson writes.
Chillingly he cites this as evidence for a side of the trade in antiquities which is rarely discussed – there are more fakes in circulation than genuine articles. “Faking tablets has been known for over 200 years and they began to appear even before cuneiform had been deciphered. However, this is the first time that we have seen fakes of this particular type – this is a new production line aimed at private individuals with little or no knowledge of the originals”. Caveat emptor.
With 37 online auctions totalling nearly $70 million since March Sotheby’s reports increased collector engagement. An update today from ceo Charles Stewart highlighted their plan to hold evening and day sales of Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary Art in New York the week of June, 29 pending the lifting of certain restrictions and confirmation from the relevant authorities. The Spring sales series in Hong Kong will take place from July 5-11.
Sotheby’s has invested in its “buy now” capability with significant inventory for sale. The Gallery Network launched with some of New York’s most pre-eminent galleries allows galleries make immediate sales through Sotheby’s website. The ceo reports continued demand and competition for rare and iconic works across categories. A Cartier tutti frutti bracelet achieved $1.3 million last week.
Roy Lichtenstein’s White Brushstroke Ifrom 1965 will be a highlight Sotheby’s Contemporary Art evening auction in New York on the week beginning June 29.
With everything from the theatre programme for the first production of The Playboy of the Western World at the Abbey Theatre in 1907 to the poetry of Terence McSwiney to the GAA medals of Leonard McGrath and a cache of old IRA documents from 1924-31 the online Collectors Sale by Fonsie Mealy is brimful of interest.The timed auction of 439 lots runs at The Saleroom until the evening of May 5. It features scare modern literature items, signed copies, limited editions, manuscripts, sporting memorabilia, Republican material, cinema posters, pub memorabilia, rare Irish and Scotch whiskies, bourbon and liqueurs and even some designer handbags, purses and scarves.The Leonard McGrath collection is, at €15,000-20,000, the most expensively estimated lot. He played a starring forward role in Galway’s first All Ireland hurling win in 1923 and also played on the winning 1925 football team. A member of the elite group of 16 players to achieve such a success in both codes the Australian born Galway reared McGrath was, as a member of the winning Galwegians rugby team in the 1926-27 season, expelled from the GAA for playing a foreign sport. The lot includes a large bundle of musical scores signed by Leonard McGrath and used at competitions and various singing events and Feis CeoilsA programme for the 1931 All-Ireland Hurling Final in which Cork drew with Kilkenny is estimated at €500-700. Cork won the replay.Lot 274 is a file of IRA Army Council archives from 1924-25 and 1929-31. It comprises document sent to and issued by the IRA’s Chief of Staff who for much of the period covered was Moss Twomey. More than 300 documents over 500 pages give detailed accounts of activities and internal procedures. The lot is estimated at €1,000-1,500.A scarce 1918 book of poetry by Terence MacSwiney, Battle Cries, in grey printed wrappers with proceeds in aid of the Dependents Fund has an estimate of €150-200. There is no publisher or censor’s approval. The author was elected Lord Mayor of Cork after the murder of Tomas MacCurtain in March of 1920. Arrested later that year and charged with having seditious documents the Lord Mayor of Cork died aged 41 on the 74th day of his hunger strike in Brixton Prison on October 25, 1920.There is a limited edition book of poetry from John Montague. A Fair House: Versions of Irish Poetry was printed in 1972. It is being sold together with another Montague work, The Lost Notebook, with illustrations by John Verling published by the Mercier Press in 1987. The estimate is €100-150. There are first editions by authors ranging from Liam O’Flaherty and Frank O’Connor to Ian Fleming as well as cinema posters and historic rugby programmes.The Abbey Theatre programme for Saturday, 26th January 1907 for seven nights including the first production of The Playboy by Synge is estimated at €200-300. This was one of the most celebrated and controversial productions of the Irish theatre. All lots can be viewed on The Saleroom.
UPDATE: The sale realised in excess of € 120,000 on the hammer with 85% sold. The Leonard McGrath medals made 28,500 at hammer.
Sotheby’s is offering an arresting image of Kate Moss in a torn veil, Marrakesh 1993 by Albert Watson at an online sale entitled Eclectic, London which runs to May 7. It is estimated at £7,000-10,000. Bonhams will offer British and Irish art online on May 12 with Irish lots by artists Cecil Maguire, Graham Knuttel and William Crozier. Meantime the London Original Print Fair, normally held at the Royal Academy, is online this year. It continues for the entire month of May.
Two days of sales by Doneraile based auctioneer Aidan Foley are now underway at Easy Live auctions. Books, music memorabilia and jewellery come under the hammer today. The sale tomorrow will feature rugs, furniture, collectibles, art and jewellery.
The Capuchin Annual 1966 Special Anniversary of Easter Rising comes up today UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 30.
Leonard McGrath, the Galway dual player whose medals come up at Fonsie Mealy’s online Collectors sale which runs to May 5, was also a talented singer. Lot 304 of the auction, which contains his amazing medal collection, includes a fine selection of sheet music used by McGrath at singing competitions during various Feis Ceoils and other events. The large bundle of musical scores features favourites like The Rose of Tralee, Down by the Sally Gardens, The Green Hills of Ireland, My Lagan Love and many more. McGrath won All Ireland senior hurling and football medals for Galway and was a talented rugby player, which resulted in his expulsion from the GAA. He was an athlete and, in later life, a golfer. UPDATE: LOT 304 SOLD FOR A HAMMER PRICE OF 28,500 OVER A TOP ESTIMATE OF 20,000.
These scores are mostly inscribed by Leonard McGrath
