AN online only Christmas auction at Whyte’s runs from today until December 16. There is a selection of contemporary paintings and prints from a wide range of eminent Irish artists, artworks by Damien Hirst, Bob Dylan and David Bowie, posters, collectibles including silverware by Padraig O Mathuna (1925-2019), an early 20th century gramophone and a 19th century music box with Irish and Scottish airs. There is facsimile of the Book of Kells, a small selection of fine wines and some port. The sale is on view by appointment at Whyte’s galleries from 1 pm to 5 pm on December 12 and 13 and from 10 am to 5 pm on December 14-16.
BACKSTAGE DRESSING ROOM [DRAWN BLANK SERIES] – BOB DYLAN (B.1941) (1,000-1,500). UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,600 AT HAMMER
A first edition of Ulysses by James Joyce sold for a hammer price of 9,500 at Fonsie Mealy’s online rare books and collectibles sale in Castlecomer today. Published by Shakespeare and Co. in Paris in 1922 this was number 285 of 750 copies on handmade paper.
Joyce’s A Protest Against Plagiarism, an original printed copy of the protest and appeal issued in French by a constellation of American and European literary and cultural figures in 1927 over the unauthorised publication of sections of Ulysses by American publisher Samuel Roth in his Two Worlds Monthly magazine, without permission or royalty and in ‘un texte incomplete’ sold for 4,600. Signatories range from Albert Einstein to H.G. Wells, W.B. Yeats, Virginia Woolf, Paul Valery, Bertrand Russell, Marcel Prevost, Sean O’Casey, Liam O’Flaherty, E. Oe. Somerville, Italo Svevo, Thomas Mann, Ernest Hemingway, Alice S. Green, Andre Gide, Augusta Gregory, Benedetto Croce, John Galsworthy, Robert Bridges, Arnold Bennett, Knut Hamsun, Wyndham Lewis, Gabriel Miro, Bunin, Luigi Pirandello, T.S.Eliot. The extraordinary range and quality of the signatories testifies to Joyce’s worldwide reputation and influence, five years after publishing Ulysses.
An Atlas Folio of monuments in Egypt and Nubia by Ippolito Rosellini published in Pisa in three volumes from 1832-34 with 134 plates sold for 25,000 at hammer. It had been estimated at 5,000-7,000. This was the top lot in a sale which realised just over 440,000 on the hammer.
There is a wide selection of jewellery across all price ranges at a 48 hour timed online auction by O’Reilly’s of Francis St. Dublin which is now underway. Among them is this antique diamond and triple cluster ring which is estimated at 600-800. The sale of 680 lots will begin to close at 1 pm on December 11. The catalogue is online.
Antique diamond and sapphire triple cluster ring. UPDATE: THIS MADE 720 AT HAMMER
Sleep by Falling Water by Jack B. Yeats sold for a hammer price of 265,000 at the James Adam sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin this evening. The 1948 work was painted when Yeats was 77. It had been estimated at 150,000-200,000 and is the most expensive artwork sold at Adams this year.
A rare and complete set of Irish Georgian Society records sold for a hammer price of €2,300 at Fonsie Mealy’s Christmas Rare Books and Collectibles sale online in Castlecomer today. It comprises the Georgian Society records of 18th century domestic architecture in Dublin in five volumes (1909-1913) and a first (1915) edition of Georgian Mansions in Ireland by Sadlier and Dickinson. The sale continues on December 10.
Waterford born and 2004 Crawford College graduate Aidan Crotty has been announced as the winner of this years Zurich Portrait Prize at the National Gallery of Ireland. Portrait of a Boy, Morning depicts the artist’s eldest son Rían at eight years of age. The painting began when schools were closed and movement was restricted as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. In his statement about the portrait, Aidan Crotty said, “Absorbed in the notable quiet, Rían turns to feel the morning light warm his face. As we moved from Spring into Summer this painting gave a basic structure to start the day and is a record of our time in confinement.”
Eva McParland (age 14) was selected as the overall winner of the Zurich Young Portrait Prize and Conor McPolin (age 6) won the youngest category.
The Zurich Portrait Prize exhibition featuring the winner alongside 25 other shortlisted works, is open at the National Gallery of Ireland. It will run until next March 21 alongside the Zurich Young Portrait Prizeexhibition of 20 shortlisted portraits. Both exhibitions will travel to Crawford Art Gallery in Cork in 2021.
After a bidding battle Paul Henry’s Western Landscape from 1932-35 sold for a hammer price of 330,000 at de Veres online sale of Irish art in Dublin this evening. This was more than double the top estimate for this painting which measures 16′ x 24′. In the same private collection since the 1950’s this luminous panoramic landscape had been estimated at 120,000-160,000 and attracted no less than 50 bids. The mountains in the background are almost certainly the Maamturks, viewed south eastwards from Kylemore Lough near Letterfrack.
THIS gem set and diamond pendant brooch comes up at the James Adam sale of fine jewellery and watches in Dublin today with an estimate of 7,000-9,000. It is by Fred Paris and dates to c1975-80. The central ruby cabochon is surrounded by brilliant cut diamonds of approximately six carats in total and it is decorated with alternating sapphire, emerald and ruby cabochons. There is 221 lots on offer in the online sale. UPDATE: THIS MADE 8,500 AT HAMMER
More than 1,300 lots will come under the hammer at Fonsie Mealy’s Christmas rare books and collectors sale online in Castlecomer on December 9 and 10. Among them is a highly collectible admission ticket to the infamous Bloody Sunday football match at Croke Park on November 21, 1920. This is estimated at €2,000-€3,000. Along with sporting memorabilia there is rare books, manuscripts, signed limited editions, maps, medals and folio society publications. The catalogue is online.
A Tale of the Sea by Walter Osborne made a hammer price of €315,000 at Whyte’s in Dublin this evening in a sale where no less than six works sailed past the €100,000 barrier at hammer. Three of them, The Blue Hills of Connemara (€240,000), The Stony Fields of Kerry (€200,000) and Killary Bay, Connemara (€140,000), were by Paul Henry. Sculling by Jack B. Yeats made €190,000 and Image of Picasso by Louis le Brocquy made €140,000. Those six works alone realised a hammer total of 1.225 million in an evening with strong prices and competitive bidding for many of the artworks on offer.
The overall sale total was 2.5 million and the auction was 85% sold by lot.
