The first auction of Indian master artists who were commissioned by East India Company officials in the 18th and 19th centuries takes place at Sotheby’s in London on October 27. Ranging in their subject matter from individual animal and human studies to complex architectural panoramas these Company School Paintings encapsulate on paper the rich fauna, flora and architecture of the Subcontinent.
They are from the American collector and art dealer Carlton C. Rochell, Jr. Rochell spent the first 18 years of his career at Sotheby’s, where he founded the Indian and Southeast Asian Art Department in 1988. He was on the Board of Directors and served as Managing Director of Sotheby’s Asia. In 2002, Rochell opened his own gallery in New York. Highlights of In an Indian Garden will go on view in Sotheby’s in New York from September 17-20, in Hong Kong from October 7-11 and London from October 22-26.
A Painted Stork Eating a Snail from the Impey Album, Signed by Shaykh Zayn al-Din, Company School, Calcutta, dated 1781 (est. £200,000-300,000) – formerly in the collection of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
This magnificent Georgian dining table comes up at the Howth Castle sale by Fonsie Mealy on September 8 and 9 next. It is on two quadruple centre pods, and two outer tripod bases each of outsplayed and reeded form. There is one large and two smaller spare leave insets with original hinged clasps. There has been some restoration to one leaf but otherwise the structure is both solid and good. The estimate is €30,000-€40,000. The online sale of around 950 lots offers furniture, paintings, silver, objets d’art, ceramics, clocks, carpets, rugs, light fittings, militaria and collectibles. UPDATE: THE DINING TABLE MADE 29,000 AT HAMMER
The sale of the library takes place on September 22 and 23. Here is a video about the sale:
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for August 12 and August 23, 2021)
Reunited pair of George III giltwood console tables c1760 after a design attributed to Thomas Chippendale. courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2021. UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR £550,000
This elegant pair of George III gilt console tables after a design by Thomas Chippendale, re-united by Jasper Conran, will be among the furniture highlights at Christie’s sales of his collection in September. They are estimated at £200,000-300,000. Conran acquired one from eminent Dorset based antique dealer and interior consultant Edward Hurst in April 2009. By a stroke of sheer serendipity just three months later the second table appeared at an auction, and Jasper was the winning bidder.
An online auction with 223 lots gets underway on September 1 and will run to September 21. There is to be a live auction at Christie’s in London with 213 lots on September 14.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for August 18, 2021)
A lifesize metal figure of St. Patrick which is more than six feet tall will feature among the antique furniture and collectibles at Woodwards online sale in Cork on September 4. On offer are contents from Carrigrhu House, a period piece overlooking Cuskinny in Cork Harbour. The St. Patrick figure is estimated at €1,000-€1,500. It was acquired from the late Donal O’Regan, whose antique and arts shops first on Lavitts Quay and then at Fenns Quay in Cork were a mecca for collectors from right around the country. A French comtoise or longcase clock by Abbal Fils at St. Pierre-des-Cas dates to around 1850. It is estimated at €2,000-€3,000. This is one of two period house contents sales that Woodwards plan to conduct in September. A sale of contents from Millboro House, Lee Road is planned for September 25.
More than 380 lots of antique furniture, jewellery, art and collectibles will come under the hammer at Hegarty’s online auction in Bandon, Co. Cork on September 5. On offer is the collection of Anthony and Victoria Bartley of Rosscarbery. A squadron leader with the RAF during the Second World War Anthony Bartley’s first wife was the actress Deborah Kerr with whom he lived in Hollywood for 15 years. He met Victoria in 1964 and they lived for a time in Barbados before moving to west Cork in 1971.
A 1906 18 carat gold London fob watch and chain at Hegarty’s. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
THE National Museum Wales is to restore Édouard Manet’s (1832-1883) Portrait de Monsieur Jules Dejouy, 1879 thanks to funding from The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF). The museum is to receive €20,000 as part of TEFAF’s museum restoration fund, an annual grant created in support of the international art community’s vital work to preserve artistic and cultural heritage. The Manet was acquired in 2019 after more than ninety years in a private family collection. Jules Dejouy (1815-1894) was Manet’s older cousin and an important figure in the artists life. He was a successful lawyer, appointed to the Imperial Court in France in 1849. After the death of the artist’s father in 1862, Dejouy was appointed as chief counsellor and guide to Manet and his brothers. Manet relied on him in key ways throughout his life. During the siege of Paris in 1870 the artist sent valuables to his cousin for safekeeping. Dejouy was also appointed by Manet as his executor. He was part of the committee that organised an 1884 exhibition following Manet’s death, alongside Emile Zola, painters such as Fantin-Latour and dealers like Durand-Ruel and Georges Petit. This portrait was included in that exhibition.
Édouard Manet (1832-1883), Portrait de Monsieur Jules Dejouy, 1879.
The 1937 poster for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the most expensively estimated lot at Sotheby’s online auction of original film posters. This was Walt Disney’s first feature film so it is a prized piece for any collector. It features the full cast with the dreamy castle in the background and is estimated at £12,000-18,000. The sale runs online from August 27 to September 7. The lots on offer demonstrate over 100 years of cinematic history from across the globe. There is promotional materials including posters, lobby cards, production stills and original artworks used to herald some of the world’s most iconic films with estimates from £300 upwards.
An important impressive set of Prehistoric Giant Irish Elk Antlers and Skull (“Megaloceros Giganteus) c. 12000 – 18000 B.C., approx. 262 cms (8’9”) long x 7’5” (226 cms) high with 18 points (some repairs). UPDATE: THESE MADE 23,000 AT HAMMER
This set of Irish Elk antlers comes up at Fonsie Mealy’s two day sale of contents from Howth Castle on September 8 and 9. Irish Elk is the common name for a giant, extinct deer, Megaloceros Giganteus, characterized by enormous antlers. This is the largest deer known to have ever lived. Megaloceros Giganteus appeared for the first time about 400,000 years ago and disappeared about 11,000 years ago. It ranged from Ireland and Great Britain in Western Europe and as far as the Far East as China and Siberia during the Late Pleistocene period. Elk Antlers are a statement item and were placed in many of the big country houses around Ireland. This set is estimated at €12,000-18,000. UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR 23,000 AT HAMMER.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for August 12, 2021)
Antiques Roadshow presenter and Bonhams senior jewellery specialist Kate Flitcroft, will be visiting Belfast to share her expertise, answer queries and provide complimentary, no obligation jewellery valuations to clients in Northern Ireland on September 7. The jewellery valuation day will take place in the Brian Ballard room of the Merchant Hotel. To book an appointment please contact Bonhams Irish office by email on ireland@bonhams.com
Selene and the sleeping Endymion attributed to Francesco Trevisani UPDATE: THIS MADE 8,500 AT HAMMER
The lifetime collection of the late Homan Potterton, who in 1980 became the youngest ever director of the National Gallery of Ireland, comes up at James Adam in Dublin on September 7. The online auction will feature Old Master painting, Irish art, engravings, furniture and silver from his homes in Dublin and the Gaillac region in France. Even though his time as director was thwarted by a period of economic austerity in Ireland he is credited with the production of a ground breaking concise catalogue, a definitive catalogue of the Gallery’s Dutch paintings and with the negotiations for a gift of major paintings from the collection of Alfred and Clementine Beit.
He was a specialist in Italian painting of the 17th and 18th centuries and the catalogue of 249 lots lists a number of Italian School paintings. Selene and the Sleeping Endymion attributed to Francesco Trevisani (1656-1746) has an estimate of €10,000-€15,000 while The Choice of Hercules after Pompeo Batoni (1708-1787) is estimated at €12,000-€15,000.The top lot of the sale is an Irish 18th century walnut side table c1740 with a flecked black Kilkenny marble top. The table is listed and illustrated in the Knight of Glin and James Peill’s definitive book on ‘Irish Furniture’, published in 2007. The estimate here is €40,000-€60,000.
Irish c1740 side table with black flecked Kilkenny marble top UPDATE: THIS MADE 34,000 AT HAMMER
The most expensively estimated painting, at €15,000-€25,000, is a portrait by Leo Whelan of Guendolen Wilkinson seated in an elegant interior. Fame decorating Shakespeare’s Tomb, attributed to Angelica Kauffman (1741-1807) is estimated at €8,000-€12,000 and a North Italian School painting of a lady with a table laden fruit is estimated at €8,000-€10,000. Potterton’s collection of Old Master paintings displays his interest in 17th and 18th century European art. These were purchased from dealers and auction-houses in London and New York in the 1980’s and 90’s. ‘Artemisia at the Mausoleum of her Husband’ attributed to Laurent de la Hyre is estimated at €15,000-€20,000. Artemisia is depicted beside a classical building she had built to house the remains of her late husband Mausolus. The word Mausoleum derives from his name. There are five portrait busts in white statuary marble by Irish artists including one of Lord Nelson by Laurence Gahagan (1756-1815) and one of the actor William Farren by Edward Foley (1814-1874). A collection of watercolours by Gahagan reflect the fashion in Britain for Napoleonic memorabilia and design, particularly after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. They range in date 1817 to 1831 and depict the Coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte, a portrait of him and an attack on his carriage, the equestrian statue of Peter the Great in St Petersburg, a portrait of Alexander Emperor of Russia and a scene of a Donski Cossac leading the Imperial Russian Guard. Each one of the ten watercolours is estimated at €1000-€1500.Among a collection of antique engravings is a series of Kerry views by Jonathan Fisher with an estimate of €5,000-€8,000. Other Irish artists represented in the collection include Martin Mooney, Henry Robertson Craig, John Coyle, Estella Solomons, Derek Hill, Lilian Lucy Davidson, Tom Ryan, Bea Orpen, Liam Belton, Sir William Orpen and Charles Lamb. The catalogue cover is one of a pair of watercolours by Jeremy Williams of Potterton’s residence at 78 Merrion Square and his love of dining and entertaining is represented in a collection of furniture including two dining tables, blue and white porcelain and Irish bright cut silverware. Adams say that his generosity when entertaining is reflected in the fact that his favourite charities will benefit from the proceeds of the auction.
