A pair of late Regency library chairs, possibly by Gillingtons, Dublin c1815. UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR $8,190
This pair of late Regency mahogany klismos library chairs, possibly by Gillingtons of Dublin c1815 come up at Sotheby’s in New York on January 31. They are of almost identical form to a set of fourteen supplied by the firm of Gillingtons to Euseby Cleaver, Archbishop of Dublin from 1809 -1820. An identical pair of chairs attributed to Gillingtons was sold Sotheby’s London in 2016 and a single chair of almost identical model previously with Apter Fredericks was sold Sotheby’s London in 2010. A klismos chair is a type of ancient Greek chair with curved backrest and tapering outward curving legs.
John Gillington (fl.1787-1809) was made a Freeman of the City of Dublin in 1787 and worked as a cabinetmaker with his sons George and Samuel, trading as John Gillington & Sons from 1810-1814, after which his sons took over the business, recorded in Abbey Street. They were one of the leading furniture making firms in Dublin during the first third of the 19th century along with Mack Williams & Gibton, also located in Abbey Street. The chairs are among several Irish lots at Sotheby’s live auction entitled Hyde Park Antiques: Past, Present and Future, in New York. The estimate is $8,000-12,000. There is a similar estimate on an Irish George II bureau cabinet and a pair of early 19th century brass bound Irish peat buckets is estimated at $5,000-8,000.
UPDATE: THE bureau cabinet made $6,300 and the peat buckets made ¢9,450.
This pair of scagliola pedestals comes up at Sotheby’s timed online Stone IV sale which runs in London on January 17. Described as c1830 and made in England or Ireland, measuring 146 cms in height, they are estimated at £4,000-6,000. A pedestal of identical design is in the collections of Chatsworth House. UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD
This mid century modern style console table comes up at Hegarty’s auction in Bandon, Co. Cork which continues until January 17. In excellent condition there is a polished chrome frame and shaped teak top. The estimate is 1,500-1,800. The online auction of 195 lots features a selection of antique furniture, art, jewellery, clocks and collectibles. UPDATE: THIS TABLE WAS UNSOLD
What has been described as the joyous return of the leading antiques and fine art fair in the US will bring together 68 global exhibitors from Europe, South America and the US. Global experts in fine and decorative arts will assemble for The Winter Show, which gets underway at the Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan ON January 20 and continues until January 29. Time and tastes are changing and the eclectic mix at the Armory show is less rigorous in terms of antique timelines than would once have been the case. Alongside old favourites like a George II Chinese red lacquer bureau and stand (Ronald Phillips), an 1812 Parisian inkstand (Koopman Rare Art), The Judgement of Paris by Lucas Cranach the elder (Robert Simon Fine Art) and a favrile glass lava vase by Tiffany (Lillian Nassau LLC) there is furniture from 1969 and even 2019. Everything on offer, from Rodin to Tiffany to Frank Lloyd Wright, is vetted for authenticity and quality.
An 1804 portrait by John Singleton Copley of Mary Montagu and Robert Copley, her brother.
Maison Gerard of New York will exhibit a cabinet by Achille Salvagni created in Italy in 2019. Made of parchment covered wood and cast bronze, with gold plated bronze details this deeply layered piece bears all the characteristics of Salvragni’s work with material richness and craftsmanship. An avowed Modernist his work, with its emphasis on creating sophisticated residential and yacht interiors, draws on the architectural legacies of the 1920’s and ’30’s.In complete contrast is a sculptural, natural sandstone formation from France. Robert Simon Fine Art of New York will exhibit this piece which is around 30 million years old and weighs just over 97 lbs. Traditionalists will undoubtedly value a double portrait by the American born Anglo Irish artist John Singleton Copley (1737-1815) of Mary Montagu and her brother Robert Copley. Hirschl and Adler Galleries will exhibit this work, once in the collection of former New York Governor and Democratic politician Averell Harriman.
A 1969 free edged conoid table in Persian walnut by George Nakashima.
A 1969 free edged conoid table of Persian walnut and ten chairs by George Nakashima will be shown by Geoffrey Diner of Washington. The selection ranges from Victorian jewellery to African carving, Japanese folding screens and a unique late medieval/early Renaissance astronomical calendar at Daniel Crouch Rare Books.
If you love fairs and all this New York style sounds a bit beyond your league – and much of it is beyond the league of most of us – then console yourself. The two day National Antique, Art and Vintage Fair, billed as Ireland’s biggest, takes place at Limerick Racecourse on January 21 and 22. With ample space and easy parking the new venue for the fair at Limerick Racecourse has already proved to be hugely popular. Fairs are scheduled to take place there four times this year, in January, March, September and November.
An exhibition of richly coloured and textured new abstract work by Bridget Flannery entitled Terra Incognita runs at the Solomon Gallery in Dublin until February 4. The Cork born artist, who graduated from the Crawford in 1981, has held numerous exhibitions throughout Ireland and Europe and has work in private and public collections including the OPW, The Crawford, UCC, Bank of Ireland, The Four Seasons Hotel Group and the Museum of Fine Art in Latvia.
Ox Blood Leather Chesterfield Three Seater Settee UPDATE: THIS MADE 950 AT HAMMER
This three seater Chesterfield comes up as lot 210 at Aidan Foley’s two day online auction of contents from a number of five star hotels on January 17 and 18. A total of 1115 lots of furniture, artwork and collectibles will come under the hammer. The most expensively estimated lot, at 5,000-7,000, is an artwork by Graham Knuttel titled Cocktail Girl. The chesterfield comes with an estimate of 600-1,000. There are lots from Dublin’s Four Seasons (now Intercontinental), Westin and Trinity City Hotels, Glenlo Abbey in Galway and Powerscourt Resort and Spa in Wicklow along with memorabilia from Buck Whaley’s nightclub and Larry Murphy’s pub. The sale is on view today, tomorrow, Sunday and Monday at 67 Prussia St. in Dublin and the catalogue is online.
UPDATE: The auction was 97% sold and realised more than €200,000.
William Scott OBE RA (1913-1989) – Two Pears (1977). UPDATE: THIS MADE 60,000 AT HAMMER
A 1977 oil on canvas by William Scott – Two Pears – is among a very strong offering of art at Morgan O’Driscoll’s online art auction which runs until January 30. There will be no less than five watercolour works by Jack B. Yeats, three of them featured in The Turf Cutter’s Donkey by Patricia Lynch with illustrations by Yeats. Lot 15, The Turf Cutter’s Donkey, has never been on the auction market before. Estimates for these range from 5,000-25,000. Among other artists featured are Donald Teskey, John Shinnors, Hughie O’Donoghue, Mainie Jellett and James Arthur O’Connor. The William Scott is estimated at 50,000-70,000. The catalogue will go live on January 18.
Jack Butler Yeats RHA(1871-1957) The Turf Cutters Donkey watercolour and ink on paper. UPDATE: THIS MADE 27,000 AT HAMMER
Mary Palmer, Marchioness of Thomond, after Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A. Portrait of Edward, 1st Lord Eliot (1727-1804). UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
A portrait by Mary Palmer (1750-1820), wife of Murrough O’Brien, Marchioness of Thomond and niece of Sir Joshua Reynolds, comes up at Sotheby’s annual Royal and Noble auction online until January 18. Her portrait of the activist, abolitionist and reformer Edward James Eliot, 1st Lord Eliot, MP and Treasury minister during the government of Pitt the Younger, is an almost direct copy of Reynold’s original from 1781. No signed work by Mary Palmer is known but Sotheby’s say the inscription on the back would appear to securely identify this one as by her hand. Mary married the fifth Earl of Inchiquin in 1792. They were created Marquis and Marchioness of Thomond in 1800 as a result of their support for the Act of Union. Mary was chief beneficiary of Sir Joshua’s will, receiving nearly £100,000 and his art collection. The portrait is estimated at £7,000-£10,000 (€7,914-€11,305).
MARKEY ROBINSON (1918-1999) – By a Silver Lake (800-1,200). UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,500 AT HAMMER
The enduring appeal of Markey Robinson will face its first test at auction in 2023 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s current off the wall online art sale. A gouache on board entitled By a Silver Lake comes up as lot 43 in the sale, which begins to close from 6.30 pm on January 9. A total of 455 lots will come under the hammer and the catalogue is online.
Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) – Girl with a Pearl Earring 1664-67, Mauritshuis, The Hague
This is the year for Vermeer. Excitement is building in advance of the opening on February 10 of the Rijksmuseum exhibition in Amsterdam which has been bolstered by loans from the US, Europe and Japan to become the largest Vermeer show ever. At least 27 out of his very small oeuvre of around three dozen paintings loaned from the most prestigious museums in the world will be on display. Among the highlights is Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid c1670 from the collection of Ireland’s National Gallery. In an extraordinary gesture the Frick Collection in New York has lent all three of its Vermeer masterpieces, The Girl Interrupted at Her Music, Officer and Laughing Girl and Mistress and Maid.
Highlights include The Girl with a Pearl Earring from the Mauritshuis in The Hague, The Geographer from the Stadel Museum, Frankfurt and Woman Holding a Balance from the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Another Vermeer from the Washington museum, Girl with a Flute, is the source of the sort of gleeful controversy that always dogs the art world. The National Gallery of Art in Washington announced recently that after long and careful scientific study it had decided that this painting was not by Vermeer and most likely by a pupil or apprentice.The director of the Rijksmuseum Taco Dibbits said that their view is more inclusive and they had decided the work should be in the show. Dibbits said there were questions about the authenticity of other works too and that their analysis showed that Vermeer was an artist who experimented and took different artistic routes.
Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) – The Geographer, Stadel Museum, Frankfurt.
Last year the Rijksmuseum announced that advanced scientific studies into one of its own Vermeers, The Milkmaid, yielded several startling discoveries. Two objects in the world famous canvas, a jug holder and a fire basket, had been painted over by the artist. Analysis revealed an underpainting and offered insights into the processes of Johannes Vermeer as he sought to capture the tranquility for which his work is famous. This is the first time that the Rijksmuseum, the National Museum of The Netherlands, has dedicated a retrospective to the 17th century master. It will run until June 4.
