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A pair of oval Irish 19th century mirrors made a hammer price of €11,200 at Sean Eacrett’s sale of contents from Rocklow House, Fethard, Co. Tipperary today. They had been estimated at €2,000-€4,000. The mirrors, probably Waterford, have repeating blue and white decoration, one with four gold fillets and the other with three gold fillets. A 19th century dining table on substantial turned and reeded supports with four extra leaves made €4,600 and a set of 19th century dining chairs made €1,600.
A landmark rediscovery of the last known pair of portraits by Rembrandt to remain in private hands will highlight Christie’s Old Masters sale in London on July 6. The subjects are relatives of Rembrandt, wealthy Leiden plumber Jan Willemsz van der Pluym (c1565-1644) and his wife Jaapgen Carels (1565-1640). Signed and dated 1635 they were acquired at Christie’s by an ancestor of the present owners almost two centuries ago and have remained completely unknown to scholars ever since. They return to auction after an extensive investigation and scientific analysis at the Rijksmuseum. The portraits remained in the family of the sitters until 1760, when they were sold at auction in Amsterdam. They passed to the collection of Count Vincent Potocki (c.1740-1825) in Warsaw, before briefly entering the collection of Baron d’Ivry in Paris in 1820 and then James Murray, 1st Baron Glenlyon (1782-1837), who put them up for sale at Christie’s in June of 1824. The estimate is £5 million – £8 million (€5.75 million – €9.2 million). UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR FOR £11,235,000
Weathered stone lions, a wake table, a silver cigarette box and a telescopic brass fender with a hide seat are among the many and varied offerings at auction in Ireland in the coming week. Sales by Woodards in Cork, Hegarty’s in Bandon, Sean Eacrett at the Horse and Jockey Hotel in Co. Tipperary and Mullen’s at Laurel Park in Bray will offer much to keep collectors busy. Choices range from conversation pieces like an Oriental style Carlton House desk to garden furniture, comfortable couches and a variety of collectibles like an unusual pair of Limerick china figures, The Philospher and The Critic, from Rocklow House in Fethard. Top furniture lots at Woodwards online sale in Cork next Saturday (June 10) include a set of six Cork 11-bar dining chairs, a Georgian walnut chest on chest and a seven foot long hunt or wake table. There is a selection of Georgian, Regency and Edwardian pieces among more than 300 lots.
The 19th century stone lions come up at the house contents sale by Sean Eacrett at the Horse and Jockey Hotel in Co. Tipperary next Tuesday (June 6) of contents from Rocklow House, Fethard. In crouched poses they are, at €3,000-€5,000, among the more expensively estimated offerings in a sale of just over 1,000 lots. There is a selection of Oriental vases, bowls, jars, along with a private collection of Waterford Crystal including limited edition pieces and a highly collectible pair of 19th century oval Irish mirrors with faceted blue and white decorated frames (€2,000-€4,000). An unusual ebonised Carlton House Desk is estimated at €600-€1,000. There are chandeliers, a 160 piece Spode dinner service, Persian runners and rugs, a Donegal carpet and Meissen figures in a sale which is on view at Fethard from noon to 5 pm on today, tomorrow and Monday.
A George V silver cigarette box from 1914, engraved with a presentation message in 1934, comes up at Hegarty’s online fine interiors auction next Tuesday (June 6). The estimate is €300-€400. Other lots include a triple panel overmantle mirror (€150-€300), a flame mahogany demi lune hall table (€400-€800) and Summer Shade, a colourful oil on canvas by Martin Stone (€700-€900).
A brass and hide upholstered telescopic fender is among the top lots at Mullen’s timed online auction of 849 lots which runs until 6 pm tomorrow (June 4). The estimate is €1,800-€2,600. This auction offers more than 300 lots of furniture, Irish, English and European art, lighting and a sextant by Cooke and Co. of Hull in a mahogany case. Catalogues for all these sales are online.
If the idea of a small antique fair in a beautiful setting floats your Bank Holiday boat then the place to head to this weekend is Lismore. The good news is that Hibernian Antique Fairs, which has reduced the number of fairs they hold annually, will be at Lismore from 11 am to 6 pm today and tomorrow. Along with an array of antique furniture and silver there will be rarities like fine Oriental rugs from Annamoe Antiques in Co. Wicklow and Killarney wood boxes from dealer Robert Delahunty at the Lismore Opera Festival antique fair.
Treasures Irish Art of Athlone will be in attendance with an appetising selection and there is plenty of vintage fashion and accessories from dealers like Eily Henry and Wendy’s Way of Life as well as silver and ceramics from Brian Hurley of Kinsale. Coins, banknotes and collectibles of all sorts can be found. If Lismore is not on your beat this weekend and you love antique fairs you might like to make note of the fact that the South Dublin antique and vintage fair takes place at the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire tomorrow.
This 1976 work by William Scott comes up at de Veres current sale of Outstanding Irish Art and Sculpture, which runs until June 13. The English summer of 1976 was marked by a heatwave that resulted in an abundant harvest in the apple and pear growing area around Scott’s Sommerset studio. A flourishing pear tree growing against the studio wall prompted him to do an extensive series of 17 paintings, collectively called ‘An Orchard of Pears’, throughout the autumn and winter of 1976/77. They were shown at Gallery Kasahara in Osaka, appealing to the Japanese taste for understatement. This painting was the first of these and it is estimated at €150,000-€200,000.
The pears are carefully placed, huddled around a central point emphasised by the circular plate while simultaneously drawing your eyes away from it. Notice the way the outward tilt of the pears pulls away from the centre, and how the pear at the right edge further unsettles the composition’s stability. Scott is a master of animating empty space by creating subtle visual tension between objects. His genius is that, as a viewer, we’re never conscious of this.
