With everything from a wonderful landscape by John Butts to suits of armour to watches designed for the space age there is plenty to interest collectors at auctions open for online browsing in Ireland over this Easter Weekend. The library collection, a timed online sale at James Adam in Dublin running to April 14, offers art, antique furniture and bookcases, old maps, miniatures, Qing Dynasty bronzes, a carved and stained birdcage modelled as a two storey house and a pair of Georgian upholstered armchairs once at Ashford Castle in a wide ranging sale of 227 lots.
Christofle serving dishes, a Georgian style dining suite by Harrods, a bespoke silver canteen by Carrs of Sheffield, a pair of Eames chairs, sculpture and maritime art by S Francis Smitheman (1927-2016) will come under the hammer on April 7. Sean Eacrett, the Ballybrittas, Co. Laois based auctioneer will offer contents from 35 Abington, Malahide in an online sale of 383 lots.
Meantime three centuries of watches and clocks from the Age of Reason to the Age of Steam to the Space Age are on offer at a timed online evening sale by Mullens of Laurel Park, Bray on April 11. A pocket watch made in Dublin in the 1730’s by Thomas Coote, the earliest watch in the sale, is estimated at €700-€1,000. There are 12 examples of American railroad grade precision watches which came into being following an investigation into a head on collision 40 miles west of Cleveland in 1891. Nine men died when the fast mail hit the Toledo express on a single track near a siding. The investigation centred on the engineers watches, one of which was found to be four minutes slow. Space age travel with massive G forces and zero gravity presented new challenges and Max Hetzel devised the Bulova Watch Company “Accutron” win 1960, marketed as the Space Age watch. There are five of them in the sale with estimates of €80-€300.
Lot 89 at Adams, A Mountainous Wooded Landscape by John Butts (c1728-1764) is estimated at €15,000-€20,000. Influenced by Claude Lorraine and Nicolas Poussin the Cork artist is regarded as one of the finest early Irish landscape painters. Among other more expensive lots is a c1780 Irish satinwood pier table (€10,000-€15,000), a giltwood and marble topped side table (€5,000-€8,000), a river landscape by the Dutch artist Albert Meyering (1645-1714) (€10,000-€15,000) and an Irish Regency serving table (€5,000-€7,000). A Victorian snooker score board by J. Thurston and Co. London has an estimate of €500-€800.
The maritime art of Francis Smitheman at Sean Eacrett’s sale is headed by three oils with estimates of €6,000-€8,000 and there are also some limited edition prints. The mahogany Harrods dining suite is estimated at €8,000-€12,000 and the silver canteen is estimated at €8,000-€10,000. There is a selection of Art Deco pieces, African sculptures from Cape Town, attractive garden furniture and some large terracotta urns.