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)
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)
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.
There will be style, design and the English country house in abundance at the sale of Jasper Conran: The Collection at Christie’s in September. The auction is to be in two parts, a live sale at Christie’s in London on September 14 and an online sale open for bidding from September 1-21. Providing a remarkable window in to the purity, simplicity and silence of the magical interiors that Jasper Conran created at Flemings Hall; Walpole House, Chiswick; Ven House, Somerset and most recently New Wardour Castle, the collection is a feast for the eyes. It presents a refined contemporary approach to the best of country house style. There will be more than 430 lots of English Furniture, Old Master Paintings, Chinese and Japanese Works of Art, Indian and Islamic Works of Art, Victorian Paintings, European Furniture and Sculpture. Estimates range from £500 to £500,000.
A small oil painting by Canaletto discovered during a routine house valuation at Lewes in Sussex will come under the hammer at Gorringes on September 28. Hidden from public view for more than a century it was purchased in 1920 by the mother of a recently deceased homeowner in Lewes, Sussex. The painting of Dogana da Mar in Venice measures just 18in x 12in and was hanging in her drawing room. Gorringes have valued it at £150,000 and expect much interest. The most recent owner knew that it was by Canaletto but chose not to sell it. Philip Taylor, managing partner at the Lewes-based auction house Gorringes, said he had never come across an original Canaletto during his 50 years in the profession.
Coinciding with the 150th anniversary of his birth a landmark exhibition entitled Jack B. Yeats, Painting & Memory opens at the National Gallery of Ireland on September 4. The show of 84 works is drawn from public and private collections in Ireland and abroad and celebrates the work of one of Ireland’s pre-eminent artists. Memories of childhood in Sligo, observations of humanity and his reflections on life and loss feature in many of Yeats’ oil paintings.
Meantime the gallery announced today that a new online appreciation course – Yeats: An Artistic Family begins on October 7. Tickets will go on sale on September 1. The eight-week online course with art historian Jessica Fahy explores the artistic production of three generations of the Yeats family. It will take place on Thursday evenings and is suitable for beginners and experts.
