Djinn lounge chair by Olivier Mourgue. UPDATE: THIS MADE 400 AT HAMMER
Anyone travelling by air this summer quickly learns one harsh truth. Those of us paying the piper do not call the tune. Which makes one lot at de Veres online art and design auction, which runs until July 12, of great if impractical interest. It won’t fit in your carry on bag but lot 16 at de Veres is this Djinn lounge chair by Olivier Mourgue for Airborne International. Just the thing when your flight has been cancelled and you have been abandoned. The estimate is just €400-€600. There are chairs by Charles and Ray Eames and Ligne Roset, Italian sofas, contemporary tables and antique desks but most of the 146 lots in this sale are artworks. All of them are at highly affordable prices as this is one of a number of sales by de Veres designed for those who are dipping their toes into the market for the first time. Among the art lots are a number of mid century set designs by Reginald Grey for theatres like The Gate, The Globe and The Pike.
Kieran Crowley – Here it comes. UPDATE: THIS MADE 300 AT HAMMER
Here it comes by Kieran Crowley is lot 19 at de Veres online art and design auction which runs until July 12. This is an online only affordable sale of 146 lots, ideal for those starting a collection. The oil on board illustrated here is estimated at €300-500.
19th century cheval mirror with brass candle holders
This 19th century mahogany cheval mirror is among the lots from Howth Castle at Sean Eacrett’s online sale from Ballybrittas, Co. Laois on July 9. The sale includes a number of lots from the attics and basements at Howth Castle. The mirror illustrated here, lot 295, is estimated at €300-€500. There are 720 lots in the auction, which includes contents from houses in Kildare, Dublin and Wicklow.
Peter Turnerelli (Belfast 1772-1839 London) -Bust of Henry Grattan (1746-1820)
THIS 1813 marble bust of Henry Grattan sold for £13,860 over a top estimate of £12,000 at Sotheby’s sale of Old Master Sculptures and Early Jewellery in London today. The prime version of Turnerelli’s portrait of Henry Grattan is in the National Portrait Gallery, London. Born in Dublin in 1746 Henry Grattan was a brilliant politician and orator who, in his mid-thirties backed by the Protestant Volunteer movement, declared an independent parliament for Ireland. “Grattan’s Parliament” did not last long and when rebellion broke out in 1798 he was blamed by conservatives for having stirred up resentment against the status quo. He opposed the Act of Union in 1800, but this did not prevent him from later sitting as a MP in London. While he continued his efforts on behalf of Ireland his great days as a parliamentarian were over and he died in 1820.
The bust is likely to have been acquired by Grattan’s contemporary Charles Kinnaird, 8th Lord Kinnaird. He was a prolific art collector who assembled one of the great Scottish collections of antique statuary and pictures. Many of his paintings, which included works by Rubens, Titian and Poussin, had come from the collection of Philippe Égalité, duc d’Orléans.
A gilt console table and other lots from Aidan Foley’s sale
A 1940 shipwreck off Cape Clear and the Irish record for a specimen river brown trout are recalled at Aidan Foley’s two day auction at Sixmilebridge, Co. Clare on July 4 and 5. The trout, weighing 20 lbs, was caught in the River Shannon at Corbally, Limerick in February 1957 by Major Hugh L Place. The sale includes items from the Place family, who had strong connections to the Limerick Steamship Company, which named its ships after locations in Limerick.
The SS Maigue, travelling from Limerick via Fenit to Liverpool with a cargo of bacon, struck a rock near Cape Clear in January 1940 and was beached at South Harbour. Badly damaged she was refloated that May, sold for scrap and broken up in Dublin. An unsigned painting of the ship is included in the auction along with a collection of fishing rods by John Enright, Castleconnell owned by Major Place. Old fishing flies with a 1945 note by Major Place who believed them then to be 100 years old might make an interesting catch. Antique lots in the auction include two console tables, a metal Armada chest, Irish swords by Johnson of Dublin, an Adams style desk and a large club fender. The catalogue for this sale of 1,700 lots is online and the auctions will be live and online.
BARBARA KRUGER – Installation view, David Zwirner, New York, Courtesy David Zwirner.
The artist Barbara Kruger powerfully engages directly with viewers through her distinctive visual language. Kruger utilises images, text, and technology as tools of communication to reveal and question established power structures and social constructs. An exhibition of recent works runs at David Zwirner, New York until August 12. It features nine large-scale video works and installations, as well as sound installations and vinyl wallpaper, that not only reaffirm the cultural prominence of Kruger’s iconic visual language but also reveal the radical inventiveness and lasting relevance of her incisive work with pictures and words.
‘Untitled (Our people are better than your people)’ – first shown as part of the ‘World Morality’ show at Kunsthalle Basel – uses language to thematise the powerful influence exercised upon human identity by the media and politics.
LÊ QU0C L0C (VIETNAM, 1918-1987) – A Mekong river landscape with a village
Described as rare and important this six fold Mekong river scene by Le Quoc Loc made a hammer price of €360,000 at the James Adam sale of Asian art in Dublin today. This screen is typical of the artist’s work, in the sense that the predominant tones are red and dark brown combined with gilt. It depicts a bird’s eye-view animated landscape, as seen from the top of a hill, crossed by Mekong river arms. The in-depth perspective is created by a succession of grounds. In the first two the artist used a gilt lacquer to depict trees, including palm trees. In the middle on the left, is a traditional thatched houses hamlet. Then come Mekong river arms. The composition may roughly be described as being divided into two parts by a diagonal going from the upper left corner to the lower right corner – thereby creating two triangular shapes – and playing with empty and full. The estimate for the screen was €200,000-€400,000.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for June 25,2022)
Jeff Koons, Balloon Monkey (Magenta) (2006-13, Price Realised: £10,136,500)
Jeff Koons’ seminal sculpture Balloon Monkey (Magenta) (2006-13) sold for £10,136,500 at Christie’s today, raising vital funds for humanitarian aid for Ukraine. Presented for sale by Victor and Olena Pinchuk, proceeds from the sale will be used to assist soldiers and civilians gravely wounded by war who urgently require prosthetics, medical treatment and rehabilitation to recover as much quality of life as possible.
Representing childhood innocence and joy for both children and adults alike, Balloon Monkey (Magenta) stands as a monumental symbol of hope and solidarity with those men, women and children living in war-torn Ukraine who have suffered terrible loss.
JOHN BUTLER YEATS (1839-1922) – Study of Jack B. Yeats. UPDATE: THIS MADE 700 AT HAMMER
This pencil drawing study of the artist Jack B Yeats by his father the artist John Butler Yeats is lot 4 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s current online art auction which ends on June 27. Originally from the Yeats family collection, then in a private collection, it is estimated at 700-1,000. The catalogue for the sale is online.
Lacquered wooden panel of a seated young beauty with flowers by Alix Ayme. UPDATE: THIS MADE 80,000 AT HAMMER
The fabulous arts of Asia – magnificent, rich, colourful, symbolic, auspicious – will come under the hammer at three days of sales at James Adam in Dublin kicking off next Tuesday. More than 1,000 lots including newly discovered masterpieces of fine Chinese and Himalayan art will feature in two Asian Spring auctions and one of decorative Asian art. There will be global interest in an auction series which has been already previewed at the Pagoda Fair in Paris. Irish collectors and those dipping their toes into this market for the first time will find plenty of opportunities at sales where estimates range from €80 to €400,000.
In an era of fakes, knockoffs and forgeries seasoned collectors of Asian art value provenance very highly. These auctions are rich in works from well known collections like that of Carlos Alfredo Tornquist Altgelt (1885-1953); Juan Carlos Katzenstein (1925-2018); Jorge Casares of Buenos Aires and Canadian industrialist Baron Sir Duncan Orr-Lewis. The top lot of the auction is a rare six panelled lacquered wood screen of a Mekong River landscape with village by Vietnamese artist Le Quoc Loc (1918-1987). This 1943 panel is estimated at €200,000-€400,000. From snuff bottles to carved animals to screens and vases there is enough jade to make one green with envy. On day one there are Sino-Tibetan gilt bronze figures, rock crystal censers, blanc de chine porcelain vases, Chinese export porcelain, silver, cloisonne ware, an opium tray, furniture, art and scrolls.
Le Quoc Loc – Six panelled lacquered wood screen of a Mekong River landscape with village. UPDATE: THIS MADE 360,000 AT HAMMER
The emphasis on Wednesday is on Vietnam, Indochina, Asian painters and Japan. There are some Japanese prints along with a selection of art and artefacts headed by the six fold lacquer screen by Le Quoc Loc and a beautiful lacquer panel with a Byzantine inspired gold ground by Alix Ayme (1894-1989), professor at the Indochina Fine Arts College in Hanoi. The artist, once a pupil of Maurice Denis, was instrumental in the revival of the ancient art of lacquer which she taught in Hanoi. On Thursday the sale of decorative arts is brimful of interest. The Chinese incorporate auspicious symbols in nearly every aspect of life, including arts and culture. All sorts of symbols represent their aspiration for a longer, more prosperous and happier life. Lot 701 is a Famille Rose eight boys bottle vase. Three of them are climbing up the vase, and the depiction of five on the shoulders is particularly auspicious as it signifies the saying “wu zi deng ke” referring to the supreme achievement of one family whose five sons passed the civil service examination. (In my view the most auspicious thing about this is that they did not live next door!).The catalogue is online and viewing is underway at St. Stephen’s Green.
