George I gilt and scarlet-japanned bureau-cabinet, circa 1720, in the manner of John Belchier. UPDATE: THIS MADE £151,200
This spectacular early Georgian gilt and scarlet japanned bureau cabinet is the most expensively estimated lot at Sotheby’s sale of contents from Monte Alverno, Dalkey, Dublin in London on May 26. Formerly at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire it was acquired at Mallett’s in London in 1999 and is now estimated at £150,000-£250,000. The City by Jack B Yeats has a similar estimate. Monte Alverno; An Irish Private Collection contains a remarkable collection of English and Irish furniture and paintings from a home perched high on a terrace in Dalkey with views over the Irish Sea. There is beautifully carved and patinated Irish furniture dating from the mid-eighteenth century through to later pieces by Hicks of Dublin, partnered with gilded mirrors, Chinese works of art and fine English furniture along with paintings by Jack B. Yeats, William Scott, James Arthur O’Connor, Patrick Swift and other renowned Irish artists. The catalogue is online.
A pair of George III mahogany torchères, circa 1770
GIOVANNI ANTONIO CANAL, IL CANALETTO Entrance to the Grand Canal looking East, with Santa Maria della Salute at right UPDATE: In the hours leading up to the auction, Christie’s announced the private sale of Venice, the Grand Canal looking East with Santa Maria della Salute by Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto, to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, enabled through a generous donation by Diane B. Wilsey.
The legendary Ann & Gordon Getty Collection will be sold at Christie’s through a series of landmark auctions beginning next October. The collection stands alone in its quality, rarity and beauty. Nearly 1,500 works of English and European furniture, Asian works of art, European ceramics, Chinese export porcelain, silver, European and Asian textiles, and Impressionist and Old Master paintings from the couple’s San Francisco residence will be offered. The sales in October are expected to achieve as much as $180 million. Proceeds will benefit the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation for the Arts and designated beneficiaries include California based organisations like the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Symphony, University of San Francisco, Berkeley Geochronology Center, and the Leakey Foundation.
HENRI MATISSE Chrysanthèmes dans un vase de Chine UPDATE: THIS MADE $5.1 MILLION
Gordon Getty commented: “Though she left us far too soon, I know Ann would be proud that her exquisite eye and unmatched dedication to craftsmanship and scholarship are being shared with the world, and that the philanthropic planning around our art collection is being realised. These sales are a continuation of the longstanding philanthropic goals of the Getty family first established by my father, J. Paul Getty.”
Irish silver 4 piece tea service by William Egan & Sons Ltd. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,400 AT HAMMER
This Irish silver four piece tea service by William Egan & Sons Ltd, Cork comes up at Woodwards online art and silver auction on May 7. It is of panelled form with shaped handles and raised bases with the Glenisheen collar hallmark for 1973 and is estimated at €1,500-€2,500. Among the highlights are an abstract by Mainie Jellett and there is art by Arthur Maderson, Kenneth Webb, Gladys MacCabe, Kenneth Webb, Bingham McGuinness, Thomas Ryan, Alexander Williams, John Kingerlee, Tom Nisbet, Stella Steyn, Victor Richardson, Eileen Meagher and others. A Cork helmet shaped cream ewer stamped STERLING, a pair of boat shaped sauceboats by William Egan, a strawberry dish by the Cork maker Cyril O’Mahony, a berry spoon by Isaac Solomon, Cork 1831 and a Dublin dish ring by West and Son will all come under the hammer. UPDATE: Composition No. 24 and Abstract by Mainie Jellett made hammer prices of €8,000 and €5,000 respectively, St Peter’s Basilica Rome by Arthur Maderson made €4,000 and Paris in Spring by Gladys MacCabe made €2,800.
WAYNE THIEBAUD (1920 – 2021) – Three Ice Cream Cones. UPDATE: THIS MADE $4.98 MILLION
Wayne Thiebaud’s Three Ice Cream Cones ($2,500,000-3,500,000) from the private collection of Nina Van Rensselaer will lead Christie’s Post War and Contemporary Art day sale in New York on May 13. The work was acquired by Van Rensselaer directly from the artist and has been passed down in the same private collection for six decades. Highlights also include Helen Frankenthaler’s Crete ($1,500,000-2,000,000) and works from contemporary artists including Shara Hughes, Weeping Blur ($400,000-600,000).
Wall Plena (2021) by Sean Scully at Kerlin Gallery in Dublin
The squares of Sean Scully are legendary. They grace major museums and have enhanced exhibitions right around the world. The artist regarded as among the most important proponents of abstraction has paid enormous attention to this particular structure. Square at Kerlin Gallery in Dublin from May 14 to June 25 will bring together over 50 years of oil paintings, watercolours, drawings, sculpture, writings and prints from 1968 by Sean Scully.
There are measured grid paintings from the 1970’s, his Wall of Light series and the recent Dark Window series made during lockdown. Square will include a new series of prints and drawings made with the artist’s finger on an iPhone screen. These playful drawings teem with life and energy. The creative potential of the screen is driving major artists more and more, among them David Hockney, who has produced a fascinating series of screen artworks.
Imperial Safari sofa by Archizoom. UPDATE: THIS MADE 9,500 AT HAMMER
Titans of modern British, European and American art like Patrick Caulfield, Bridget Riley, Karl Appel, Milton Avery and Lucien Freud and a selection of sleek designer pieces by Italian, French, Finnish and Danish designers make for a fascinating Mid-Century Modern sale at James Adam in Dublin on May 10. No less than 28 of the 216 lots on offer are from the estate of a deceased Dublin collector with a deep interest in Modern art. A collection like this one offers a variety of once off opportunities with rich pickings for the significant band of Irish collectors with a growing appreciation of this relatively recent period. It provided the catalogue cover lot, Patrick Caulfield’s Coach Lamp from 1994 purchased from the Waddington Galleries in London and now estimated at €40,000-€60,000.
Coach Lamp (1994) by Patrick Caulfield UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Three Squares in Yellow by Patrick Heron, regarded as one of the finest colourists of the 20th century, dates to 1960 and is estimated at €20,000-€30,000. Two Pines by the American artist Milton Avery, who is to be the focus of an exhibition at the Royal Academy this summer, is a mixed media work with an estimate of €20,000-€30,000 and Lucian Freud contributes an etching titled Head of a Man which dates to 1986/87 and comes with an estimate of €15,000-€20,000. There are paintings and drawings by Karl Appel, Jean Dubuffet, Josef Herman and Max Libermann. Among the Mod Brit artists on offer are Ben Nicholson, Graham Sutherland, Sir Terry Frost and Matthew Smith.
A set of six Les Arc chairs with leather seats on tubular black frames by Charlotte Perriand (€4,000-€6,000), an Imperial Safari Sofa by Archizoom (€10,000-€15,000), a large rosewood sideboard by Silvio Cavatorta (€4,000-€6,000) and a set of 12 chairs by Charles and Ray Eames with fibreglass shell seats on an aluminium base (€3,000-€5,000) will be of huge interest to collectors of modern furniture. A walnut sideboard by the Italian Gianfranco Frattini dates to 1960 and is estimated at just €3,000-€5,000, a 1950’s wood, brass and metal bench by Bugatti is estimated at €1,500-€2,000 and a c1950 dining table by Finn Juhl is estimated at €2,000-€2,500. Consoles, wall lights, bar cabinets, mirrors and armchairs from the period are included.Art from other private collections includes works by Stephen McKenna, John Boyd, Colin Martin, William McKeown, Mick Mulcahy, Francis Tansey, Eithne Jordan, Deborah Brown and Graham Gingles. Collectible graphic works by Francis Bacon, Sean Scully, Mark Geary and William Scott range in estimate from €500 to €5000. The catalogue is online now.
LOUIS LE BROCQUY (1916-2012) – Playboys of the Western World. UPDATE: THIS MADE €1,600 AT HAMMER
This set of six lithographs framed as one by Louis le Brocquy comes up as lot 15 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s affordable online Irish art auction which is running now. The estimate is 800-1,200. The catalogue, with work by a wide variety of artists, is online now and bidding ends from 6.30 pm on May 3.
This still live by Stella Steyn comes up as lot 27 at Hegarty’s spring art auction online from Bandon which runs until April 27. It is estimated at 420-520. There are 110 lots in total. Among the artists featured are John Schwatschke, Norman Teeling, Marie Doyle, Marie Carroll, Des Monroe, Douglas Alexander and Peter Knuttel.
Stacks of hay and corn, once a familiar sight throughout the length and breadth of Ireland, have now virtually disappeared from our landscapes. This oil on canvas board by Edith Somerville (1858-1949) (one half of the Somerville and Ross writers who created the popular Irish RM books) evokes memories of the way we were, when farming was less mechanised, more labour intensive and more sociable. The undated west Cork scene entitled Cornstacks, Sandycove, Castlehaven comes up as lot 51 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s online evening sale of Irish and International Art on April 26 with an estimate of 1,500-2,500. This fascinating sale with offerings by everyone from Paul Henry and Frank McKelvey to Keith Haring and Andy Warhol is on view at the Minerva Suite at the RDS in Dublin until today. UPDATE: THIS MADE €4,200 AT HAMMER
Like the most enticing library the sale at James Adam in Dublin on April 26 is enough to set the imagination soaring. Brimful of the most weird, wonderful and – if you love old and interesting things – fabulous lots the Library Collection lots has it all plus deeply comfortable chairs. The wonder of it is that there is not that much in the way of books. Instead you can happily browse among bookcases, desks, tables, artworks, rugs, stuffed birds, a Black Forest carved hall stand, a carved cathedral clock, tapestries, a Meissen monkey orchestra, an Anglo Indian marble topped side table, globes, mirrors, tiles, busts and an illuminated manuscript carefully tucked away in a selection of 360 eye popping lots.
The auction kicks off with a pair of 19th century Spanish pine and iron studded finca doors. Where to place these sun bleached objects in a typical Irish setting? Time to set your creativity to overdrive. You won’t need megabucks, the estimate is just €600-€800. There are wonderful collectibles like a c1680-1720 Louis XIV Beauvais tapestry from France (€15,000-€20,000), the aforementioned 21 piece Meissen monkey orchestra plus conductors stand (€8,000-€12,000), a 19th century Killarney work table (€3,000-€4,000), a giltwood and porcelain mounted Viennese Napoleonic table (€3,000-€5,000) and a Regency boulle marquetry commode (€10,000-€15,000). An Irish George IV mahogany bookcase on turned cornice with spiral columns, glazed doors and panelled doors, described as possibly Cork, has an estimate of €6,000-€8,000.
A mid 19th century illustration of Lisburn UPDATE: THIS MADE €8,000 AT HAMMER
An illuminated manuscript book in a tooled leather binding presented to James Stannus, Dean or Rogg and Rector of Lisburn in 1867 contains a series of finely detailed drawings including Market Place with Market House and Christchurch Cathedral, the Old Huguenot Church now used as a courthouse and Bleaching Field near the linen mills at Lisburn. The estimate is €4,000-€5,000.Many lots like a coco de mer nut from the Seychelles (€400-€600) are more affordable and might make useful conversation pieces. Natural history specimens and taxidermy range in price from 300 up, a c1830 French ormolu cathedral clock is estimated at €300-€500 as is a 19th century beech and elmwood reading chair, a collection of 15 books related to Ireland comes with an estimate of €100-€200 and there are tiles, bottles and flasks and some attractive antique furniture at very reasonable estimates. The sale is on view at St. Stephen’s Green from 1 pm to 5 pm today and tomorrow and from 10 am to 5 pm on Monday. This online catalogue deserves to be closely perused and savoured in a quiet and peaceful corner. A library would be ideal.
