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    A HOUSE SALE BY SHEPPARDS IN CORK AND DURROW

    Sunday, March 15th, 2026

    A large antique Caucasian rug. UPDATE: THIS MADE 800 AT HAMMER

    Antique Persian rugs, furniture and decorative objects sourced at auctions in the 1960’s, ’70’s and ’80’s at Kilroan House in Glanmire will come under the hammer at Sheppard’s on March 24 and 25.

    Some of the rugs were acquired at the dispersal sale of Malahide Castle in the mid 1970’s and there is furniture from Adare Manor and other prominent Irish and English country houses from when their contents came to market.

    Kilroan is brimful of lots collected with discrimination over many decades along with family heirlooms that reach way back.  Viewing gets underway at the former family home of Mrs. Rosemary Punch and her late husband John in Glanmire on March 21.  After three days of viewing in Cork the live and online auction will be held over the following two days in Durrow.

    An 18th century oak longcase clock by James Aickin, Cork UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    Auctioneer Michael Sheppard describes this as an exceptionally layered collection. Many of the Persian rugs were acquired at Malahide Castle. Sturdy oak furniture in the house has a timeless appeal. Carved oak pieces offer ultimate sustainabilty and versatility. The selection available here is plentiful and ranges from panelled oak coffers and trunks to armchairs, a court cupboard and refectory tables.  Oak is sought these days both by traditionalists and those seeking to make modern minimalist interiors.  

    At Kilroan,which has been sold, furniture was selected for quality and character. Practical 18th-century oak and mahogany pieces sit comfortably alongside more unusual and expressive objects like a metamorphic library pole which is both functional and a statement piece, a Regency crossbanded sofa table, a yew wood library table, a Regency inlaid cellarete and a Regency ebony and parcel gilt open bookcase.
    Among the rare early books is a 17th-century translation of Homer’s Iliad along with books on gardening and early maps of Ireland. An iron-bound oak rent box is a 17th century piece.  The collection of clocks includes an 18th century oak longcase clock by James Aickin, Cork and an 18th century longcase clock by Maddock of Waterford.  There are plenty of clocks to choose from including a 19th century boulle inlaid bracket clock, a 19th century French gilt and marble figural mantel clock, a skeleton clock and a19th century barograph.

    Map: The Harbour of Corke sold by Mount and Thos. Page at Tower Hill, London. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    Decorative garden ornaments, seats and urns, accumulated over many years, are available along with an exceptional group of terracotta rhubarb forcers.

    The late John Punch’s workshop is largely as he maintained it.  There are engineering and woodworking machines including a Myford Super 7 centre lathe, an earlier Drummond Bros metal lathe, a Meddings pillar drill, and a Scheppach planer–thicknesser. These are presented  along with tools, fittings and sections of old panelling salvaged from the dismantled RMS Celtic which foundered off Roches Point in December 1928.

    Silver on offer includes provincial Cork silver, and fine 18th-century Dublin silver. Two 19th-century portraits, traditionally believed to depict John Punch and his wife, have long presided over the dining room. A painting of Dublin Bay by Nathaniel Hone the Younger is accompanied by a presentation plaque recording that it was gifted to a John Punch in the 1840s.

    This is a comprehensive dispersal auction with an across the board appeal to all sorts of collectors.  The catalogue lists more than 1,300 lots from the Punch collection and other clients.

    Looking out at Fountainstown by Anna O’Hara UPDATE: THIS MADE 220 AT HAMMER

    DA VINCI’S SALVATOR MUNDI (DE GANAY VERSION) AT TEFAF

    Saturday, March 14th, 2026

    London gallery Agnews will present Salvator Mundi (de Ganay version) at TEFAF, the European Fine Art Fair, which opens today at Maastricht in The Netherlands. One of the world’s most iconic images from the workshops of Leonardo da Vinci dates to c1505-15.  When da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi (formerly in the Cook collection) sold at Christie’s New York in 2017 to a Saudi prince for a world record price for any work of art of $450,312,512, a new stratosphere was reached in the art world.  Prior to the rediscovery of the Cook Collection Leonardo in 2005, the “de Ganay” Salvator Mundi had most often been considered the best of the versions known. TEFAF Maastricht is a celebration of 7000 years of art history which this year brings together 276 dealers and galleries from 24 countries.  It runs until March 19.

    CARAVAGGIO PORTRAIT OF POPE URBAN VIII AS A YOUNG CLERIC JOINS ITALIAN STATE COLLECTION

    Tuesday, March 10th, 2026

    Caravaggio – A portrait of cleric Monsignor Maffeo Barberini – later Pope Urban VIII 

    The Italian state has bought this portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini – later Pope Urban VIII – by Caravaggio for €30 million. This is one of the largest sums it has ever paid for an artwork. The purchase is part of a wider plan by the Italian government to prevent major artworks from being bought by private collectors. It had been in a private collection in Florence.

    About 65 surviving works by Caravaggio are known, only three of which are portraits. This particular portrait has been transferred to the permanent collection of the Palazzo Barberini – the historic home of the family of the portrait’s subject in Rome – where it was first exhibited. It will be displayed alongside other works by the artist. It was painted in about 1598 and shows Barberini as a bearded cleric apparently issuing instructions with his right hand outstretched. Barberini was elected to the papacy in 1623 and served until his death in 1644. He was known as a prominent patron of the arts.

    IRISH ART AT CHRISTIE’S IN LONDON NEXT WEEK

    Tuesday, March 10th, 2026

    Jack Butler Yeats – A Storm / Gaillshíon (1936) Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd. UPDATE: THIS MADE £165,100

    At auction for the first time this painting by Yeats will lead Christie’s day sale of Modern British and Irish art in London on March 19. A Storm/Gaillshíon depicts a young man seated on a bench at the side of a sandy pathway overlooking the sea. According to the artist, this scene refers to no particular, identifiable place, but rather is intended to be indicative of a typical Irish coastal scene, a familiar landscape visible throughout the island. The secondary title of the work, the Irish word Gaillshíon, conjures a rich impression of the atmospheric conditions of the day, suggesting the coastline is being buffeted by rough, blustery weather. The estimate is £100,000-£150,000.

    Irish art in the sale includes work by Yeats, Henry and Roderic O’Conor. Also at auction for the first time is Lavery’s After Breakfast, Tangier, which features in the evening sale on March 18. The estimate is £180,000-£250,000.

    Paul Henry – Digging Potatoes, Achill Island, Co. Mayo, 1916-19 (£85,000-£120,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE £107,950

    MODERN BRITISH AND IRISH ART AT BONHAMS

    Monday, March 9th, 2026

    Edward Delaney (1930-2009) – Pair of Figures. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £1,408

    These silver figures by Edward Delaney are at Bonhams Modern British and Irish art timed online sale which runs until March 18 with an estimate of €1,400-€2,100. The most expensively estimated lot by an Irish artist in the auction is Nude by Sean Keating (€17,000-€23,000) and there is art by Cecil King, Jack Coulter, Hughie O’Donoghue, Patrick Scott, Declan O’Connor and Arthur Maderson on a catalogue of 195 lots in total. There is a selection of work by Austin Osman Spare and art by Mary Fedden, Keith Vaughan, Alan Lowndes, John Minton, Roger Hilton and Sir Terry Frost is included.

    SADDLE UP FOR THIS SALE OF IRISH ART AT DE VERES

    Monday, March 9th, 2026

    Peter Curling – Irish Weather. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    Punters who get lucky at Cheltenham this week could do worse that put their winnings into art. How about this painting by Peter Curling called Irish Weather which is based on a Point to Point? The oil on canvas comes up at de Veres sale of Irish art on March 24 with an estimate of €20,000-€30,000. The Final Furlong by Liam O’Neill has an estimate of €12,000-€18,000. These two paintings lead an auction of more than 200 lots. The catalogue is online.

    Liam O’Neill – The Final Furlong. UPDATE: THIS MADE 16,500 AT HAMMER

    PAUL HENRY’S JOYFUL CONNEMARA LANDSCAPE AT WHYTE’S

    Sunday, March 8th, 2026
    Paul Henry RHA (1876-1958) – LANDSCAPE, CONNEMARA, 1932-5. UPDATE: THIS MADE €115,000 AT HAMMER

    What Sean O Faolain described as the special drama of mobile light had returned to Paul Henry’s painting when he made Landscape Connemara. Clouds in the upper third of the composition evoke a sense of enthusiasm and joy. The oil on canvas comes up as lot 17 at Whyte’s sale of Irish and international art on March 9 with an estimate of €120,000-€150,000.

    By the early 1930’s Paul Henry had settled into life in Carrigoona Cottage in Enniskerry County Wicklow with his partner, and later his second wife, the artist Mabel Young RHA whom he had first met in 1924. The mid-1920s had been fraught with both marital and financial troubles for Henry but life with Young in Enniskerry reinvigorated the artist.  ‘Henry’s palette, like his mood, lightened as his financial and domestic problems faded.’ By September 1934 he was legally separated and it would appear his thirst for inspiration had returned following a holiday in County Kerry.

    Included in the sale are works by Henry, Roderic O’Conor, William Conor, Walter Osborne, Aloysius O’Kelly, William Orpen, Mildred Anne Butler, Jack Butler Yeats, Seán Keating, Norah McGuinness, Evie Hone, Daniel O’Neill, Tony O’Malley, Rowan Gillespie and many others. International artists represented in the collection include L. S. Lowry, David Hockney, Frank Bowling, Josef Herman and Maurice Poirson.

    RARE LOTS FROM FRANCE AT SHEPPARDS AUCTION IN IRELAND

    Saturday, March 7th, 2026

    A Louis XIV sword UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    A Louis XIV sword, 17th century portrait miniatures, an 18th century silver tea service, a portrait of a noblewoman in the robes of the Order of Malta, a Book of Hours and collectible glass by Gallé, Daum and Baccarat will feature at Sheppards live and online Paradigms and the Unexpected auction in Durrow on March 10, 11 and 12.

    These treasures are from a group of 150 lots in the auction from the Blandin family of Château de Chalain, France.  They have been held in Ireland for over fifty years by direct descent, curated by its Irish family custodians.

    The collection reflects generations of military, civic and cultural history. Among the earliest
    recorded figures in the family is Charles Louis Blandin de Chalain, owner of the Louis XIV sword (€1,000-€1,500).  The blade is broken but an engraved Vive le Roi survives on one side. This offers a direct link to the family’s service under the French crown and is among a number of lots in the auction showing a continuity of lineage from Ancien Régime of France to its long-established Irish chapter. 

    Rare Gallé World War I vase. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    Gallé World War I vases are among the rarest works of the École de Nancy.   A Gallé World War I glass vase produced in 1915 with Art Nouveau glassmaking, war iconography and a subject that relates to the Vosges front has an estimate of €5,000-€8,000. It is from the Chateau de Chalain collection.

    The Irish dimension of the sale is equally notable. A pair of 18th-century pastel portraits
    depict Walter Hussey de Burgh (1742–1783), Prime Serjeant and later Chief Baron of the
    Irish Exchequer, of Donore House, County Kildare and his wife and cousin Anne. He was one of Ireland’s most prominent legal figures of the period.

    A stained glass watercolour study for the south window at Castlehaven church, Skibbereen. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    A set of six stained glass watercolour designs from the late 19th century form an important ecclesiastical archive. Attributed to Arthur Louis Moore & Co., London they were prepared for the Church of Ireland commissioners and reflect Moore’s practice of producing bespoke designs for individual churches. They were made for All Saints’ Church, Phibsborough, Dublin, Christ Church, Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire), Quin Church, County Clare (centre window, south side), St Mary’s Church, Donnybrook, Dublin (south side), Castlehaven Parish Church, Skibbereen, County Cork (south window) also known as St. Barrahane and Rathmolyon Church, County Meath (east window).

    The craftsmanship of late 18th or early 19th century Irish workshops can be seen in a flintlock pistol by Dublin maker John Lanigan (1829-1835). A later percussion pistol by James Read of Dublin illustrates the technological transition from flint ignition to percussion mechanism in the 19th century.  A pair of Japanese World War II “Big Eye” naval binoculars were probably manufactured by Nikon or Tokyo Kogaku Kikai (Tokyo Optical Company).  The lot is accompanied by a US Army certificate permitting the removal of the binoculars at the end of the war.

    An Irish 19th century inlaid commode. UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,000 AT HAMMER

    ART JEWELLERY FURNITURE PAINTINGS AND COLLECTIBLES

    Saturday, March 7th, 2026

    A doll’s house at Woodwards sale in Cork today (March 7). UPDATE: THIS MADE 280 AT HAMMER

    From art and jewellery to antique furniture, paintings and collectibles at all price points all sorts of everything will be available at auctions up and down Ireland in the coming days.  In Dublin art by Roderic O’Conor and Paul Henry head up an Irish and International art sale with a combined estimate of more than €1 million at Whyte’s on the evening of March 9.  The Jewellery Box sale at Adams on March 10 offers 234 lots headed by an emerald and diamond dress ring (€10,000-€15,000).  Both these auctions are now on view.

    Auctions in Cork by Aidan Foley, Woodwards and Hegarty’s in Bandon offer a wide variety of lots at lower price points.  Top lots at Woodwards on March 7 are an Edwardian economy dining table (€1,000-€2,000) and a five piece cast iron patio suite (1,200-€1,800). The three day sale by Aidan Foley in Doneraile next on March 9, 10 and 11 at 6 pm on each day offers a library collection, art, antique furniture and rugs, silver and a collection of whiskey.  The online sale at Hegarty’s in Bandon on March 11 features an oil on canvas by Graham Knuttel, a five stone diamond ring and an antique pair of Cork elbow chairs.

    An emerald and diamond dress ring at Adam’s in Dublin. UPDATE: THIS MADE 10,000 AT HAMMER

    NEW WORLD RECORD FOR HENRY MOORE AT CHRISTIE’S IN LONDON

    Friday, March 6th, 2026
    Henry Moore – King and Queen 1952-53

    There was a new world record for Henry Moore at Christie’s London 20/21 evening sale when King and Queen sold for £26,345,000. This was 76% above the high estimate. The result came after a bidding battle that went on for almost eight minutes with six bidders in the room. It is the highest selling lot of the London season. The sale generated a total of £114,175,900 a 39% increase on the total achieved last year, with 92% of lots sold by lot and 98% by value. Three evening sales brought in £197,472,600, up 52% on last year.

    The Art of the Surreal Evening Sale, celebrating its 25th edition this season was 100% sold by lot and value and generated a total of £42,978,950. It set two significant world auction records: Dorothea Tanning’s Children’s Games (1942) realised £4,686,000, while Toyen’s Le devenir de la liberté (1946) achieved £3,710,000.

    Modern Visionaries – The Roger and Josette Vanthournout Collection made £40,317,750, selling 97% by lot and 94% by value. The three evening sales generated £197,472,600.

    (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for February 13, 2026)