EILIS O’CONNELL – CURVE TO EDGE Courtesy of Solomon Fine Art Copyright The Artist
Curve to Edge is the title of this bronze edition 1/3 by Eilis O’Connell RHA at the online Spring Group Show at Solomon Gallery in Dublin which opens today. It is priced at €55,000. The gallery remains temporarily closed to the public due to lockdown so the show, which runs to March 5, is mounted online. It features paintings, prints and sculpture by gallery and invited artists. The 2021 schedule at Solomon includes upcoming solo shows by Eilis O’Connell RHA, James Hanley RHA, Bridget Flinn and Margo Banks.
An 18th century mahogany Chippendale bookcase was the top lot at the opening morning session of Sheppards three day sale of Belmont House and other important clients in Durrow today. It made a hammer price of 2,700 in a session where antique furniture attracted much competitive bidding. A George I walnut and herringbone inlaid low boy made 1,300 at hammer, an Irish 18th century silver table made 1,500, a Regency side table made 1,300, a Regency coffee table made 1,500, a 19th. century gilt over mantle made 1,100, a 19th century walnut centre table made 1,450, a Regency centre table made 1,700 and a satinwood and painted pier cabinet made 1,700. Waterfall, a tapestry wall hanging by Pauline Bewick made a hammer price of 5,600 in the afternoon session.
This late 19th century French brass six sided hall lantern from Hudson Antiques is part of the Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair. This year the fair is taking the form of an online auction with 345 lots at Bonhams which runs until February 12. Lot 57 is estimated at £1,600-2,200.
After the auction successful buyers will be contacted by Bonhams to see if they would like to collect their purchased lots from the vendors premises or from Cadogan Tate in Park Royal, London. Oversized items such as garden sculpture which require heavy lifting equipment will only be available for collection from the vendors premises.
Sir Winston Churchill’s only wartime painting – Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque (1943) – will lead Christie’s Modern British Art evening sale on March 1. From the collection of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who are divorcing, it is being offered for sale by the Jolie Family Collection. Painted in Marrakech following the Casablanca Conference in January 1943 – where it was agreed by the Allied forces that only complete surrender by the Axis powers would be acceptable – it is estimated at £1,500,000-2,500,000. Churchill invited Franklin D. Roosevelt to join him in Marrakech the day after the conference concluded, motivated by his desire to share the views of the city and the light at sunset. The view impressed Roosevelt so much that Churchill decided to capture the scene for him as a memento of their excursion. This act was seen not only as an indication of their friendship but of the special relationship between the UK and the USA.
The Hollywood couple bought the painting ten years ago at M.S. Rau in New Orleans.
Churchill began painting scenes of Morocco after being encouraged to visit the country by his painting tutor, Sir John Lavery. Upon his first visit in 1935, he felt that the light and scenery were unrivalled, creating some 45 paintings of the country. Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque stands out as the only painting he created between 1939 and 1945.
Sir Winston Churchill – Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £8,285,000, A WORLD AUCTION RECORD
It is only the first of the month but the Irish Antique Dealers Association (IADA) suggest that it is time to start thinking about Valentine’s Day. With the usual options unavailable during lockdown members suggest that it is time to look for a timeless and unusual Valentine gift for that special someone. Members have curated a selection of possible gifts from art and furniture to collectibles and jewellery, and these can be viewed on www.iada.ie
German Art Deco bronze, signed by Hermann Nonnenmacher, c1930, 20cm, priced at €2,800 courtesy of Niall Mullen Antiques.
Oriental objects, antique furniture, jewellery, vintage fashion, wine and art including a triptych portrait of Vicky Phelan will feature at Sheppards three day online sale next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (February 3, 4 and 5). The Phelan portrait by Tullamore based artist Vincent Devine will be auctioned for the charity Heroes Aid which supports frontline Covid-19 workers.More than 1,300 lots will come under the hammer including a Chenghua (1447-1487) blue and white bowl (€20,000-€30,000), a 19th century bone barleycorn chess set (€400-€600), an oil on canvas of Cleopatra after Guido Reni in a carved gilded Florentine frame (€4,000-€6,000), garden furniture including cast iron seats, some Cork glass and a 19th century pine kitchen table. The catalogue for Belmont House and other important clients is online at www.sheppards.ie
UPDATE: THE portrait of Vicky Phelan sold for 46,500 at hammer, the bone barleycorn chess set made 700 and the painting after Guido Reni made 2,800.
Chinese Ming blue and white bowl (€20,000-€30,000). UODATE: THIS MADE 18,000 AT HAMMER
Moments ago Botticelli’s Portrait of a young man holding a roundel sold for $92,184,000 at Sotheby’s in New York sale of Master Paintings and Sculpture. It shattered the previous record for a Botticelli by nine times and was the highest price ever paid for an Old Master at Sotheby’s. It was last purchased at auction for $1.3 million in 1982.
The Botticelli now stands alongside Francis Bacon’s Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus as the second work to have surpassed $80m at auction since Sotheby’s pioneered the new live-streamed auction format some seven months ago. The sale today is among the auctions which attracted the highest number of participants ever seen in a Sotheby’s live-streamed auction. Some 66% of bidders registered online. This echoes the pattern of 2020, which also saw many new buyers enter the field.
The Botticelli becomes the second most expensive Old Master ever sold at auction. In 2017 Leonardo’s Salvador Mundi mde $450 million at Christie’s and is the most expensive Old Master ever sold at auction.
Belmont House and other important clients is the title of a three day online sale by Sheppards of Durrow on February 3, 4 and 5. The auction will feature a large range of antique furniture, art, jewellery and collectibles among more than 1300 lots. The catalogue is online.
This William IV burr walnut and ebony inlaid card table sold for a hammer price of 800 at Victor Mee’s January decorative interiors sale yesterday. The auction of 1,140 lots continues today and can be followed on easyliveauction.com
Seas, Sherkin is the title of this 2020 work by Majella O’Neill Collins at Morgan O’Driscoll’s online sale of affordable Irish art which runs until February 1. The artist lives on Sherkin Island in west Cork and this oil on canvas, which is lot 12, is estimated at 1,200-1,800. The catalogue with bidding options is online.
Seas, Sherkin (2020) by Majella O’Neill Collins. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,500 AT HAMMER
