A curated ensemble of artworks and furniture with prestigious provenance comes up at Christie’s Collections sale in Paris on September 22. It will feature collections from King Leopold II’s villa at Saint Jean Cap Ferrat, HRH Princess Murat’s former private collection from rue de Monceau, Mr. Henri Klinger’s collection and drawing, paintings, furniture and art from the estate of Mrs. Francose Heftler. Collections is a new concept for Christie’s in Paris and it follows successful iterations in New York and London.
BUREAU DE PENTE D’EPOQUE LOUIS XV ESTAMPILLE DE PIERRE II MIGEON, MILIEU DU XVIIIe SIECLE once in the collection of Princess Murat (€6,000-10,000). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 16,250
THE sale of James and Marilynn Alsdorf’s private collection of Asian art is at Christie’s in New York on September 24. The connoisseurship of this Chicago couple is widely recognised. They spent their 38-year marriage building a wide-ranging collection marked by both quality and diversity. For the Alsdorfs, collecting represented the opportunity for exploration, adventure and pursuit of beauty, extending from the art-filled rooms of their Chicago residence to China and India.
They gifted and lent hundreds of works to the Art Institute of Chicago where he served as chairman from 1975-78 and she served for a time as president of the museum Women’s Board. In 1997, Mrs. Alsdorf presented the AIC with 400 works of Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian art. Less than a decade later she supported the Renzo Piano-designed renovation of what are now the Alsdorf Galleries for Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art. The collection will be sold across two sale sessions on September 24, with a complementary online auction from September 4 to 29.
RARE AND MAGNIFICENT BRONZE FIGURE OF SHIVA TRIPURAVIJAYA
SOUTH INDIA, TAMIL NADU, CHOLA PERIOD, CIRCA 1050 ($1-1.5 million)
This patinated gold bronze of Galatea by Rowan Gillespie comes up at Bonham’s Modern British and Irish art sale in Knightsbridge, London on September 16. Cast in 1982 it is just over 29 inches high. It is signed, numbered and dated ROWAN 2/9/1982 on the base. It is actually from an edition of three and not nine as described on the base. The original mould was destroyed after the third casting. From a private collection in Norway it is estimated at £8,000-12,000.
THE annual Irish Art sale at Sotheby’s on September 9 carries the highest combined pre-sale value since the reintroduction of dedicated Irish art sales in London in 2015. The sale, including property from the collection of Sir Michael Smurfit, comprises 60 lots and is estimated to bring in the region of £3.2 million. There will be public exhibitions at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin from August 27-30 by appointment, and in London from September 4. Among the highlights from outside the 18 works from the Smurfit collection is The Dreamer by Gerard Dillon.
Gerard Dillon, The Dreamer, oil on board, circa 1956-57. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £378,000
A pair of patinated and gilded bronze candleabra by Claude Lalanne are among the modern creations from the remarkable private collection of Prince and Princess Sadruddin Aga Khan due to come under the hammer at Christie’s Paris on October 1. Based at Bellerive Castle, Geneva, they have been the discreet patrons of many major philanthropic projects, aimed at preserving cultural and natural sites, from Egyptian temples to the Alps. The Aga Khan’s gathered an outstanding collection from a variety of cultures across the globe, reflecting their essence with this incredibly universal, yet very personal selection of fascinating objects and masterpieces. Each work of art demonstrates the collector’s open-cultural approach, representing a rich cultural history, with century-old objects, alongside works from leading artists and commissioned pieces from artists the couple maintained close friendships with.
Francois Curiel, Christie’s chairman, Europe said: “The true passion for the arts that united this couple is illustrated in their curation of the collection, and the confrontations and juxtapositions the objects impose on the surrounding objects. The 17th and 18th century furniture interact with pieces by Diego Giacometti, Claude Lalanne or Philippe Hiquily, antique paintings are in dialogue with Picasso’s oeuvre, while Orientalist pieces resonate with works by Isabelle de Borchgrave.”
A pair of patinated and gilded bronze candelabra by Claude Lalanne (estimated €60,000-80,000 each). UPDATE: THESE MADE 131,250 AND 137,500 RESPECTIVELY
THE Irish sculptor Paddy Campbell has become the first non-Italian winner of the Giotto e l’Angelico prize, awarded annually for contribution to cultural life in the Tuscan region. It was presented to the Dubliner at the original home of Renaissance painter Giotto in the town of Vicchio, renowned as one of the cradles of the Renaissance and also home to artists including Fra Angelico, Cellini, and Cimabue. Paddy Campbell has spent much the last 25 years in Florence. His striking sculpture Life and Death adorns main piazza in Vicchio. It is dedicated to the victims of war crimes committed by Fascist regimes during World War 2, notably in and around Florence and Vicchio.
Paddy Campbell’s nine metre sculpture Life and Death displayed in the centre of Vicchio
A total of 341 varied lots will come under the hammer at the James Adam At Home sale in Dublin on August 23. There is silver, jewellery, watches, paintings, collectibles and antique furniture including this c1830 Irish rosewood three seater settee in the manner of Mack, Williams and Gibton. The catalogue is online and this will be a live webcast sale with online, room, telephone and absentee bidding.
IRISH ROSEWOOD AND UPHOLSTERED THREE SEAT SETTEE (1,500-2,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,200 AT HAMMER
This 19th century gilt brass mounted walnut table is lot 205 at Mullen’s Classic and Contemporary Interiors online auction at Laurel Park, Bray on August 24. Estimated at 800-1,200 it is one of more than ten desks and bureaux in this auction of 637 lots. The auctioneers reckon that these pieces might be of particular interest to those newly working from home. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
British born German based Tony Cragg is regarded as one of the world’s most distinguished contemporary sculptors. A dozen of his works made between 2018 and this year in bronze, wood and steel, will be shown at a Galerie Thaddeus Ropac exhibition in Paris from September 11 to October 16. An online viewing experience of the show will launch simultaneously at www.ropac.net. These new works connote the movement, change and transience of elements caught in the process of transformation. Overlapping layered structures and convoluted forms give rise to figurative landscapes. The implied motion of the forms is reminiscent of Italian Futurist speed fanatics like Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916) and Giacomo Balla (1871-1958). A Turner Prize winner (in 1988) Cragg considers himself a radical materialist, constantly seeking to explore and expand the possibilities of new materials. In 2007 he received the Praemium Imperiale for Sculpture from Japan and was made a knight in 2016.
Tony Cragg – Skull, a 2018 sculpture in wood. Photo: Michael Richter
With everything from an old bowler hat and a shillelagh to antique furniture, silver condiments, oil lamps, costume and other jewellery, a George III military tray, Belleek and other porcelain, a Victorian cast iron fireplace with original tiles to armchairs, mirrors, garden sculpture, chests of drawers and books the three day sale by Matthews in Castlepollard, Co. Westmeath is brimful of interest for collectors and bargain hunters. More than 1,800 lots will come under the hammer at this three day on the premises clearance auction which gets underway today. Incorporating an original Victorian chemist shop the premises is a large townhouse on The Square. The online auction features a wide spectrum of goods gathered over three generations by the Slattery family.
Victorian fire inset with original tiles. UPDATE: THIS MADE 220 AT HAMMER
