Out of the ordinary collectibles like a pair of Chinese Qing astronomers chairs, a hardwood temple plaque, an electrified dolls house and a rather fine Cork Regency brass inlaid chest abound at Sheppards two day sale in Durrow on June 25 and 26. The sale offers residual contents from Castle Blunden in Co. Kilkenny as well as lots from other clients. The auction of over 1,200 lots is conveniently broken up into four sessions starting at 10.30 am and 2 pm on each day. The Cork chest is distinguished by brass inlay and turned spiral columns. It is estimated at 2,500-3,500. A Neo Classical marble chimney piece is the sort of lot that might find a new home relatively easily in these post recession times. This one, lot 825, is estimated at 4,000-6,000. There is a more modest estimate of just 100-150 on an attractive Victorian bentwood rocking chair. The catalogue is online at www.sheppards.ie and there is iewing in Durrow is from 10.30 am to 5 pm for the next three days.
Cork Regency chest of drawers UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,200 AT HAMMER
A capriccio or architectural fantasy by Giovanni Paolo Panini which has emerged from an Irish collection after 200 years comes up at Chiswick Auctions in London on June 25. The oil painting has been in the same family since being purchased by David Ker in 1785. A Capriccio of classical ruins is estimated at £18,000-25,000.
David Ker (1751-1811) of Montalto in Co. Down was a wealthy landowner with several country estates. In 1771 he embarked on the ‘Grand Tour’ to Italy, where he met and eloped with the Venetian singer Madalena Guardi, believed to be the daughter of the painter Francesco Guardi. The couple married in Padua and thereafter resided in the Kers’ family estates in Ireland, where they had three daughters and a son.
Breton Boy in Profile by Roderic O’Conor sold for £419,250 at Christie’s in London. This was more than three times the estimate of £120,000-180,000. The work, signed and dated O’Conor/’93, was from the collection of Drue Heinz which Christie’s has been offering in London and New York this year.
Roderic O’Conor – Breton Boy in Profile
The top lot of the sale was The Family of Man by Dame Barbara Hepworth which made £3.8 million. There was a new world record for Dame Elisabeth Frink whose Running Man (Front Runner) sold for £1,091,250.
A topographical Cork city scene by Letitia Marion Hamilton will highlight the Lynes and Lynes sale in Carrigtwohill on June 22. Cork city paintings by Hamilton are unusual and rarely turn up so auctioneer Denis Lynes anticipates that there will be plenty of interest. It is a busy scene showing St. Patrick’s Quay and Penrose Quay. There are cars parked on the quayside and at least one horse and cart. Brian Boru bridge is depicted with the R and H Hall and Odlums buildings in the background. This is a city centre and river scape of a rapidly changing area but it recalls a Cork that many will clearly remember. The estimate for the work is 10,000-15,000.
Cork city scene by Letitia Mation Hamilton RHA (1878-1964) UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 15,000
There is a Head of Christ by Maurice Desmond and Three Shadows, a limited edition print by Tony O’Malley. Lot 217 is a c1900 carved oak and gilded altar with an estimate of just 200-400. Other furniture includes a Victorian four door bookcase and a pair of Cork nine bar open chairs.
On offer too is a silver trowel presented to Sean MacEntee, Minister for Health and Social Welfare, on the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone for the New Erinville Hospital on June 7, 1961. In the Celtic Revival style and by William Egan of Cork it is estimated at 800-1,200. A c1792 Dublin sugar bowl by Matthew West is estimated at 300-500.
Paul Henry’s Cottages in a Landscape was the top lot at the James Adam sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin last night. It made a hammer price of 115,000. Other top hammer prices included Sean Keating’s Homeward Bound (76,000), Louis le Brocquy’s Aubusson wool tapestry Cuchulainn VIII 1999 (70,000), Gerald Leslie Brockhurst’s Portrait of Florence Forsyth (50,000), South of France Landscape by Mary Swanzy (32,000), A Lament for Art O’Leary, a set of six illustrations from 1940 by Jack Butler Yeats (19,000) and Girl in Stripy Jumper by Basil Blackshaw (18,000).
Paul Henry RHA (1877-1958) Cottages in a Landscape (1930-1940)
Top prices for Irish art at Bonhams in London yesterday included Looking at the Moon by Rowan Gillespie (£56,313); Londonderry by L.S. Lowry (£37,562); River scene, Londonderry by L.S. Lowry (£30,062) and November Evening, Bangor Pier by Colin Middleton (£22,562).
Allegory, an Aubusson tapestry by Louis le Brocquy, was the top lot at de Veres art and sculpture sale in Dublin last night. It sold for a hammer price of 92,000. Patrick O’Reilly’s GI Bear, unique and bronze, measuring eight feet by nine feet, which had been displayed outside the Merrion Hotel, sold for a hammer price of 80,000.
Louis le Brocquy – Allegory
Other top hammer prices include: Rowan Gillespie Portrait of a Dreamer 67,000; Louis le Brocquy Tinker Breaks Whitethorn 42,000; Patrick O’Reilly Bear 30,000; Stephen McKenna Black and Yellow Lighthouse 29,000; Patrick Scott, Gold Painting 28,000; Walter Osborne, High St., Rye 17,500 and F E McWilliam Carving 16,500.
Impressionist and Modern masterpieces features at Sotheby’s evening and day sales in London on June 18 and 19 respectively. Helena Newman, Worldwide Head of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Department commented: “From Monet to Modigliani, this season’s London sales bring together outstanding works by some of the world’s most beloved and sought-after artists”.
Claude Monet, Nymphéas, 1908 (£25-35 million)
“Monet’s Nymphéas – an iconic image of his most celebrated subject – is at the same time radical and poetic, whilst Modigliani’s deeply arresting portrait of an unnamed youth unites the personal and the archetypal. These outstanding works have remained unseen for over half a century in their respective private collections and epitomise quality and freshness, both critical criteria for today’s global collectors. They will be offered alongside defining examples from landmark moments of Impressionism and Modern Art.”
Amedeo Modigliani, Jeune homme assis, les mains croisées sur less genoux, 1918 (£16-24 million)
Rich pickings await collectors at two sales of Irish art in Dublin and one in London this week. The evening sale of art and sculpture at de Veres on June 11 offers three tapestries by le Brocquy including Allegory from 1950 (60,000-90,000). This series rarely appears at auction. There is as well a fine watercolour from his Tinkers series (40,000-60,000).The auction features work by artists like Patrick Scott, Mainie Jellett, Hughie O’Donoghue, Tony O’Malley, Robert Ballagh, Stephen McKenna and Sean McSweeney.A feature of this auction is the sculpture section, on view in the garden of The Merrion Hotel. The first piece on view is a massive bronze GI Bear by Patrick O’Reilly standing outside the hotel on Merrion Street (80,000-120,000).
Tinker Picking Whitethorn, a watercolour by Louis le Brocquy at de Veres UPDATE: THIS MADE 42,000 AT HAMMER
Interest in the work of Mary Swanzy has hugely increased in latter years, helped no doubt by her major exhibition currently at the Crawford in Cork previously on show at IMMA. Her South of France Landscape dating from around 1915 is lot 38 at the James Adam evening sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on June 1. It is estimated at 20,000-30,000.Low Water, Spring Tide, Clifden by Jack. B, Yeats dates to 1906 and is his first oil painting, created when he was moving on from watercolour. It is estimated at 40,000-60,000 at Adams. The sale offers a number of fine 18th and 19th century landscapes by artists including William Sadler, John Henry Campbell, Frederick Brocas and William Ashford. Lot 62 is a monumental bronze by Edward Delaney featured in an RTE still photograph of the poet Patrick Kavanagh in 1962. Titled Cathedral it is estimated at 15,000-20,000. There are abstract works by Cecil King, William Scott, Felim Egan and Michael Farrell, A Connemara Landscape by Paul Henry and a 1920’s portrait by the English painter Gerald Leslie Brockhurst of Florence Forsythe. Adams point out that a portrait of film star Merle Oberon by Brockhurst sold last year for $290,000. Adams has a more modest estimate of 20,000-40,000 on their example.The Irish selection on offer at Bonhams Modern British and Irish art sale in London on June 12 is headed by Yeats’ Romeo and Juliet. There are two Irish sketches by L.S. Lowry as well as works by Louis le Brocquy, Colin Middleton, Rowan Gillespie, William Scott, Sean Scully and Sir John Lavery.
South of France Landscape by Mary Swanzy at James Adam UPDATE: THIS MADE 32,000 AT HAMMER
Viewing gets underway in Dublin today for the auction of Important Irish Art at James Adam on June 12 at 6 pm. Prime lots include Homeward Bound by Sean Keating (60,000-80,000), Cottages in a Landscape by Paul Henry (60,000-80,000), Low Water, Spring Tide, Clifden by Jack B. Yeats (40,000-60,000) and Cuchulainn VIII, 1999, an Aubusson tapestry by Louis le Brocquy (30,000-50,000). The selection is broad and the catalogue is online.
Seán Keating PRHA (1889-1977) Homeward Bound UPDATE: THIS MADE 76,000 AT HAMMER
