Birds in Flight by John Behan UPDATE: THIS MADE 8,400 AT HAMMER
A tall and significant Birds in Flight sculpture by John Behan will lead Woodwards sale in Cork on February 8. The appealing series of birds in flight by the much loved Irish sculptor who created the Swan fountain at Bishop Lucey Park in Cork city centre is enduringly popular and sought after. This one is estimated at €10,000-€15,000.
Garden lots on offer include a pair of cast iron domed benches (€2,500-€3,500) and a pair of cast iron vases (€1,200-€1,600). Antique furniture pieces like a Georgian walnut card table, an Irish Georgian display cabinet (each €300-€400), a Georgian wine cooler and an Edwardian display cabinet (each €300-€500), a William IV table and a pair of inlaid tube chairs (each €200-€300) are all modestly and realistically estimated. Art includes a pastel by Tom Walsh. The sale is on view all week and the catalogue is online.
King of the Roads by Tom Walsh. UPDATE: THIS MADE 500 AT HAMMER
Russian Imperial Glassworks goblet UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
A Russian Imperial Glassworks Goblet made to mark the Alexander Column at the Winter Palace of St. Petersburg comes up at Hegarty’s online sale in Bandon on February 5. The grand opening of the column, built to commemorate the victory of the Russian army over Napoleon, took place in 1834. The estimate for the glass is €1,800-€2,500. The online sale, which starts at 11 am, offers a collection of jewellery, Irish and continental silver, art and collectors items.
Italian marble topped console table UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
An extraordinary array of contents, secular and ecclesiastical, from the bishop’s house of the Diocese of Dromore in Newry will be sold online by Victor Mee auctions on February 12 and 13. The diocese has been hit by various sexual scandals and harboured a paedophile priest for four decades. A redress scheme in operation has already cost several million.
As the interior photographs show, the Bishop’s House at Newry is positively regal. The house has already been sold and the rare treasures within have been accumulated by the diocese over many years.
An interior of the Bishop’s House at Newry showing part of the large dining room.
The magnificent contents include real rarities like a William IV console table with an Italian marble top, a twelve foot long dining table and a second console with provenance from Tandragee Castle. Tandragee was sold by the Duke of Manchester in the 1950’s to local businessman Thomas Hutchinson who funded Tayto and the castle houses the offices for Tayto Crisps.
Decanter presented to Pope Pius IX by the town of Velletri. UPDATE: THIS MADE 345 AT HAMMER
A decanter, presented to Pope Pius IX, who reigned for nearly 32 years from 1846, on his sacerdotal jubilee by the town of Velletri, Italy is among an exceptional collection of ecclesiastical items. The provenance for the decanter is impeccable.
An assortment of brass liturgical pieces includes altar candle holders, crucifixes and an elegant lectern. An early 20th century set of the Stations of the Cross are mounted in their original frames.
Interior photograph with lots to be sold
Interior highlights include a gilt Regency mirror by Richard Jackson of Essex Bridge, Dublin. This is similar to the one on display at the Waterford Treasures Museum. A pair of scagliola marble columns, each over a metre tall, lent an air of opulence to the Bishop’s House. A selection of art with religious themes including a depiction of the martyrdom of St. Andrew. Many of the artworks are contained within spectacular gilt frames. Garden pieces include a 19th century limestone sundial and a collection of 19th century stone troughs.
Viewing for this singular sale gets underway in Newry on Saturday February 8 and will continue on February 9 and 10. The auction will be held at The Mourne Country Hotel from 6 pm on February 12 and 13. It will also be online.
Markey Robinson (1918-1999) – Still Life with Jugs and Guitar. UPDATE: THIS MADE €1,900 AT HAMMER
This Still Life with Jugs and Guitar by Markey Robinson comes up at Morgan O’Driscoll’s current off the wall online art sale with an estimate of €1,200-€1,800. The affordable art sale runs until February 4 and will be on view in Skibbereen on January 30 and 31 and on February 4. Approaching Dawn, River Clyde, an oil on board by Arthur Maderson is at €3,000-€5,000, the most expensively estimated lot. The catalogue is online.
Pieter Brueghel the Younger – The Peasant Wedding Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD – THE SALE OF THE COLLECTION MADE €10 million
The Peasant Wedding, a masterpiece by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, comes up at Christie’s in Paris on March 27 with an estimate of €1.5-€2.5 million. The success of The Peasant Wedding in its day led to several versions of it being produced after a model by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, which today is in the collections of Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum. The version presented in this auction is the only one known to date to be signed and dated (1622) out of four listed versions.
It is a highlight of the Onzea-Govaerts Collection. This varied collection of objects and works of art was assembled from the 1970s onwards by Joris Onzea and Suzanne Govaerts who developed a model for furniture and interior design shops that was far ahead of its time. The CASA concept has been widely adopted and has enjoyed an unrivalled and unquestionable following.
Their collection is curated by renowned gallery owner and interior designer Baron Axel Vervoordt. Flemish masterpieces appear alongside Egyptian artefacts, African and Asian art, contemporary works and classical furniture. This fusion of styles and cultures reflects Vervoordt’s philosophy of combining the old and the new to create unique spaces and atmospheres. The collection of 150 lots is estimated to fetch between 7 million and 12 million euros.
17th-century Edo period folding screen (€20,000 – €30,000). Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd.
Composition by Evie Hone. UPDATE: THIS MADE 24,000 AT HAMMER
A Composition by Evie Hone and a bronze Cubist Bull by John Behan give some sense of the depth and breadth of Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish art online auction which runs until January 27. With 255 lots in total the sale features highly collectible artists like Donald Teskey and Majella O’Neill Collins. There is art by Donald Teskey, John Shinnors, William Scott, Liam O’Neill, Graham Knuttel, Kenneth Webb and James Brohan among the more expensively estimated lots.
International artists featured include Mr. Brainwash, Damien Hirst, Salvador Dali, Jeff Koons, Sonia Delauney and Andy Warhol with everything from a mixed media sculpture of a puppy by Koons to an offset lithograph of Queen Elizabeth by Andy Warhol from his reigning queens series and a set of six numbered Limoges plates from a large edition by Dali entitled Conquest du Cosmos.
There is art by Pauline Bewick, Christy Brown, Paul Henry, Percy French, Adam Buck, Elizabeth Magill, Markey Robinson, Adam Buck, Sean Scully, Barrie Cooke, Lady Kate Dobbin, Sir John Lavery, Harry Kernoff and a variety of other artists. The catalogue is online.
Before the Storm, Sherkin by Majella O’Neill Collins. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,500 AT HAMMER
A pair of parcel gilt and painted elbow chairs. UPDATE: THESE MADE €2,300 AT HAMMER
A neoclassical marble chimney piece, a pair of parcel gilt elbow chairs, a Georgian lacquered longcase clock and an 18th century brass door knocker are among the treasures to be found at Sheppard’s Gems in the Attic sale in Durrow on February 4. The date has been re-scheduled due to adverse weather and telecommunications issues.
On offer are works of art from the attics, stables and storerooms of important clients of Sheppards. The 663 lots – ranging in estimate from €20-€40 (for a bottle of Chateau Pessan St. Hilaire 1992) to €4,000-€6,000 for the neoclassical marble chimney piece – are not at all typical of the half-forgotten contents of your average attic storage space.
There is everything from a 16th century gold thread and silk embroidery of the Virgin and the Angels (€500-€800) and a mixed media of The Old Claddagh, Galway by John Behan (€600-€800) to a Tibetan turquoise encrusted box and cover (€50-€80), a Berber wall hanging (€200-€300), a Dublin 19th century side table (€1,400-€1,800), a pair of Art Deco belt buckles (€100-€150) and a pair of 19th century lacquered panels €1,400-€1,800).
Collectibles include a Chinese celadon double gourd vase, a tapestry of Nefertiti, a 19th century travelling chess set, a Baule mask from Africa, a 19th century ormolu and champleve enamel casket, a Meissen bowl, a c500 BC Greek pottery ewer, two ostrich eggs on wooden stands, a green jade foo dog, a 19th century Italian glazed pottery relief plaque and a pair of 19th century Japanese ceremonial chairs.
The sale is now on view in Durrow and the catalogue is online.
A pair of Art Deco silver and mother of pearl belt buckles. UPDATE: THESE MADE €90 AT HAMMER
This c1981 optical kinetic work by Luis Tomasello, an artist renowned for his geometric abstractions, comes up at Adams timed online Modern Furnishings sale on January 29. Object Plastique No. 4 by the Argentinian born artist who died in Paris in 2014 at the age of 98 is estimated at just €500-€800. Hugely influenced by Mondrian, Tomasello worked extensively in Paris from the 1950’s onwards exhibiting alongside Victor Vasarely and Jesus Rafael Soto. He showed at numerous national and international exhibitions of Op-Art. His work is included in the Guggenheim and MoMA collections in New York, the Tate in London, the Pompidou and at the Musee d’Art Modern de la Ville de Paris, the Reina Sofia in Madrid and many more international galleries.
18TH-CENTURY MAHOGANY CONSOLE TABLE. UPDATE: THIS MADE €1,300 AT HAMMER
This 18th century console table with gadrooned rectangular top comes up at Sheppards Gems in the Attic sale on February 4. The estimate is €1,500-€2,500. The auction is on view in Durrow from February 1. There are 667 lots in total and the catalogue is online.
Peter Collis (1929-2012) – Still Life with Fruit and Flowers. UPDATE: THIS MADE 5,200 AT HAMMER
This still life by Peter Collis is from Morgan O’Driscoll’s current online auction of Irish art. The oil on canvas is estimated at €3,000-€5,000. The sale runs until the evening of January 27 and offers a wide selection of 255 lots including Irish artists like Donald Teskey and Mainie Jellett and international artists like Jeff Koons and Andy Warhol. The catalogue is online and there will be viewing in Skibbereen on January 23, 24 and 27.
