A Cork silver tablespoon by Isaac Solomon. UPDATE: THIS MADE 220 AT HAMMER
More than 400 lots will come under the hammer at the Lynes and Lynes online sale in Carrigtwohill on November 27. The silver section includes a Cork silver tablespoon by Isaac Solomon, a Georgian silver ladle by Richard Sawyer, Dublin and a heavy tray by William Egan of Cork. Victorian pieces include a three door Victorian secretaire, an antique couch and an oak and brass hall stand. A pair of early 19th century porcelain plaques stamped Franz Xaver Thallmaier of Munich have an estimate of €2,000-€3,000. There is a Hornby train collection and comics from the 1950’s include The Dandy, The Beano, The Rover and The Eagle. More than 30 lots of books includes Evelyn Bolster’s History of Cork in four volumes and correspondence between Eamon de Valera and Jenny Dowdall of Cork. There will be interest too in a heavy cast iron water trough, a pair of old iron gates and an early plough by Pierce of Wexford. The catalogue is online.
Valentino, Givenchy, Dior, Philip Treacy and Stella McCartney are among the designers featured at a pre-owned fashion auction by Laois auctioneer Sean Eacrett on December 11. Over the past three years pre-owned fashion sales have grown 21 times faster than retail fashion. Sean Eacrett plans to make this sale a twice yearly event. The sale gets underway online at 10 a.m. on November 27 and there are 712 lots on the catalogue.
Lot 70 is a special pairing of Jimmy Choo nude leather shoes and clutch bag, UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR 640 AT HAMMER
An important group of 17 paintings from the collection of Sir Michael Smurfit is at the core of Sotheby’s sales of Modern British and Irish Art and Irish Art online in London on November 23. Then 17 works carry a pre-sale estimate of €1.3 million – €2 million. Overall Sotheby’s estimate that more than 70 Irish works, from the 19th century to the present day and ranging from paintings to sculpture to ceramics, will make €3 million – €4.6 million. Sotheby’s has run a global campaign in support of these sales which feature Ireland’s most famous painters, Jack B. Yeats, Sir John Lavery, Sir William Orpen, Paul Henry, Louis le Brocquy and Gerard Dillon as well as contemporary artists like Jack Coulter. Most of these works have emerged from private collections and many are making their first appearance at auction. The most expensively estimated Irish painting in the auction is a 1936 oil on canvas by Yeats entitled A Nor’ Western Town (€412,000-€650,000). From a private collection in Ireland it was exhibited at a Yeats one man show in London in 1936 and at the National Gallery in 1942. Two Paul Henry’s, Connemara Landscape (€177,000-€236,000) and West of Ireland Landscape (€142,000-€212,000) are from a private US collection.A Welcome and South Pacific, both by Yeats and from the Smurfit collection, are estimated respectively at €177,000-€295,000 and €236,000-€354,000. Other highlights from Smurfit include Morning Tangier by Sir John Lavery and Image of W.B. Yeats by Louis le Brocquy. An oil on board by Gerard Dillon from a private collection in Northern Ireland is entitled Across from Inishlacken and estimated at €94,500-€142,000.The online sale features a 1949 Yeats entitled The Face of Victory (€83,000-€119,000) and The Newly Married Man by Sean Keaing from 1919 (€71,000-€95,000), both from a UK collection. The Artist’s Studio by Roderic O’Conor (€95,000-142,000) and Sir William Orpen’s Portrait of Grace (€59,000-€83,000). are both from the Smurfit collection. On the contemporary side there is a bronze by Rowan Gillespie entitled Are You There? (€47,300-€71,000) and Heaven is a Place on Earth by the Belfast artist Jack Coulter. Both of these works were made this year.
Rowan Gillespie – Are You There? at Sotheby’s. UPDATE: THIS MADE €107,100
Outstanding Irish art at de Veres will come under the hammer next Tuesday evening. This is a very good sale with top lots by Paul Henry estimated at €200,000-€300,000 and works by Roderic O’Conor and William Orpen each estimated at €150,000-€250,000. At Bonhams sale of Important British and Irish art at Bond St. in London on November 24 there are important works by William Scott, Paul Henry and John Luke. Bonhams Modern British and Irish art sale in Knightsbridge on Tuesday features a number of Irish artists as well.
On November 29 Whyte’s may yet steal the show this art selling season with a large scale late Yeats painting. Shouting, at €1.5 million – €2 million, is the most expensively estimated Irish artwork ever to come to auction. And James Adam will have a great sale on December 8.
This portrait of a young lady with a blue scarf is the catalogue cover lot for the James Adam sale of Fine Asian Art in Dublin next Tuesday (November 23). It is by Vu Cao Dam (1908-2000) who graduated from the fine arts school of Hanoi in 1931, in which year he participated in the Paris International Exhibition. He settled in France where he was mostly known for his sculpture. Influenced by Fauvism and the Paris School his creations lie on the edges of Asian traditions, particularly Chinese and Vietnamese art. This c1950 portrait is estimated at €30,000-€50,000. The sale of 440 lots is split into four sections, Arts of China and Himalaya, Arts of Vietnam and South-East Asia, Asian Painters and Arts of Japan and Korea.
THIS extremely rare copy of the First Printing of the Final Text of the United States Constitution sold for $43.2 million at Sotheby’s in New York last night. Making more than double the $20 million high estimate it set a world auction record for any book, manuscript, historical document, or printed text. The sale followed an eight minute bidding battle. The underbidder was Constitution DAO, a group of more than 17,000 people from around the world who banded together through social media within the last week to raise money to acquire the document, marking this cryptocurrency effort as the largest crowdfunding initiative ever put together. It is one of just 13 known copies of the official printing produced for the delegates to Constitutional Convention and for the Continental Congress, and only two copies of the first printing of the Constitution that remains in private hands. Full proceeds from the sale will benefit The Dorothy Tapper Goldman Foundation, whose mission is to further the understanding of the constitutional principles and how the acts of all citizens can impact our democracy.
**The previous world auction record for any printed text was $14,165,000 for the Bay Psalm Book sold at Sotheby’s New York in 2013
**The previous world auction record for any book and manuscript was $30,802,500 for The Codex Leicester sold at Christie’s in 1994
**The previous world auction record for any historical document was $21.3 million for the 1297 Magna Carta sold at Sotheby’s in 2007.
Nice to See You Again by Yoshitomo Nara made $15.4 million and was the top lot at Sotheby’s Now evening auction in New York last night. The monumental work epitomises the artist’s career-long exploration of themes of innocence, adolescence, and universal angst. Ostensibly innocuous, the rosy-cheeked, wide-eyed, kawaii girl peers toward the viewer with startling intensity; as one notices her chubby fist brandishing a knife however, any assumptions of vulnerability are undermined. Set against a vibrant periwinkle background Nara’s archetypal child is concurrently innocent and violent, docile and unruly, illustrating the radical potential of subversive and anarchic youth. The Now Evening Auction focussed on art executed in the last 20 years and brought in $71.8 million.
John Shinnors – Small Scarecrow, Striped Kites. UPDATE: THIS MADE 15,000
Small Scarecrow, Striped Kites by John Shinnors is lot 20 at de Veres sale of Outstanding Irish Art on November 23. The auction has now gone on view at Kildare St. in Dublin and the catalogue is online. There are major works by Roderic O’Conor, Paul Henry, Sir William Orpen and a number of other leading Irish artists. This work is estimated at €8,000-€12,000.
THE Modern evening auction at Sotheby’s in New York totalled $282.9 million. Claude Monet’s Coin du bassin aux nympheas was the top lot of the evening. It made $50.8 million. Frida Kahlo’s Diego y yo made $35.5 million, a new record both for the artist and for Latin American art.
Eric Clapton’s guitar, Kurt Cobain’s handwritten setlists and Whitney Houston’s multi-print Versace jacket are among the star-powered music memorabilia at Julien’s Auctions Icons and Idols live and online sale from the Hard Rock Cafe, New York on November 19 and 20. Clapton’s 1968 Martin D-45 acoustic instrument is reckoned to $300,000 to $500,000. According to Martin Nolan of Julien’s this estimate is probably conservative.
Nearly 1,000 sensational artefacts and memorabilia owned and used by some of the world’s legendary music artists of all-time including The Beatles, Guns N’ Roses, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Robert Plant, Elvis Presley, Trent Reznor, Keith Richards, Eddie Van Halen, U2, and others will be offered.
ERIC CLAPTON’S 1968 Martin D-45 Guitar. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $625,000 IN A SALE THAT BROUGHT IN NEARLY $5 MILLION
The Macklowe Collection made a total $676.1 million at a white glove sale at Sotheby’s in New York last night. Highlights included Mark Rothko’s No. 7 which sold for $82.5 million, Albert Giacometti’s Le Nez which achieved $78.4 million, Jackson Pollock’s Number 17, 1951 which more than doubled its low estimate to achieve $61.2 million, a new artist record, and Cy Twombly’s monumental Untitledwhich sold for $58.9 million. The 35 pieces belonged to real estate mogul Harry Macklowe and his former wife Linda. The pair were told to sell the collection and split the proceeds during their 2018 divorce trial.
