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This watercolour, ink and pencil drawing of Two Female Nudes by the Irish sculptor John Behan sold for £828.75 at Bonhams in London. From the collection of the late design guru Sir Terence Conran the work came up at the sale of the contents of Barton Court, his country house in Berkshire. Conran died in 2020.
A weathered leather couch and club chair at right angles to a blazing fire, a Victorian giltwood mirror and a carved mahogany framed ottoman combine to make an enviably comfortable image on the catalogue cover for Adams timed At Home auction on December 19.. The scene was set in the elegant surroundings of the St. Stephen’s Green Club in Dublin where the decorated Georgian fireplace and Christmas tree added a seasonal touch of cheer.
Here’s the thing. There is no reason why this ghost of Christmas past cannot be turned into the ghost of your Christmas future because with the exception of the fireplace all these lots are in the sale. The two seater button backed brown leather couch and matching armchair are estimated at €1,600-€2,000, the mirror at €500-€700 and the ottoman at €400-€600.
The most expensively estimated furniture lot is 441, a 19th century neo-Grecian maple and rosewood inlaid centre table (€3,000-€5,000) and there is a good collection of overmantle mirrors. Among the more unusual offerings are two Afghan war rugs woven with tanks and war apparatus, each estimated at €200-€300, based on the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union. There is also a rare George I walnut combination piece with knee hole desk on one side and a chest of drawers on the other (€1,000-€2,000).
The first 156 lots is made up of jewellery and watches headed by an Italian 18 carat gold necklace and bracelet (€3,200-€3,800). There is no shortage of gift items like a Pasha razor and barber brush by Cartier. The top art lot is an oil by Joseph Horler (1809-1887) of Criccieth Castle in North Wales (€3,000-€5,000).
As if all this was not enough Adams will hold a fine wines and spirit auction on December 18. The catalogues for both sales are online and they are now on view in Dublin.
Things Grow in the United States: Works from the Collection of Jane Fonda will come up at Christie’s in New York on January 18. A group of 14 objects to be sold at the Outsider and Vernacular Art auction during Americana Week consists of paintings, sculptures, drawings, and assemblages by Thornton Dial, Arthur Dial, and Thornton Dial, Jr.
Jane Fonda is an avid collector and champion of the Dials’ art. She is on the board of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation & Community Partnership, an organisation dedicated to promoting the work of Black artists from the American South and supporting their communities by fostering economic empowerment, racial and social justice, and educational advancement. Representing of two generations of southern vernacular artists these artworks include figurative and abstract examples and address a range of historical and sociopolitical issues.
UPDATE: JANE FONDA’S COLLECTION TOTALLED $277,956,
This Irish William IV mahogany side cabinet comes up as lot 362 at the James Adam At Home sale with an estimate of 1,000-1,500. Thought to be made in Cork it has a rope moulded top and is flanked by spiral pilasters on hairy paw feet. Viewing gets underway in Dublin today for two timed online sales at Adams, Vintage Wines and Spirits which closes on December 18 and At Home which closes on December 19. The catalogues for each sale are online.
This George III mahogany travelling desk comes up as lot 285 at the James Adam At Home timed online At Home auction which ends from 11 am on December 19. There is a baize lined interior and a fitted hinged side panel enclosing twin drawers. The estimate is 1,500-2,000. The first 156 lots comprises jewellery and watches. The catalogue is online. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,200 AT HAMMER
From Doneraile to Belturbet and Dublin to Birr there will be a flurry of Christmas auctions in the coming week. Online auctions by Aidan Foley in Doneraile, Mullen’s in Laurel Park, Bray and by Victor Mee in Belturbet will get the ball rolling tomorrow. Aidan Foley’s auction in Doneraile will include contents from a former antiques shop in Kenmare with a selection of antique furniture including a Victorian hall table, a rosewood display stand and a selection of occasional tables. There is a watercolour by the Cork artist Henry Albert Hartland (1840-1893) and a lithograph by Tony O’Malley as well as a French tapestry rug and some Persian rugs.
A circular continental specimen table inlaid with Breccia marble, lapil-lazuli, malachite, blue john and other semi precious stones is the top lot at Mullen’s of Laurel Park tomorrow. On a spreading column above a platform base it is estimated at €4,000-€6,000. This will be a timed auction with 830 lots of antique furniture, art, jewellery, lighting and collectibles. It will start to close from 6 pm. There will be 160 lots of jewellery headed by a white gold necklace with graduated diamonds (€12,000-€14,000) as well as silver and plate at Victor Mee’s Christmas sale of 189 lots in Belturbet at 6 pm tomorrow. The catalogue is online.
Meantime there is viewing in Dublin this weekend and on Monday for Whyte’s timed online Christmas art auction which begins to close from 6 pm on Monday (December 12). No less than 266 lots are on offer from artists as diverse as Gladys MacCabe and Robert Ballagh to Markey Robinson and Pauline Bewick. The selection of American artists includes work by Bob Dylan and Shepard Fairey. There are Christmas greeting cards by Patrick Scott and art by John Morris, Norman McCaig, Desmond Carrick, Ciaran Clear, Maria Simonds-Gooding, Elizabeth Brophy, Thomas Ryan, Barry Castle, Maurice Wilks, Evie Hone, Harry Kernoff, Anne Yeats and many more. The catalogue is online. There will be a selection of jewellery at John Weldon’s auction at Temple Bar in Dublin on Tuesday (December 13) and a collection of Irish and world interest books will come under the hammer online at a sale by Purcell Auctioneers of Birr on Wednesday. This sale will be headed by a narrative by Sir John Ross of a second voyage in search of the North West Passage in 1835 complete with charts and plates. A timed sale of fine vintage wines and spirits at James Adam ends from 11 am on Wednesday (December 18).
A February 1261 letter with the seal of an Irish bishop relaxing twenty days of penance for those praying for the soul of Ralph de Sumertone, formerly canon of St Mary’s Priory, Canons Ashby, Northamptonshire, and the souls of his parents is lot 77 at Christie’s online sale of the Collection of Marvin L Colker. The sale runs until December 12 and the letter is estimated at £2,500-£3,500. Written in Latin on vellum it contains the large green wax vesica-shaped pendant seal of William de la Hay, bishop of Connor [Ireland] (1260–62), depicting a full-length standing bishop holding a crozier and blessing, with the legend ‘Willelmi dei g[ratia Con]nerensis episco[pi]’.
Marvin L Colver (1927-2020) was Emeritus Professor of Classics at the University of Virginia, world-renowned palaeographer, classicist and author of the first comprehensive catalogue of the manuscripts at Trinity College Dublin (a herculean endeavour that took over 30 years), and collector of manuscripts. This sale is a testament to the breadth and depth of his collecting, spanning more than 1,500 years of written history and subject matters ranging from astrology to music, literature, medicine, Church history, humanism, liturgy, Hebraica, law and theology. There are leaves from important manuscripts such as the St Albans Abbey Bible, the Hungerford Hours, the Chester Beatty Book of Hours; manuscripts in Catalan, Picard, French, Italian and Hebrew; examples of Beneventan, Carolingian, Visigothic and Scandinavian script; and rare and unusual texts and authors.
UPDATE: THE SALE TOTALLED £720,342
Led by Hans Holbein the Younger and Workshop there was five new records at Christie’s Old Masters evening sale in London last night. The auction brought in £13.1 million and the Holbein made £1,222,000. Records were also established for Jacob Savery the Elder (£544,400), Antonio Stom called Il Tonino (£138,600), Barnaba Agocchiari called Barnaba da Modena (£882,000) and Sebastiano Conca (£378,000) in a sale which attracted registered bidders from 15 countries and four continents.
Leading the sale was Jean-François de Troy’s tableaux de mode Reading Party which achieved £2,922,000 bringing the combined total for the Collection of Lord and Lady Weinstock to £8,082,595 and Anthony van Dyck’s Portrait of Queen Henrietta Maria which achieved £2,442,000. There was strong competitive bidding throughout and 33% of lots sold above the estimate.
The Striped Musician by Alan Kenny is lot 31 at Whyte’s Christmas online art auction. The oil on board is estimated at €1,000-1,500. This seasonal timed online sale which runs until December 12 offers a selection of affordable art by some of our best loved painters. It is designed to appeal to first time buyers and seasoned bidders. The catalogue is online and viewing is underway at Molesworth St. in Dublin.
The Sick Bed and The Duet, both by Yeats, made hammer prices of €160,000 and €70,000 respectively at the James Adam sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin tonight. They had been estimated at €150,000-€200,000 and €70,000-€100,000. Connemara Hills by Paul Henry made €92,000 over a top estimate of €60,000. Fantail, an oil on canvas by Louis le Brocquy made €50,000 (€40,000-€60,000) and The Garlanded Goat, an Aubusson tapestry designed by le Brocquy made €46,000 (40,000-€60,000). Abstract Composition by Evie Hone made €34,000 (€15,000-€25,000) and Lighthouse Man’s twin cats and Washing by John Shinnors made €30,000 (€30,000-€50,000). Children playing in a woodland glade by George Russell made €28,000 over a top estimate of €15,000 and Valley Wind, Jemisa by Tony O’Malley made €24,000 at hammer (€15,000-€25,000).
The auction brought in €1.135m gross and recorded a sold rate of 78%.
