Looted by the Nazi’s, restituted to the heirs of a Viennese Jewish industrialist, El Greco’s mesmerising 1570 Portrait of a Gentleman made €1,433,393 at Christie’s Old Masters evening sale in London in December. It was one of three works from the collection of Julius and Camilla Priester in the sale. The Priesters escaped Vienna and eventually made it to Mexico City via Lisbon. Despite photographic evidence their efforts to retrieve the collection after the war failed. It was discovered that some appraisers who had worked for the Gestapo were now dealing privately in Nazi loot. In 2010 the London based Commission for Looted Art in Europe identified the El Greco, still in its original frame, after it was acquired by a London art dealer. An unknown number of Nazi era looted works are still unaccounted for.
Hang on to that piece of Carrigaline pottery lurking in the deepest recesses of wherever you store your stuff. A pair of Carrigaline baluster vases, each with an attractive blue undulating glaze and 23 cm high, made €280 at the latest James Adam At Home sale in Dublin. From the late 1920’s to the late 1970’s Carrigaline Pottery produced large quantities of everyday striped tableware, as well as items for the tourist market. A rare Irish Killarney work wall mirror made a hammer price of €4,000 over a top estimate of €600 at the same sale. The 19th century bevelled glass mirror is in a classical Killarney wood frame with panels of interlinked shamrocks, oak leaves, acorns and marquetry landmarks.
This Georgian mahogany chest on chest comes up as lot 7 at Hegarty’s evening fine interiors sale online on January 11. It is estimated at 2,000-2,500. There are 272 lots of design, furnishing, contemporary art and silver in the auction. The catalogue is online.
Set of four George II mahogany torchères c1740. UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR £37,800.
This set of four torcheres come up as lot 69 at Sotheby’s Royal and Nobel sale, online from today until January 20. To have a set of four mahogany torchères from one source is extremely rare as they are often found as pairs. Originally used to supplement the fixed lighting arrangements in large rooms, torchères played an important role in the 17th and 18th century interior. The refined form of those in the present lot highlights the quality of the mahogany used in construction. According to Sotheby’s it seems that those offered here were bought or commissioned for the Long Gallery at Blickling Hall, Norfolk. They are estimated at £6,000-9,000.
MARKEY ROBINSON (1918-1999) – Winter Landscape. UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,000 AT HAMMER
This winter landscape by Markey Robinson comes up as lot 9 in Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish art online sale, which runs until January 10. The work in gouache is estimated at 2,000-3,000. Morgan O’Driscoll’s auction is on view in Skibbereen by appointment and subject to the current government Covid guidelines. There are 447 lots in the auction and the catalogue is online.
Rare English Enamel Writing Casket UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This c1775 English enamel writing casket bears the arms of Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1751-55. It comes up at Sotheby’s live sale of American Furniture, Silver and Decorative Arts in New York on January 19 with an estimate of $15,000-25,000. Measuring ten and a half inches long it is thought to be probably Birmingham.
Property from the estate of American actor and producer James Garner – known for iconic roles in Maverick and The Rockford Files – will come up at Julien’s Auctions in Hollywood next June. The live and online sale will feature James Garner’s 1950s period Western-style costume on Maverick (ABC Television, 1957-1962), two of hisclassic black felt wool “Maverick” cowboy hats, the 2004 Screen Actors Guild nomination certificate for “Outstanding Performance by A Male Actor in a Supporting Role” for his role in The Notebook in 2004 and Garner’s 1993 Golden Globe award for “Best Performance By An / Actor in a Mini-Series / or Motion Picture / Made for Television” for HBO’s Barbarians at the Gate.
DIEGO RIVERA (1886-1957) La bordadora.UPDATE: This made $4,140,000 and was acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
La Bordadora (The Embroiderer), a rediscovered masterpiece by Diego Rivera, comes up at Christie’s in New York on March 11. Painted in 1928 as part of the nation building project that fuelled Rivera’s return to Mexico in the 1920s it pays homage to folk and craft based practices and the role of Indigenous women in preserving these traditions. Known only through black and white photographs taken shortly after it was painted La Bordadora was discovered to have been in the same American family collection since the 1920’s. It is estimated at $700,000-$900,000 (€620,900-€798,535). Last November Frida Kahlo’s Diego y yo (Diego and I) sold in New York for $34.9 million (€30,967,962), a record for a work of Latin American art. The previous record of $9.76 million (€8.65 million) was set by Diego Rivera with whom Kahlo had a decades long tumultuous relationship.
Sandro Botticelli – The Man of Sorrows. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $45.5 MILLION
A link between Botticelli and the buses, unknown to art history, has emerged on the art market. You wait for ever and then two come along more or less together. One of the last great masterpieces by the Renaissance master will highlight Sothebys annual Masters Week sale series in New York later this month. The Man of Sorrows is estimated to make in excess of $40 million (€35.4 million). It is a late period work from a time when the artist was greatly influenced by the fanatical preaching of hellfire Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola. The most distinctive features are the frontal presentation of the stunningly modern human portrayal of the resurrected Christ and a halo of angels holding the instruments of the passion.
Works by Botticelli are exceedingly rare. In January 2021 Sotheby’s sold Sandro Botticelli’s Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Roundel for $92.2 million (€81.78 million). It is the most valuable Old Master painting ever sold at auction.
Sandro Botticelli – Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Roundel.
BANKSY (20TH/21ST CENTURY) – Peckham Rock (2018). UPDATE: THIS MADE 700 AT HAMMER
This wooden replica of Peckham Rock by Banksy recreated by the British Museum in 2018 is Lot 43 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s off the wall online art auction which runs until January 10. Unframed it measures 4.9″ x 7.2″ and the framed size if 14.6″ x 13.8″. It is estimated at 500-600. There are 447 lots on offer and the catalogue is online.
