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Paul Henry (1876-1958) – Cottages on Achill Sound. UPDATE: THIS MADE 120,000 AT HAMMER
Cottages on Achill Sound by Paul Henry is the leading lot at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International online art sale which runs until October 21. From a private Dublin collection it is estimated at €120,000-€160,000. Viewing for this auction with 155 lots gets underway today at the Minerva Suite at the RDS in Dublin and continues until October 20. The catalogue is online.
JANE O’MALLEY (1944-2023) – GULL EVENING, 1996. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 750
Gull Evening, an oil on board by Jane O’Malley, is lot 152 at Whyte’s autumn online art sale which runs until October 20. The oil and gesso on board is estimated at €800-€1,200. The sale of 277 affordable lots is on view at Molesworth St. over the coming weekend.
Peter Doig – Ski Jacket (1994) sold for €16,381,960
The highest total for a Frieze Week sale in London in seven years was achieved last night when Christie’s London evening sale made £106,925,400. Peter Doig’s Ski Jacket was the top lot of the evening making £16.3 million against an estimate of £6/8million and there was world records for Paula Rego, Suzanne Valadon, Annie Morris and Esben Weile Kjær. Peter Doig’s Country Rock made £9.2 million, Lucian Freud’s Self Portrait fragment made £7.6 million, Gerhard Richter’s Tulpen made £6.1 million and Cezanne’s Maison de Bellevue et pigeonnier made £5.5 million.
PAULA REGO (1935-2022) – Dancing Ostriches from Walt Disney’s Fantasia made £3.4 million.
CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2024. UPDATE: THIS SOLD ONLINE FOR €850,000
The most desirable copy imaginable of Salomé by Oscar Wilde will highlight an online sale of books and manuscripts by Christie’s Paris from October 22-November 5. Wilde’s own copy is illuminated with original ink drawings by the English essayist, parodist and caricaturist Max Beerbohm — several depicting the author himself — created especially for him. Wilde later gave this copy to his lover Robert Ross with a signed autograph inscription.
The play is enriched with an original autograph poem by the Pierre Louÿs, the French novelist and poet renowned for expressing pagan sensuality with stylish perfection. Christie’s say that this copy brings together all the qualities sought after by a true bibliophile: an original edition of the text, first published in French in 1893, having been censored in England; an association copy with perfect provenance, from the author to his lover; and additional original drawings making the copy even more unique. In this instance, Oscar Wilde himself acts as a bibliophile, transforming this copy into a unique and singular work.
It is estimated at €100,000-€150,000.
CIRCLE OF JOHN WOOTTON (1682-1764) – A Race on the Beacon Course at Newmarket Races with the Prince of Wales and other Noblemen in the Foreground
A rare officer’s dress sword with gold and diamonds was the top lot at the James Adam Country House Collections sale at Townley Hall. The sword was Presented by the East India Company to Lt. Col. Barry Close (1756-1813) and made a hammer price of €280,000. A painting of a race at Newmarket from the Circle of John Wootton made €55,000; an American silver gilt dinner service made €36,000: a painting of the Hawkesbury River in Australia by Girolamo Nerli (1860-1926) made €32,000; A Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World by John Speed made €18,000 and a Louis XV style bureau made €16,000.
David Hockney – The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire in 2011 (twenty eleven) – 4 January UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £304,800
The Arrival of Spring is the title of the David Hockey sale at Sotheby’s in London on October 17. There are 17 limited edition iPad drawings printed in colours on wove paper on offer ranging from January to June of that year. Estimates are from £80,000-£180,000.
FRANZ WEST (1947-2012) – BLUE LUCK. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £285,750
Franz West began producing his beloved large-scale, brightly painted tubular and bulbous sculptures in the mid-1990s, initially in welded sheets of aluminium and later in fibreglass. Many of them include places to sit. Blue Luck, constructed of fibreglass, epoxy resin and lacquer, is lot 31 at Christie’s 20th/21st Century evening sale in London on October 15 with an estimate of £300,000-£500,000. The sale offers revolutions in art making from Impressionism to Modernism with art by Paul Cezanne, Paul Signac, Lucian Freud, Gerhard Richter, Paul Rego, Peter Doig, Chris Ofili and Jean Michel Basquiat among the 61 lots on offer.
Stephen McKenna PPRHA (1939-2017) – Two Melons 1990. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
An oil on canvas by Stephen McKenna entitled Two Melons with an estimate of €4,000-€6,000 will lead the timed online only autumn art sale at Whyte’s which runs until October 20. Among the artists in the sale are Graham Knuttel, Liam O’Neill, Elizabeth Cope, Kenneth Webb, Dan O’Neill, Tony O’Malley, Pauline Bewick, Banks and Picasso. The sale is on view at Whyte’s in Dublin from October 13 and the catalogue is online.
Attributed to James Seymour – Sir Edward O’Brien in Hunting Costume of his Day. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Behind this portrait of a man on a horse – one of the leading lots at Adams Country House Collections at Townley Hall on October 13 and 14 – lies a partial history of sporting life in Ireland in the 18th century. Attributed to James Seymour it is a painting of Sir Edward O’Brien of Dromoland in the hunting costume of his day estimated at €50,000-€80,000.
Renowned for his extravagance and passion for horse racing the 2nd baronet of Dromoland entered the Irish House of Commons in 1727 and represented Clare until his death nearly four decades later. He epitomised a certain type of Irishman renowned in song and story in the 18th century.
This was in the century that witnessed the first steeplechase from Buttevant to Doneraile (resulting from a bet in 1752) and the Rakes of Mallow. The song written by Ned Lysaght around 1740 describes the rakes as the true begotten sons of Bacchus spending faster than it comes. Known for his heavy gambling and reckless managemen O’Brien knew the pleasures and perils of 18th century sporting culture. On the plus side the walled garden, the stable block, the Temple of Mercury, the octagonal pond and the Dromoland turret were all constructed under his watch. On the minus side his lifestyle prevented him from being chosen as heir to the vast Thomond estates.
A c1750 Irish bureau-writing cabinet UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Now an annual auction fixture Adams Country House Collections at Townley Hall showcases fine period furniture, paintings, silver and decorative arts. Highlights include the dress sword presented by the East India Company to Lt. Col. Barry Close (€300,000-€400,000), a painting from the circle of John Wootton (1682-1764) of a race on the Beacon Course at Newmarket with the Prince of Wales and others believed to include Sir Edward O’Brien in the foreground (€60,000-€80,000), a c1750 Irish George II mahogany bureau cabinet (€40,000-€60,000) and a portrait entitled Nellie by Sir George Clausen (€20,000-€30,000) once in the collection of the late Cork artist Marshall Hutson.
An American silver gilt dinner service (€30,000-€50,000), a pair of Limerick silver salvers by Joseph Johns (€15,000-€20,000) and a pair of silver sauce boats by Paul de Lamerie (€8,000-€12,000) feature among the leading lots.
A George III commode attributed to William Moore UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
A George III harewood and marquetry commode attributed to William Moore (€20,000-€30,000), a George III three pillar extending dining table (€15,000-€20,000), a c1850 Victorian carved oak extending dining table from Dunecht House in Scotland (€12,000-€18,000), a pair of c1770 carved giltwood console tables with yellow marble Siena tops (€12,000-€16,000), a pair of Irish stained pine side tables with green marble tops (€12,000-€15,000) and a 17th century Louis XIV boulle and red tortoiseshell desk (€10,000-€15,000) are feature antique furniture pieces.
As in any big sale there are plenty of pickings for those of us whose budget does not extend to an €80,000 portrait, no matter how colourful the gentleman depicted used to be. With everything from Georgian knife boxes to a Cork silver basting spoon by Carden Terry to a 1729 book on The Procedure, Extent and Limits of Human Understanding by Dr. Peter Browne (1665-1735) theologian, Bishop of Cork and Ross and Provost of Trinity College, Dublin there is available a wide variety of lots at highly affordable estimates.
Viewing at Townley Hall, Drogheda is underway. An online only auction of the first 317 lots will begin to close from 2 pm on October 13. The live and online sale of lots 400-825 will get underway at Adams saleroom in Dublin on October 14.
A pair of c1760 Limerick silver salvers by Joseph Johns. UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for October 4, 2025)
This very rare and early Queen Anne Cork silver mug dating to around 1710 is a feature lot at Hegarty’s online sale in Bandon on October 15. Made by Anthony Semirot, a Huguenot refugee who became a significant silversmith in 18th century Cork and was made a Freeman of the Cork Goldsmiths Co. in 1693, it is estimated at €6,500-€7,500. The catalogue for the sale, which offers a good selection of jewellery, is online. UPDATE: THIS WAS NOT SOLD BUT WAS UNDER OFFER AFTER THE AUCTION
