Andy Warhol (1928-1987) American – With Hat, from Ingrid Bergman (1983). UPDATE: THIS MADE 70,000 AT HAMMER
Andy Warhol’s image of Ingrid Bergman with hat is among the leading lots at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish and International online art auction which runs until October 21. The screenprint is hand signed, numbered 47/250 and estimated at 50,000-70,000. The most expensively estimated lot is Cottages on Achill Sound by Paul Henry (€120,000-€160,000) and there are leading lots by Louis le Brocquy, John Shinnors and Sir John Lavery. The auction is on view in Skibbereen from October 10-13 and at the Minerva Suite at the RDS from October 17-20. The catalogue is online.
Francis Bacon – Portrait of a Dwarf. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £13.1 MILLION
Portrait of a Dwarf by Francis Bacon is, at £6 million – £9 million, the most expensively estimated lot at Sotheby’s contemporary evening art sale in London on October 16. Executed in Paris in 1975 the painting stands alone in Bacon’s oeuvre. Four years after George Dyer’s tragic death on the eve of the artist’s Grand Palais retrospective in the same city, Bacon turned to Velazquez, his ‘God’, once again for inspiration. In the same way as his Popes had been presented on a dais or throne, here his subject is raised up to meet and confront the viewer directly. An amalgamation of Dyer’s hairline, Peter Beard’s face, Lucian Freud’s torso and Bacon’s own foreshortened legs, this figure melds some of his closest friends and greatest loves – yet still recalls Velazquez’s A Dwarf Sitting on the Floor
An English Chippendale giltwood mirror in the rococo and chinoiserie style UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
An array of wonderful choices – from a giltwood Chippendale mirror and a neo classical group of marble Italian putti to an Audemars Piguet royal oak offshore with an alligator leather strap and a pair of hexagonal gilt bronze hall lanterns – will face collectors at Sheppard’s Legacy of the Big House sale in Durrow from October 7-9.
The variety on offer at this three day sale of more than 1,700 lots ranges from a late 17th century Flemish verdure tapestry and a Cork flintlock blunderbuss with a brass barrel to an original film script for Lawrence of Arabia and a marine chronometer by Richard Hornby of Liverpool.
The most expensively estimated lots, at €30,000-€50,000 each, are the elaborate late 18th/early 19th century Chippendale giltwood mirror and the Audemars Piguet royal oak offshore which dates to the 2010’s. A 19th century Irish giltwood console table with verde antico marble top (€10,000-€15,000) and an Italian grand tour pietra dura topped coffee table (€8,000-€12,000) offer contrasting approaches to furniture but each one is laden with style. There is contrast too between a large 12 branch Waterford Crystal chandelier (€2,500-€3,500) and a pair of 19th century hexagonal gilt bronze hall lanterns (€8,000-€12,000).
An Irish gilt console table. UPDATE: THIS MADE 9,500 AT HAMMER
Less expensive but nonetheless seductive style is readily available at the other end of the financial scale. A cut crystal water jug, a silver plated rectangular tray, an Edwardian satinwood chest, a pair of Picasso ceramic plates and a large Japanese mixed metal vase are among a number of lots with top estimates of under €100. With estimates from €5 and €10 up this is an auction for people on any budget and curious collectors at all levels of the market. Collecting is not the exclusive preserve of those who can afford original Picasso artworks, it is a habit that can offer enjoyment for everyone.
Cleopatra after Guido Reni UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Drawn from houses at Longford Terrace in Dun Laoghaire and Rostrevor Terrace, Orwell Road in Dublin and other significant properties the sale kicks off with an 18th century Dublin brass fire fender (€1,400-€1,800). Among the early lots are a Famille Rose ewer (€100-€150), an elbow chair by Butler of Dublin (€300-€500), a Sevres plate with a Watteau inspired theme (€500-€800) and a grand tour specimen marble table (€3,000-€5,000). Lot 52 is a large scale portrait of Cleopatra with the asp after Guido Reni (€5,000-€8,000), lot 284 is a large 17th/18th century gothic carved giltwood frame (€14,000-€18,000), lot 450 is a 19th century gilt and patinated bronze figural music box (€2,500-€3,500) and lot 433 is a patinated bronze statue of Napoleon on horseback (€6,000-€9,000).
The catalogue is online and viewing in Durrow is from 10 am to 5 pm on today, tomorrow and Monday.
An 18th century blunderbuss marked “Cork” UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
A rare and important dress sword at Adams Country House Collections sale at Townley Hall. UPDATE; this made 280,000 at hammer
A rare dress sword set with diamonds in 18 carat gold with London hallmarks for 1800-01 will lead Adams annual two day Country House Collections sale at Townley Hall near Drogheda. Presented by the East India Company to Armagh born Lt. Col. Barry Close, later Major General Sir Barry Close (1756-1813), a skilled negotiator and linguist, it is estimated at €300,000-€400,000. Close was a pivotal figure in the Mysore campaigns against Tipu Sultan. Viewing gets underway at Townley Hall on October 11. The sale on Monday week October 13 will be online only and the live auction of lots 400-825 will be held at Adams, St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin on October 14. The catalogue is online.
An Irish George II Pine Pier Mirror after a Design by William Jones, attributed to the Booker Family, Dublin, Circa 1740. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $38,100
This c1740 Dublin mirror is one of a number of Irish lots from the Hyde Park antiques farewell sale at Sotheby’s in New York on October 15. The estimate is $20,000-30,000. The historic 19th century gallery of Hyde Park Antiques on Broadway just south of Union Square has long been a treasure trove for designers, collectors and curators seeking antiques that are both museum-quality level and intended to be lived with. Founder Benard Karr, later joined by his daughter Rachel, shared their passion and knowledge with clients. After sixty years the Karrs have decided to close their gallery and Sotheby’s will auction over two hundred lots from their inventory on October 15 in New York.
This 18th century scribal manuscript made €35,000 at hammer at Fonsie Mealy.
An original copy of the 1916 Proclamation was the top lot at Fonsie Mealy’s two day sale on October 1 and 2. It made €90,000 at hammer. Other top hammer prices were €35,000 for an 18th century scribal copy of Keating’s History of Ireland for Edward Denny and €18,000 for a collection of working papers for Seamus Heaney’s poem Remembering Malibu. The programme for the 1913 All Ireland hurling final at Jones Road made €11,000, a match ticket for the Bloody Sunday match at Croke Park in 1920 made €9,000 and a 1924 All Ireland hurling medal made €6,000. A collection of documents relating to the Sinn Fein bank of 1908-1924 made €7,500 and a c1599 rare first state Boazio map of Ireland made €6,000. The sale made more than €5,000 on the hammer.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for September 27, 2025)
A MAGNIFICENT AND HIGHLY IMPORTANT IMPERIAL WINTER EGG BY FABERGÉ. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £22,895,000 (€26,008,720)
Commissioned by Emperor Nicholas II as an Easter gift to his mother Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna the Winter Egg will be offered by Christie’s in London on December 2 during Classic Week with an estimate of in excess of £20 million. The Easter gift to his mother was in 1913, the year of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov Dynasty. The creative genius of Fabergé’s most celebrated female designer Alma Theresia Pihl – exquisitely executed by her uncle workmaster Albert Holmström – it is among the most lavish of Fabergé’s Imperial creations and widely regarded as one of the most original and artistically inventive Easter eggs that the house created for the Imperial family. Believed lost for almost two decades, between 1975 and 1994, The Winter Egg has previously set the world record for a work by Fabergé not once but twice: when it was offered by Christie’s in 1994, upon being rediscovered, and again in 2002.
The egg is finely carved in rock crystal, delicately engraved on the interior with a frost design, while the exterior is applied with rose-cut diamond-set platinum snowflake motifs, with two vertical diamond-set platinum borders concealing a hinge on the side and a cabochon moonstone dated 1913. The egg is on a rock-crystal base formed as a block of melting ice, applied with rose-cut diamond-set platinum rivulets, centering a platinum pin in the middle to support the egg, and opens to reveal the ‘surprise’ suspended from a platinum hook. This comprises a double-handled trelliswork platinum basket, set throughout with rose-cut diamonds, full of finely carved white quartz wood anemones, each spring flower with gold wire stem and stamens, the centre set with a demantoid garnet, the leaves delicately carved in nephrite, emerging from a bed of gold moss. The sale will offer important works by Fabergé from a princely collection.
UPDATE: The Winter Egg sold for £22,895,000 (€26,008,720), setting a new world auction record for a work by Fabergé for the third time in its storied history, all at Christie’s.
A selection of 18th century Chinese painted enamels from the Palmer family collection
Art of Asia, a dedicated online auction of Chinese works of art at Christie’s from October 30 to November 12, is led by the final chapter of the Palmer family collection, a distinguished legacy built over three generations by the family that founded the Reading-based biscuit company Huntley & Palmers. Comprising 112 lots the Palmer collection includes Chinese ceramics and works of art from the Song (960-1127), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing dynasties (1644-1911), all with exceptional provenance. Among the sale highlights are six enamel ruby backed dishes Yongzheng period (1723-1735), a pale blue ground painted enamel dish 18th century acquired from Spink & Son Ltd, London in 1937, a selection of finely painted 18th century enamels and a rare famille rose black back flowers and bird dish with the Yongzheng six-character mark. The auction will coincide with Asian Art in London from October 27-November 6.
FLORENTINE PIETRA DURA MOSAIC HARDSTONE BROOCH. UPDATE: THIS MADE 600 AT HAMMER
This Florentine hardstone brooch inlaid with a lily of the valley motif is lot 23 at The Jewellery Box timed online sale by James Adam in Dublin on October 7. It is mounted in gold and silver and estimated at just €150-€200. The sale offers 295 lots with estimates from €50-€80 to €7,000-€8,000. It will be on view at Adams from October 3-6 and the catalogue is online.
Mourne Mountains by Colin Davidson made a hammer price of €6,500 at Gormley’s art auction in Dublin this evening. Fire from the elements (H6) by Damien Hirst was the most expensive lot sold at €8,500. Hooker setting out for the island by Ciaran Clear made €5,400, Untitled by Patrick Scott made €5,200, a Still Life by Liam Belton made €5,000 and Bull by Anthony Scott made €4,200.
