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PAUL HENRY – ROAD TO CLIFDEN. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
One Yeats and two Paul Henry’s make for what Dolan’s describe as their best auction for years. The online art sale, which is now live, runs until May 26. The top lots are Man Running by Yeats (€120,000-150,000), Incoming Tide by Paul Henry (€90,000-130,000) and Road to Clifden (illustrated here) (€45,000-75,000). There is a selection of 20th century Irish and international artists along with some rare Irish whiskeys. The catalogue is online.
A rare Irish Free State pattern florin dating from 1927 discovered in an antiques market in Italy over 40 years ago by an Italian collector could fetch up to £10,000 when it is offered at Noonans Mayfair in a sale of Coins, Historical Medals and Numismatic Books on May 29. UPDATE: THIS MADE £10,000 AT HAMMER
Oliver Hepburn of Noonans explained: “This rare copper florin was designed by Publio Morbiducci (1889 -1963) a leading Italian sculptor, medalist and painter in the early and mid-1900s. Morbiducci was among
a group of international artists who were asked to submit designs for Ireland’s first coinage. The competition was won by the British engraver Percy Metcalfe.”
“It is very exciting that this particular example was discovered in a market in Morbiducci’s home country, and these patterns only come up for auction once in a blue moon. Fewer than a dozen examples have sold in the last 20 years. This penny was never put into circulation and obviously the dealer in the market, didn’t quite appreciate its rarity. It is decorated with a harp on one side and a salmon on the other and officially only two sets were minted for presentation to the Irish Currency Commission. However, after the competition, it is thought that Morbiducci minted several more sets for private use, though exact figures are unknown.”
Roderic O’Conor (1860-1940) – Reclining Nude (1921). UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Reclining Nude by Roderic O’Conor leads the evening sale of Important Irish Art at James Adam in Dublin on May 28. Painted in 1921 the oil on canvas is estimated at €40,000-€60,000. A total of 100 lots will come under the hammer including work by Tony O’Malley, Basil Blackshaw, John Shinnors, Letitia Marion Hamilton, Barrie Cooke, Oisin Kelly, John Behan and Nathaniel Hone will come under the hammer. The catalogue is online.
JACK B YEATS – CROSSING THE CITY (€120,000-€170,000)
A exhibition showcasing highlights from upcoming sales at Bonhams in Dublin runs from May 22-28. It displays works by Paul Henry, Jack B. Yeats, Roderic O’Conor, Sir John Lavery and Norah McGuinness, prints by Andy Warhol, Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon, David Hockney, Sybil Andrews and Roy Lichtenstein, furniture by George Nakashima and José Zanine, glass and metal sculpture by Alessandro Pianon and a Martin Brothers stoneware ‘Wally Bird’ tobacco jar. Bonhams sale of Modern British and Irish art is on June 18 in London. The Modern Decorative Design sale is online from June 2-11.
19TH-CENTURY KILLARNEY YEW AND ARBUTUS WOOD MARQUETRY TABLE. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This 19th Killarney centre circular centre table inlaid with yew and arbutus wood is among the highlights at Sheppards Great Irish Interiors sale in Durrow on May 27 and 28. The top is centred by circular marquetry medallions and enclosed within elaborate borders of Celtic strapwork, foliate motifs and symbolic patterns. More than 1200 lots will come under the hammer and the catalogue is online. The estimate on this table, which comes up on May 28, is €6,000-€9,000.
JOHN DOHERTY – HACKETTS – DOUBLE YELLOW. UPDATE: THIS MADE 23,000 AT HAMMER
This work by the photo realist artist John Doherty is at de Veres art and sculpture auction which runs until May 27. The estimate is €15,000-€25,000. The sale offers 142 lots with work by Gerard Dillon, Barry Flanagan, Louis le Brocquy, Callum Innes and Tony O’Malley. The catalogue is online.
Pictured here is one of a rare pair of mid 18th century carved limestone Medici lions which made a hammer price of €42,000 at Adams house to garden sale in Dublin today. The Medici Lion, with its striding pose and paw resting upon a sphere, became a widely adopted sculptural type in eighteenth-century Britain and Ireland, particularly within the context of the Palladian revival. The model derives from a Roman marble of the second century AD and a pendant carved in 1598 by the Roman sculptor Flaminio Vacca (1538–1605), commissioned for the Villa Medici in Rome by Ferdinando I de’ Medici (1549–1609), Grand Duke of Tuscany. By the mid-18th century, British and Irish sculptors and masons were producing carved stone interpretations for architectural and landscape settings, particularly as gate or terrace ornaments. The pair had been estimated at €50,000-€70,000. A monumental neo classical white marble fountain made €18,000, a carved Dublin William IV doorcase made €11,000, a 19th century Scottish terracotta balustrade by Garnkirk made €11,000, a cast lead figure of Orpheus made €9,000, a pair of composite stone figures of seated hounds made €8,500, a large statuary and Sienna marble chimneypiece, an 18th century marble bust of Domitian Caesar and a reconstructed Portland Stone neoclassical doorcase all made €8,000.
William John Leech (1881-1968) – Gardener’s Joy. UPDATE: THIS MADE 28,000 AT HAMMER
This painting by William John Leech is lot 26 at Whyte’s Irish and International art auction in Dublin on May 26. In the 1930’s the Irish artist was greatly influenced by the Bloomsbury painters – Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell and Roger Fry – whose focus was more with private than public concerns and art for art’s sake. In Gardener’s Joy Leech chooses a simple subject and investigates how light at a particular time of day influences it. It is estimated at €15,000-€20,000. The auction is now on view at Whyte’s on Molesworth St., Dublin and the catalogue is online.
JAN DAVIDSZ. DE HEEM (UTRECHT 1606-1684 ANTWERP) – STILL LIFE. UPDATE: THIS MADE £3,670,000
A pie on a pewter plate, a partially peeled lemon and overturned silver spoon on a pewter plate, crayfish and shrimp in a Wanli bowl, fruit, a walnut and an oyster on a pewter plate, a basket of fruit, a fluted glass, a silver-gilt cup, a roemer, an overturned silver tazza on a strong box, a silver ewer and a bread roll all on a partially draped table with a curtain beyond are in this marvellous oil on canvas signed and dated ‘J. De Heem f. A° 1649’. Estimated at £3 million – £5 million it will be a highlight at Christie’s Old Masters Evening Sale on July 1 during Classic Week in London.
This appetising work – painted at a time when De Heem produced some of his finest works – reprises themes from an extraordinary group of four large-scale paintings that the artist executed earlier in the decade, but with greater refinement of execution, perhaps in part due to its more manageable scale. Two of these paintings are today at the Louvre (inv. no. 1321) and Musée des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (inv. no. K 1878/5). A third is in a private collection, and the fourth was sold for a world auction record at Christie’s in London on 15 December 2020.
Constructs of the Mind by Martin Finnin. UPDATE: THIS MADE 800 AT HAMMER
Evie Hone, Percy French, Arthur Maderson, Charles Harper, Graham Knuttel and Martin Finnin are among the artists featured in Morgan O’Driscoll’s off the wall art auction of affordable Irish art. The catalogue is online and the sale draws to a close from 6.30 pm on May 19. The early summer sales of important Irish art in Dublin at Whyte’s, de Veres and James Adam get underway at Whyte’s on May 26.
