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Laboureur dan un champ by Vincent van Gogh was the top lot at Christie’s Impressionist and Modern evening sale in New York last night. It sold for $81.3 million in a sale that brought in $479.3 million. Altogether 68 lots were offered and 60 were sold. This was the second highest total for a various owner sale of Impressionist and Modern art at Christie’s. Fernand Leger’s Contraste de Formes sold for $70 million.
Vincent van Gogh –
Laboureur dans un champ
Fernand Leger – Contraste de formes
A collection of remarkable personal artefacts from the Yeats family will come up at Fonsie Mealy’s auction in Castlecomer on November 14. The Yeats Family Collection – The Final Chapter, includes paintings, letters and personal memorabilia. Many of them have not been seen before. The auctioneers say that this will be the last significant tranche of Yeats items to ever go to auction and that they offer a unique insight into Irish literary and artistic history through the eyes of the family. This is a fine art sale of around 800 lots in total. It will feature Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian furniture; silver, clocks, militaria, carpets, light fixtures, musical instruments; stained glass and paintings including a selection of modern Irish Art. The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for November 2, 2017)
Yeats (William Butler) 1865-1939. A small pocket Sketch Book, morocco-
backed, 18cms x 10cms about 50 pp good quality paper, clearly inscribed inside front cover in the poets hand, W.B. Yeats (3,000-5,000) UPDATE: THIS MADE 17,000 AT HAMMER
Rossanagh, Ashford, Co. Wicklow A very early and rare 19th Century Architects wooded Model, of the 3 storey early 18th Century red brick mansion (1,500-2,000) UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,200 AT HAMMER
Irish Georgian style mahogany triple top fold-over Tea & Card Table, by Robert Strahan & Co., Dublin (2,000-3,000) UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,200 AT HAMMER
The Yeats family harp (1,500-2,000) UPDATE: THIS MADE 11,000 AT HAMMER
Maria Cregan’s manuscript.
An autograph letter journal by Maria Cregan, with an eyewitness account of the Easter Rising, comes up at Bonhams in London on November 15. Her day to day account opens as follows: I went with Carrie Slacke and her son Randal to Sugarloaf Mountain for the Easter holiday… At Harcourt Street the first thing I noticed was a wrecked motor car opposite the station and rather many people about but also that there were no trams. I walked towards Stephen’s Green and asked had there been an accident and was told there had been a rising of Sinn Feiners. They had taken the College of Surgeons and the Green, had dug trenches in the green, barricaded the streets with all kinds of vehicles &c and had run up the Republican Flag on the College of Surgeons (this last I could see myself from the corner of Cuffe Street). I asked a man who was standing with a bicycle if I could get through, but he said it was too dangerous and even as he spoke a volley rang out…”
There are entries made for each day from Tuesday April 25 to Friday May 6, 1916. The ten pages on thin office style paper, signed and dated Maria J. Cregan, May 6, 1916 carry an estimate of £700-900. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £1,875
a wedding present from Michael Collins to his sister is among the lots at Marshs sale in Cork on November 11. The set of is estimated at just 300-500. Georgian and Victorian furniture, porcelain, rugs and books will all come under the hammer. Top lots of furniture include an early Irish Georgian kneehole desk, an Irish Georgian walnut upholstered chair and a Queen Anne walnut chest on stand. The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:
THIS SET OF SIX WALNUT ARTS AND CRAFTS CHAIRS WERE A WEDDING PRESENT FROM MICHAEL COLLINS TO HIS SISTER
Irish Georgian Mahogany Kneehole Writing Desk
Pair of Bronze “Marley” Horses on Stands
‘FAMILLE-ROSE’ ‘SANDUO’ CUPS
YONGZHENG MARKS AND PERIOD
A rare pair of famille-rose decorated cups from the Yongzheng period sold for £1.9 million at Sotheby’s in London on November 8. The top lot in a sale of Important Chinese Art the cups are masterpieces of the fencai (‘famille-rose’) colour scheme. With the introduction of white enamel from Europe in the early 18th century, craftsmen working at the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen developed a new palette and realised its full potential in the early years of the Yongzheng reign (1723-1735).
These cups, painted with sophisticated shades of pastel tones to capture a sense of three-dimensionality, embody to perfection the refined aesthetic of the Yongzheng Emperor. The design, with sprays of fruiting pomegranate, peach and loquat, represents a variation of the auspicious ‘sanduo’ (‘three abundances’) motif – long life, an abundance of offspring and plentiful blessings. The sale brought a total of £6.4 million.
THE DONNERSMARCK DIAMONDS- image courtesy Sotheby’s
The Donnersmarck Diamonds, a pair of extraordinary Fancy Intense Yellow diamonds with impeccable aristocratic provenance, will come up at Sotheby’s in Geneva on November 15 Formerly in the collection of the princely family von Donnersmarck they consist of a cushion-shaped diamond weighing 102.54 carats, and a pear-shaped diamond weighing 82.47 carats to be offered as a single lot. The pair is estimated at $9-14 million.
David Bennett, Worldwide Chairman of Sotheby’s International Jewellery Division, said: “These stunning diamonds carry with them a fascinating story, full of romance and determination over adversity, which could have inspired some of the greatest novels and operas, from Manon Lescaut to La Traviata. Ten years ago, they were the star of the show when we launched our very first sale dedicated to Noble Jewels here in Geneva. I am delighted to mark a decade of success by presenting these exceptional diamonds once again”.
The Donnersmarck Diamonds were part of the collection of La Païva, Countess Henckel von Donnersmarck (1819-1884), arguably the most famous of 19th-century French courtesans, whose vertiginous trajectory from modest circumstances in her native Russia to the highest circles of European aristocracy was sensational. Her second husband was Count Guido Henckel von Donnersmarck (1830-1916), one of Europe’s richest men. In 1855, shortly after they became a couple, La Païva purchased a building plot on the Champs Elysées. Hotel La Païva was to be one of the most lavish mansions ever built there. La Païva’s lavish parties and literary gatherings soon became the most talked-about events in Paris, often attended by the likes of Gustave Flaubert, Émile Zola, the artist Eugène Delacroix and even the Emperor himself. The diamonds remained in the family for more than a century until they came up at Sotheby’s in Geneva in 2007. They have been in a private collection for the past ten year.
An 1827 edition of the Old Testament printed in Irish in Dublin and a 19th century ebonised credenza are among the highlights at a sale in Newcastlewest, Co. Limerick on November 11. The auction by O’Donovan and Associates will include a large collection of cinema posters from Latchfords Cinema in Newcastlewest in the 1960’s.
AN EBONISED CREDENZA AT O’DONOVANS
A CINEMA POSTER AT O’DONOVAN’S
Antique furniture, art, Oriental porcelain and collectibles all feature among a strong selection at the At Home sale at James Adam in Dublin at noon on November 12. Nearly 500 lots will come under the hammer. The catalogue is online. Here is a taste of what it contains:
A NEAR PAIR OF CHINESE CELADON GLAZED HU-FORM VASES, Guangxu (1875-1908) (3,000-4,000) UPDATE: THESE MADE 21,000 AT HAMMER
ALFRED DE BREANSKI JUNIOR (1877-1955)
Autumn Morning in Co. Galway (6,000-8,000) UPDATE: THIS MADE 6,000 AT HAMMER
A KILLARNEY ARBUTUS AND MARQUETRY INLAID FOLDING TOP CARD TABLE, mid-19th century, (4,000-6,000) UPDATE: THIS MADE 6,600 AT HAMMER
A SET OF EIGHT GEORGE IV MAHOGANY FRAMED DINING CHAIRS (2,000-3,000) UPDATE: THESE MADE 3,400 AT HAMMER
A GEORGE II IRISH MAHOGANY BRASS BOUND PLATE BUCKET (500-800) UPDATE: THIS MADE 420 AT HAMMER
Nearly 1,000 lots will come under the hammer and the sale will be live on the internet. There is a George III style architectural fire surround and overmantle (2,400-2,600), some heavy cast iron garden benches and statuary, an Irish Georgian style reeded brass bound peat bucket, a Regency chaise longue, a long 19th century Irish pine kitchen table, a Cork silver soup ladle by Carden Terry and Jane Williams, a large Edwardian silver epergne, some jewellery and pistols a a c1920’s-30’s mechanical toy bank by Saalheimer and Strauss of Germany (1,500-2,000). The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:
A monkey band UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,200 AT HAMMER
A portrait of Daniel O’Connell UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,200 AT HAMMER
A bust of Daniel O’Connell UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 3,000
A German made toy mechanical bank from the 1920’s-30’s UPDATE; THIS MADE 8,500 AT HAMMER
Fonsie Mealy will offer a selection of lots from the Yeats family at his auction in Castlecomer on November 14. There are sketchbooks, furniture including the family bureau, silver, musical instruments and personal effects. The sale of around 700 lots will feature items from other estates including Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian furniture, stained glass and modern Irish art. The catalogue is online. Here is a sample.
JOHN BUTLER YEATS – SELF PORTRAIT (10,000-15,000) UPDATE: THIS MADE 13,000 AT HAMMER
John Butler Yeats – A fine pen-and- ink Portrait of his son W.B. from 1886 (4,000-6,000) UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 21,000 AT HAMMER
