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    ART NOUVEAU GARNITURE AT FONSIE MEALY SALE

    Thursday, February 15th, 2024
    Art Nouveau Garniture. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,000 AT HAMMER

    This French Art Nouveau mantle clock garniture in red Griotte marble comes up as lot 223 at Fonsie Mealy’s Making Room sale in Castlecomer on February 21. The clock has typical Art Nouveau gilt brass mounts around a painted enamel dial with Arabic numerals and striking on a gong and the estimate is €500-€700. A total of 432 lots will come under the hammer, the catalogue is online and viewing gets underway in Castlecomer on February 19.

    LAVERY’S PAINTING OF ROGER CASEMENT’S APPEAL AT AUCTION

    Wednesday, February 14th, 2024
    Sir John Lavery (1856-1941)The Hearing of the Appeal of Sir Roger Casement, a Study. UPDATE: THIS MADE 124,000 AT HAMMER

    A  never been seen publicly before on-the-spot sketch by Sir John Lavery of The Hearing of the Appeal of Sir Roger Casement in 1916 comes up at Dreweatts Modern and Contemporary art sale in March 13 with an estimate of £15,000-£25,000. It is a study for Lavery’s grand painting of The Court of Criminal Appeal London, 1916 (Government Art Collection), which is an encapsulation of the high drama surrounding the controversial trial of Roger Casement CMG (1864-1916), hung for his participation in the Irish Nationalist revolt in Dublin in 1916. Casement was an Irish-born high-profile diplomat, working for the British Foreign Office, who became well-known for his humanitarian interests (he was nicknamed the ‘father of twentieth-century human rights investigations’.

    There was huge interest in the case, with many high-profile individuals petitioning to save him from the death penalty. It was partly the discovery of what was known as ‘the black diaries’, detailing Casement’s participation in homosexual activities, that are said to have swayed public opinion. It has never been confirmed if the diaries were fabricated by the British government to diffuse the campaign for a reprieve, or whether they were in fact genuine, but they were circulated widely. As homosexuality was against the law at the time these diary entries had an inevitable effect on public opinion.

    The full-scale painted version of The Hearing of the Appeal of Sir Roger Casement was proposed by the presiding judge, Sir Charles Darling 1st Baron Darling, PC (1849-1936). Having commissioned the artist to paint other portraits of his family and having seen the artist’s other publicly exhibited works, he invited him to capture the court proceedings. The finished final painting of the work was produced in Lavery’s studio and completed in 1931. It remained there until the artist’s death in 1941, when he left it to the nation. It hung firstly in the Royal Courts of Justice and in 1950 at the request of Sergeant Sullivan, who had been part of Casement’s defence team, it was lent to King’s Inn, Dublin. 

    Lavery created the study for the painting in situ in court, with Casement looking straight out towards the jury box. Art historian Kenneth McConkey said: “For those two days Lavery, accompanied by his wife Hazel, sat in the witness box recording the scene in the present sketch. During the painful excursion into a legal precedent deriving from a fourteenth century statute on treason, Lavery’s concentration on the scene before him was intense. Although he made efforts to conceal his industry, the production of the present 10 x 14-inch canvas-board in an awkward space was detected by the press, as well as by the prisoner in the dock facing him.”

    It is accompanied by two portraits by Lavery from the family of Sir Charles Darling, as well as two other works from private sources, The Lieutenant John Clive Darling and a portrait of his mother, Lady Darling. Two other paintings are an atmospheric view from Lavery’s house at Tangier and a vivid oil sketch for his celebrated portrait of Mrs Roger Plowden and Humphrey of 1897.

    A SPECIAL TYPE OF LOVE TOKEN WITH ECHOES OF THE PAST

    Wednesday, February 14th, 2024
    John Hoskins (1590-1665) – Portrait of Dorothy Wheler;  watercolour on vellum 1648. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £2,886

    In our digital age portrait miniatures – once love tokens held close to the heart – have been supplanted by technology. Yet they offer a unique type of  intimate viewing that differs from other more public art forms, and were intended to be handled, held, and worn. So if your thoughts have turned to romance on this St. Valentine’s Day you might consider an upcoming sale at Roseberys in London. Their Old Master, British and European picture sale on February 27 will offer a selection of portrait miniatures. This portrait of Dorothy Wheler in the sale dates to 1648 – the year the sitter got married – and is estimated at £3,000-£5,000.

    ACROBAT ON PYRAMID BY BARRY FLANAGAN AT SOTHEBY’S, PARIS

    Monday, February 12th, 2024
    Barry Flanagan – Acrobat on Pyramid. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR €127,000

    Acrobat on Pyramid by Barry Flanagan (1941-2009) is among the highlights at Sotheby’s Contemporary Discoveries auction in Paris. The sale, which focuses on artwork from the 1960’s to today, is open for bidding from today until February 20 and includes pieces by Andy Warhol, Simon Hantaï, Bernar Venet, Zao Wou-Ki, and Olivier Debré. Acrobat on Pyramid is incised with the artists monogram, numbered AC/2 and bears the Dublin Art Foundry mark. Executed in 2000 it is the artist’s proof number 2 from an edition of 8 plus 4 artist’s proofs. The estimate is €100,000-€150,000.

    IRISH SILVER TANKARD AT HEGARTY’S IN BANDON

    Sunday, February 11th, 2024
    An Irish 18th century oversized silver tankard. UPDATE: THIS MADE 6,100 AT HAMMER

    An Irish oversized silver tankard made in Dublin in 1783 by Thomas Johnson is among the prime lots at Hegarty’s Valentine’s Day online auction next February 14 at 5 pm.  It is among an important collection of Irish silver in a sale that will include antique furniture, collectibles, art and jewellery.  The tankard features double c scroll handles, a bulbous body with design in relief, clear hallmarks and a circular platform base and is estimated at €8,000-€10,000.

    Another piece certain to generate interest is a Cork silver coffee pot made by John Nicholson c1760 when silver making flourished in the southern capital.  The George III piece features a finial cover,  cartouches, a decorative spout and a circular platform base.  The estimate is €1,000-€3,000.  The catalogue is online.

    A George III Cork silver c1760 coffee pot. UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,700 AT HAMMER

    MINING ROMANCE FROM UNREDEEMED PLEDGES AT MATTHEWS

    Saturday, February 10th, 2024
    A diamond set ruby mounted on a platinum ring at Matthews. UPDATE: THIS MADE €2,450 at hammer

    Can romance be mined from unredeemed pledges?  It might be just possible to come up with the answer to this teasing question in time for Valentine’s Day at Matthews jewellery, gold and silver auction on February 11  The sale will feature executor’s lots, pieces from private clients and unredeemed pawnbrokers pledges with plenty to choose from among 593 lots. A ruby diamond set cluster on a platinum ring or an 18 carat white gold diamond set sapphire and ruby brooch, each estimated at €2,500-€3,500, are laden with sparkling romantic potential.  Or if you are not superstitious how about a pear cut sapphire and 13 diamond set pendant (€2,000-€3,000).   There are bracelets, rings, diamond solitaires, necklaces, earrings, chokers, watches and objects of all sorts with which to express your love, so it is over to you.

    A pear cut sapphire and diamond set pendant at Matthews. UPDATE: THIS MADE €1,900 AT HAMMER

    Undoubtedly the best value to be had at auctions these days is in everyday antique furniture.  There is no shortage of choice at upcoming sales.   A classic and contemporary interiors timed online sale by Mullen’s of Laurel Park in Bray kicks off at  6 pm on February 11 with a 19th century cast iron hawthorn pattern garden seat with an estimate of just €200-€300.  A Georgian inlaid side table is estimated at just €600-€800, a pair of 19th century butlers trays on stands come with an estimate of €400-€600 and a vintage satin birch chest is estimated at just €80-€150.

    One of a pair of 19th century butler’s trays at Mullen’s. UPDATE: THIS LOT MADE 520 AT HAMMER

    There are lots of other examples of good value furniture here including  a Georgian demi lune side table (€100-€200), a brass bound secretaire chest (€200-€300), a 19th century three tier dumb waiter (€80-€120), a Georgian drop leaf table (€100-€200) and a Chippendale style mahogany desk (€200-€300). Meanwhile at Newcastlewest in Co. Limerick the sale by O’Donovan’s on February 18 will offer over 300 lots mostly to be sold without reserve.  Among them is an oriental dinner gong with brass hanging drum (€125-€150), a Victorian oak hall stand with bevelled mirror (€40-€60), a New York made mantle clock with pendulum (€40-€60), a Georgian sideboard (€175-€250) and a Georgian tea caddy (€200-€300).  The sale is led by a Peter Curling watercolour titled At the end of the Plough (€1,600-€1,900).

    Cottage in the Maam Valley by Mabel Young at Fonsie Mealy. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,200 AT HAMMER

    Art by Mabel Young (1889-1974), Paul Henry’s second wife, do not crop up very often and Fonsie Mealy’s Making Room sale in Castlecomer on February 21 features an oil on board of a cottage in the Maam Valley signed by her.  It is estimated at €800-€1,200. The top lot in the sale is a large Irish Georgian serving table in the Chinese Chippendale style estimated at €2,000-€3,000.  The catalogues for all these sales are online.

    PAULINE BOTY’S CELEBRATION OF MARILYN MONROE AT CHRISTIE’S

    Friday, February 9th, 2024
    Pauline Boty – Epitaph to Something’s Gotta Give (1962)

    Pauline Boty’s celebratory tribute to Marilyn Monroe, Epitaph to Something’s Gotta Give (1962) is among the highlights of Christie’s Modern British and Irish Art evening sale in London on March 20. One of Pop Art’s founding members, Pauline Boty died prematurely at the age of 28 in 1966. Epitaph to Something’s Gotta Give is one of only around 25 Pop paintings that Boty created and was included in a rare lifetime exhibition at Arthur Jeffress Gallery in London in 1962. The painting was gifted to a close friend of Boty’s in 1964 and has remained in the same collection since.  It is estimated at £500,000-£800,000.

    Boty painted two further depictions of Monroe as tributes to the actress following her death, both of which are held in museum collections: Colour Her Gone, 1962 (Wolverhampton Art Gallery) and The Only Blond in the World, 1963 (Tate, London). Boty studied at the Royal College of Art, the seedbed of the Pop Art movement, where she met, befriended and went on to exhibit with Sir Peter Blake, Derek Boshier, David Hockney, Peter Phillips and Patrick Caulfield. In 1961, she exhibited along with Blake and two others at the A.I.A. Gallery in a group show seen as the very first Pop Art exhibition.

    AN IRISHMAN’S VICTORIA CROSS AT NOONAN’S IN MAYFAIR

    Friday, February 9th, 2024
    A fine Indian Mutiny ‘Clause 13’ V.C. to Rough Rider Edmond Jennings, 1st Troop, 1st Brigade, Bengal Horse Artillery, for gallantry during the Relief of Lucknow in November 1857. UPDATE: THIS MADE £55,000 AT HAMMER

    An Indian Mutiny Victoria Cross awarded to Edmond Jennings of Ballinrobe  will come up at Noonan’s in London on February 14.  It is estimated at £20,000-£30,000 (€23,400-€35,100).  It was awarded for rescuing a wounded officer while under attack and taking him to safety on his own horse.  After the event 42 year old Jennings was nominated by his fellow non-commissioned officers. Jennings enlisted in the East India Company’s service in Tullamore in 1836.

    Two Victoria Crosses are known to this recipient, the one offered for sale here, and a second one which is held by the “F” (Sphinx) Battery, 7th Parachute Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery (the successor unit to Jennings’ original unit), together with his campaign medals. Whilst the exact reason for two Victoria Crosses named to this man is a matter of some conjecture, the most likely reason is that the first-named V.C. was sent out to India for presentation to him there (as were the other Bengal Artillery Victoria Crosses), but that once it was known that he was returning home to the U.K. Queen Victoria herself expressed a wish to personally decorate him with the V.C. at an Investiture at Windsor on 9 October 1860, and a second Cross was consequently named up (in the event Jennings’ ship had been delayed in departing India, and he did not arrive in time, thereby missing the Windsor investiture).

    MONET’S SUMMER MORNINGS ON THE SEINE TO HIGHLIGHT CHRISTIE’S SALE

    Thursday, February 8th, 2024
    Claude Monet. – Matinée sur la Seine, temps net (1897). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £14,397,500

    Claude Monet’s Matinée sur la Seine, temps net (1897) will be a highlight Christie’s 20th/21st Century evening sale in London on March 7. At auction for the first time in 45 years the work which captures a tranquil moment on The Seine with morning light casting a glow is estimated at £12-£18 million. The series to which the painting belongs, titled ‘Matinées sur la Seine’, conveys the landscape during the summer mornings of 1896 and 1897 as the light transforms the atmosphere. Tracing the sun as it passes over the scene, from the first rays of light at dawn, to the full brilliance of the sun at mid-morning, this extraordinary sequence of works was conceived as a connected, interrelated sequence of canvases. These would become some of the last scenes the artist would create of the Seine, a frequent subject in his oeuvre and one of the defining images of the Impressionist movement.  

    EXCEPTIONAL WINES FROM THE CELLAR OF LA GAVROCHE

    Wednesday, February 7th, 2024
    LA GAVROCHE CELLAR

    La Gavroche, an online auction with the exceptional wine collection from the two-Michelin starred French restaurant, together with works of art and selected objects, will run at Christie’s from April 10-24. More than 100 lots from the renowned London establishment will include wine, pictures, drawings, prints, decorative objects, porcelain and silver. The restaurant closed in January, 57 years after being founded in 1967 by the Roux Brothers,Albert and Michel. The restaurant proudly boasts a prestigious roster of internationally renowned chefs who were trained within its kitchens, including Gordon Ramsay, Marco Pierre White, Marcus Wareing and Pierre Koffmann.