This Irish giltwood side table and mirror by the renowned Arthur Jones cabinetmakers was shown at the Irish Industrial Exhibition in Dublin in 1853. Known as The Table of Ireland it features motifs like a harp, carved masks, shamrocks, an Irish high tower and a medieval town house. Oak leaves, acorns and a saintly figure playing a harp are in sharp contrast to a warrior about to draw his sword. Together they depict the dual forces of peace and war in Ireland’s storied history as seen in Victorian times. The mirror is crested by a figure of Hibernia sat on a sword in front of a Celtic high cross. The table is one of the highlights at Fonsie Mealy’s summer fine art and antiques sale in Castlecomer on June 18 and 19. The estimate for lot 809 is €15,000-€20,000.
Lilies and Lemons by Brian Ballard at Gormleys online Irish and International art auction. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,600 AT HAMMER
A total of 88 lots will come under the hammer at Gormley’s timed online Irish and International art auction which runs until the evening of June 10. There is art by Peter Curling, Nano Reid, Gladys MacCabe, William Conor, Mark O’Neill, Markey Robinson, Tom Wesselman, David Hockney, Sean Scully, Robert Indiana, Laura Knight and many more celebrated artists.
A Regency oval beaded mirror at James Adam. UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,200 AT HAMMER
Home or garden? The choice is yours at two appetising sales next week, the At Home online sale at Adams in Dublin on June 11 and the two day summer garden sale by Victor Mee in Cavan on the evenings of next June 10 and 11.
Top lots at Adams range from Playing in the sand, a lovely summer scene by Dorothea Sharp (1874-1955) (€4,000-€6,000) through a Louis Quinze ormolu mounted longcase clock (€3,000-€5,000), an Irish Regency oval beaded wall mirror (€3,000-€5,000) and a Milkmaid pattern Irish silver tea set (€2,500-€3,500).
A wrought iron glasshouse in Victorian style complete with modern accoutrements like remote control glass and automated vents (€18,000-€22,000) leads the offerings at Victor Mee. Lifesize bronze sculptures of a horse and jockey and a galloping horse are estimated at €10,000-€20,000 each, while bronze effect statues on pedestals of The Four Seasons, a bronze fountain with Mercury and a pair of 19th century wrought iron entrance gates are all estimated at €8,000-€12,000.
A bleached timber library table at Adams. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
One of the more unusual At Home lots – for use when away – is a complete set of early 20th century 40 nautical signal flags. Originally drafted in 1855 the code is an international system of signals used by ships to convey important information on safety and navigation. The flags are in a fitted timber case with brass carrying handles and estimated at €400-€600.
With more than 500 lots the last At Home sale before the summer covers multiple objects for the home from a pair of brass framed circular hall lanterns to an Edwardian club fender and a pair of 19th century Sitzendorf porcelain wall sconces. There are lots of chairs like sofas and Chesterfields, a set of eight Windsor style oak and elmwood kitchen chairs, a pair of French 19th century two seater settees, a pair of red leather wingback armchairs, a George II walnut armchair, a pair of library armchairs, green leather button back chairs, a sent of c1820’s provincial Irish dining chairs along with Victorian and Edwardian dining chair sets.
Among the artworks on offer are two botanical watercolours by Wendy Walsh and Cattle Watering by Thomas Sydney Cooper. A pair of giltwood and marble figural console tables, a bleached timber library table, Georgian and Regency dining tables, side tables and card tables feature along with collectibles like silver, clock sets and a Baccarat three light candelabra.
An obelisk gifted by the Chinese government at Victor Mee. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
At Victor Mee’s sale you will find exceptional urns and planters, a private collection of antique stone troughs and an obelisk gifted by the Chinese government to the Hely Hutchinson family at Knocklofty House in Clonmel. The two day sale features over 850 lots of garden statuary, furniture and architectural features.
There is a focus too on animal garden statuary with an emphasis on native irish wildlife. This is an area of collection which the team at Victor Mee has noted is growing in popularity as animal sculptures are increasingly used to add character and whimsy to Irish gardens. Among the offerings are hares dancing, a lifesize bronze sheep, bronze pigs, a cast iron red squirrel and a pair of boxing hares. More exotic creatures include a bronze elephant with a Dali style decoration and a bronze velociraptor. As always there is a good selection of antique and vintage outdoor furniture. Catalogues for both sales are online.
A raptor for your garden at Victor Mee. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,350 AT HAMMER
This pair of bronze storks come up at Victor Mee’s summer garden sale on June 10 and 11. A total of 955 lots will come under the hammer. The storks come up as lot 58 with an estimate of €600-1,200. The catalogue is online.
JOSEPH MALLORD WILLIAM TURNER, R.A. (LONDON 1775-1851) – Lake Brienz, with the Setting Moon
In the 250 anniversary year of his birth a number of works on paper by Turner will come up at Christie’s in London across three sales in London on July 1 and 2 during Classic Week. Showing late Turner at the height of his powers as a watercolourist Lake Brienz, with the Setting Moon is a mesmerizingly peaceful Swiss view, from the 1840’s. Paving the way for the Impressionists, this work shows Turner focusing on the effects of changing light. Property from The Estate of Sanford R. Robertson, it will be offered in the Old Masters evening sale on July 1 with an estimate of £600,000-800,000.
Turner’s View of Stoke House, near Bristol c1790 depicts a figure sketching in the foreground that is thought to be a self-portrait (£20,000-30,000). Pendennis Castle and the entrance to Falmouth Harbour, Cornwall: Scene after a Wreck is from one of Turner’s famous series of watercolours that made his name: England and Wales (£60,000-100,000). Both works are offered inOld Masters, 19th Century Paintings and Drawings from a private collection selling without reserve on July 2.
JOSEPH MALLORD WILLIAM TURNER, R.A. – View of Stoke House, near Bristol
SHERATON REVIVAL SIDE CABINET. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This attractive Sheraton Revival inlaid satinwood side cabinet is lot 404 at Adams online only At Home sale on June 11. The rectangular breakfront form has a central panelled door inset with a circular painted plaque decorated with a mother and child. It is flanked by a pair of astragal glazed panel doors and turned independent columns and turned legs. The estimate is €2,000-3,000. More than 500 lots will come under the hammer. Viewing is at St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin from June 7 – 10 and the catalogue is online.
A UNION JACK FLOWN FROM HMS SPARTIATE AT THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR, OCTOBER 21, 1805 UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £1,068,500
A Union Jack flag from the Battle of Trafalgar will come up at Christie’s Exceptional Sale in London on July 1 with an estimate of £500,000-800,000. One of the most spectacular and consequential naval victories in history, The Battle of Trafalgar ended the threat of an invasion of Britain by Napoleon, setting the scene for a century or more of British dominance of the seas. The flag shows signs of battle damage. Analysis by the Zaricor Flag Collection – from which it is being offered for sale – revealed shards of metal embedded in the fabric in several places, notably in the half-moon shaped loss to one edge, suggesting that this is the ‘footprint’ of a cannon ball. Fragments of wood splinters were also found throughout.
It is one of only three intact Union Jacks known to survive from the Battle of Trafalgar. It has been offered on the market just once before in its 220 year history, having been preserved by Captain James Clephan R .N . (1768-1851) who was the Spartiate‘s second lieutenant and then passed by descent until it was acquired in 2009 by Benjamin Reed Zaricor (1947-2022) for the Zaricor Flag Collection. The design was introduced in 1801 after the Act of Union with Ireland. HMS Spartiate fought at the Battle of Trafalgar under Francis Laforey. With Minotaur, she forced the surrender of the Spanish ship Neptuno, of 80 guns. She was was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line captured from the French at the Battle of the Nile in 1798.
Miss January dated 1997 by Marlene Dumas became the most expensive painting by a living female artist ever sold when it made $13.6 million (€11.96 million) at Christie’s in New York.
The global art market is not immune to the trade winds of change blowing us all over the place right now. Even though they brought in $1 billion the slimmed down May sales in New York failed to reach their targets.
On the minus side a bust by Alberto Giacometti of his brother Diego, estimated at around $70 million (€61.57 million), failed to find a buyer at Sotheby’s. On the plus side the collection of Barnes and Noble founder Leonard Riggio and his wife Louise made $272 million (€239.46 million) at Christie’s, the only collection to realise this total in the last 18 months.
It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good. Marlene Dumas, South African born Netherlands based 71 year old set a new auction record for a living female artist with Miss January, 1997. She has explored portraiture for 40 years and this monumental nine feet tall work of a beauty queen naked from the waist down apart from a pink sock sold for $13.6 million (€11.96 million) at Christie’s. There were records too for previously overlooked 20th century women artists like Grace Hartigan, Dorothea Tanning, Remedios Vara and Kiki Kogelnik.
Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue made $47.6 million (€41.87 million) at Christie’s.
Christie’s global president Alex Rotter said that what we are seeing is an emphasis on individual taste among collectors. “The market is no longer about following the crowd. It is about individual taste and passions. What art makes you feel. That is a very interesting and exciting development for the market”.
The global downturn is influenced by factors like a decline in the number of Asian buyers and the absence of Russian wealth. These do not affect the market for Irish art. Underlying global uncertainty does play into the Irish market but not at a level where the highs are stratospheric and the lows catastrophic. Our very conservative market is characterised by slow, steady growth. It operates in a relatively low value segment which shows up in all current statistics as most immune to all that is going on.
Homme assis by Picasso made $15.1 million (€13.28 million) at Sotheby’s.
One segment that has proved to be not at all immune is the market for young contemporaries. Entirely absent from the sales this month were prices in the millions for young artists that few people had ever heard of. One possible explanation is that buyers of mid-career artists can afford to wait as this work will continue to be available in the future, especially at a time of uncertainty.
The top lot of the week was Mondrian’s Composition with Large Red Plane, Bluish Gray, Yellow, Black and Blue from the Riggio collection. It made $47.6 million (€41.87 million) . Magritte’s L’Empire des Lumieres from the same collection made $35 million (€30.79 million). There was a record at Christie’s for Monet when his Peupliers au bord de l’Epte, crepuscule, sold for $43 million (€37.82 million) and set a new record for his celebrated Poplars series.
At Sotheby’s Picasso’s Homme Assis from 1969 made $15.1 million (€13.28 million) and Georgia O’Keeffe’s Leaves of a Plant made $12.9 million (€11.35 million). Roy Lichtenstein’s Reflections – Art made $5.4 million (€4.75 million), one of nine Lichtenstein’s which collectively made $29 million (€25.51 million).
Leaves of a Plant by Georgia O’Keeffe made $12.9 million (€11.35 million) at Sotheby’s.
There was a new world record for Mainie Jellett at Whyte’s in Dublin when Achill Horses, painted in 1933, sold for a hammer price of €210,000. This is the second highest price for a painting by an Irishwoman. The painting was the focus of a battle between two telephone bidders and went to a private collection. A Sarah Purser portrait of Constance and Eva Gore Booth made €240,000 in the Lissadell House auction in 2003.
Whyte’s auction demonstrated continuing confidence in the market for Irish works of rarity and quality. Paul Henry’s West of Ireland Bog sold for €125,000, while Anglesea Market, Dublin, 1933 by Harry Kernoff made the top estimate of €40,000.
William John Leech’s Gardeners Joy nearly doubled its lower estimate of €15,000 to sell at €28,000, and a Louis le Brocquy watercolour Image of Francis Bacon, 1980, made double its lower estimate of €12,000. An Evie Hone watercolour Abstract Composition estimated €2,000 to €3,000 made €5,400, Charles Vincent Lamb oil West of Ireland Landscape, estimated at €1,500 to €2,000 made €3,600, Bridget Riley Magenta And Blue, 2002 lithograph, estimated at €8,000 to €12,000 made €14,500.
The previous record for Jellett was €110,000 for The Land Éire 1940 at Whyte’s in 2019. This painting can be seen at the National Gallery of Ireland’s current exhibition Mainie Jellett Evie Hone The Art of Friendship.
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for May 24 and May 20, 2025)
One of a pair of hide upholstered Chesterfield settees which made a hammer price of €11,500
The two day Great Irish Interiors sale at Sheppards in Durrow got off to a flying start today when a pair of hide upholstered roll back Chesterfield settees sold for a hammer price of €11,500. Estimated at €2,500-€3,500 they were the subject of a bidding battle between a buyer in the room and another on the internet. The auction continues today and tomorrow.
