Taxidermy elephant of a baby elephant. UPDATE: THIS MADE 500 AT HAMMER
Auctions regularly throw surprises but a stuffed elephant is a real rarity. The focus of Marshs in Cork on December 7 is on fine antique furniture and collectibles but a 127 centimetre high taxidermy elephant is set to be a spectacular scene stealer in the premier larceny league of the late, great actress Maggie Smith.
If you can tear your attention away from Dumbo you might be taken by a pair of marble topped gilt console tables, a Georgian Adam’s style mirror or a Georgian lowboy in the Chippendale style on paw feet. The auction features a selection of Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian furniture, art and collectibles including the elephant. The sale, with 312 lots, will be on view at Marshs auction rooms on December 4, 5 and 6 and the catalogue is online.
A pair of marble topped gilt console tables UPDATE: THESE MADE 1,000 AT HAMMER
The Window with a view of the town by Jack B Yeats at Adams. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD AT THE AUCTION AND SOLD LATER FOR €250,000
The record for an Irish artwork sold in 2024 was broken three times in quick succession at Sotheby’s and Christie’s this month. It was a similar story on the global market. Expectations around sales of Irish art at Whyte’s, Adams and Bonhams next week are high.
First Orpen’s portrait of Evelyn St. George made £720,000 (€864,010) at Sotheby’s, then The Thinker on the Butte de Warlencourt by Orpen made £756,000 (€907,210) at Christie’s followed later in the sale of the Hobart collection by O’Connell Bridge by Jack B Yeats which made £886,000 (€1,063,210).
The art market is proving to be robust in the face of two years of downturn and continuing global uncertainty. The global market breached the $100 million barrier only once this year when Magritte’s Surrealist masterpiece L’empire des lumieres made $105,000,000 ($121,160,000 with fees) at Christie’s last week. The more conservative and resilient Irish market got a million euro plus artwork in 2024.
On the home front the combined top estimate of €2.5 million for the top four lots at the James Adam sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on December 4 speaks volumes about the current state of the Irish art market. The four, three by Yeats and one by Orpen, are from the collection of Jacqueline and Vincent O’Brien. Horsemen (1947) (€500,000-€800,000) and He Reads a Book (1952) (€500,000-€700,000) both feature horses, a subject by Yeats that is particularly prized by collectors.
Old John’s Cottage, Connemara by Sir William Orpen at Adams depicts an American wake in 1908. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD AT THE AUCTION AND LATER SOLD FOR €250,000
There is much excitement around these works, and no wonder. They are from the collection of Ireland’s greatest trainer, voted the greatest influence in horse racing history in a worldwide poll in 2003. Orpen’s Old John’s Cottage, Connemara is estimated at €300,000-€500,000 as is another Yeats from their collection, The Window with a view of the Town from 1951.
John Joseph Tracey (1813-1873) – THE IRISH PEASANT’S GRAVE, 1843 AT WHYTE’S. UPDATE: THIS MADE 9,000 AT HAMMER
Paul Henry and Jack B Yeats share the top billing at Whyte’s sale of Irish and International art in Dublin next Monday evening (Dec 2). Killary Bay by Paul Henry and The Dust on thy Chariot Wheel by Yeats are each estimated at €100,000-€150,000. A self portrait by Roderic O’Conor has an estimate of €70,000-€90,000.
The sale at Whytes includes nine lots from the Bank of Ireland collection including Colin Middleton’s Evening Star, Clonelly, Co. Fermanagh from 1970 (€18,000-€22,000). There is art by Maurice MacGonigal, William Crozier, Michael Farrell and Peter Collis. Amongst other lots Walter Osborne’s Girl Feeding a tortoiseshell cat is estimated at €60,000-€80,000 and the sale offers art by Nano Reid, Flora Mitchell, Letitia Hamilton and many more artists. The large sculpture section includes work by Rowan Gillespie, John Coll, Eamonn O’Doherty and Linda Brunker.
The Irish Sale: Vision and Voice online at Bonhams until December 5 features work by Sir John Lavery, Mainie Jellett, Mary Swanzy, John Doherty, Dan O’Neill and a collection of 20 works by Norah McGuinness consigned by her family.
The Long Memory (Westerness Series) by Colin Middleton at Whyte’s. UPDATE: THIS MADE 30,000 AT HAMMER
In New York last week Standard Station – Ten cent Western being torn in half by Ed Ruscha sold for $68.5 million at Christie’s. A monumental Water Lilies by Claude Monet made $65.5 million at Sotheby’s.
The question now is will more records be broken in Ireland in December?
Paul Henry RHA (1876-1958) – KILLARY BAY, CONNEMARA, c.1910-15. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 210,000 AT HAMMER
Killary Bay, Connemara by Paul Henry comes up as lot 27 at Whyte’s sale of Irish and International Art on December 2. Weekend viewing is now underway at Whyte’s on Molesworth St. in Dublin. The auction, at 6 pm on December 2, will be both live in room and online at Freemason’s Hall, Molesworth St. Major works by Jack Butler Yeats, Paul Henry, Roderic O’Conor, Sir John Lavery, Walter Osborne, Aloysius O’Kelly, Richard Brydges Beechey, George Russell, Letitia Hamilton, Flora Mitchell, Louis le Brocquy, Daniel O’Neill, Nano Reid, George Campbell, Colin Middleton, William Crozier, Tony O’Malley and many others are included. International artists include Arthur Rackham, Harold C. Harvey, Massimo Campigli, Sir Frank Bowling and Albert Irvin. The catalogue is online.
Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957) – HORSEMEN (1947). UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD AT THE AUCTION AND CHANGED HANDS LATER FOR A HAMMER PRICE OF €400,000
Viewing gets underway at Adams in Dublin today for four upcoming sales, Fine Jewellery (December 3), Important Irish Art (December 4), Fine Watches (December 5) and Fine Wines and Spirits on December 6. The art sale includes outstanding paintings by Jack B. Yeats from the collection of Vincent and Jacqueline O’Brien, and works from the Hon. Francis D. Murnaghan Jr. Collection and is headed by Horsemen by Yeats with an estimate of €500,000-800,000.
SAPPHIRE AND DIAMOND CLUSTER RING. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This sapphire and diamond cluster ring is at Adams fine jewellery sale in Dublin on December 3. The oval-shaped sapphire of approximately 5.14 carats is within a brilliant and tapered baguette-cut diamond surround, mounted in gold. The estimate is 10,000-15,000. The auction with 263 lots is on view in Dublin from November 29.
Josef Locke’s “Challen” Baby Grand Piano. UPDATE: THIS MADE 620 AT HAMMER
Josef Locke’s Challen baby grand piano comes up as lot 115 at the evening antique and collectibles sale by Usher Auctions in Kells on December 2. The sale will include a clearance from the estate of the late tenor as well as jewellery, antique furniture, garden furniture, art, silver and collectibles. The piano is estimated at €300-600. Josef Locke, who died in 1999, had a successful singing career in Ireland and the UK and Hear My Song Violetta is forever associated with him.
Norah McGuinness (1901-1980) – Snow on the hills, Rockbrook, Co. Dublin. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR €20,480
The Irish Sale: Vision and Voice, open for bidding at Bonhams, runs until December 5 and is now on view in Dublin. The auction features female pioneers of Irish modernism like Mary Swanzy, Mainie Jellett and Norah McGuinness and artists like Sir John Lavery, Dan O’Neill and John Doherty among a collection of 82 lots.
Mary Swanzy H.R.H.A. (1882-1978) – South of France landscape. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR €43,520
This old Spanish painting – The Virgin and Child distributing the Rosary to Saints and the Royal Family – comes up at Lynes and Lynes sale in Carrigtwohill, Co. Cork on November 30. The oil on canvas is estimated at 1,000-1,500. The auction comprises lots from estates including Gurrane near Fermoy and Ballydowney House, Killarney. The catalogue is online and this is lot 95 out of 414 lots.
Majella O’Neill Collins – Sherkin Gust. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,300 AT HAMMER
This oil on canvas by Sherkin Island based artist Majella O’Neill Collins comes up as lot 24 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s current off the wall online art auction. The estimate is 1,500-2,000. The auction runs until the evening of December 3 and includes work by Sean Scully, Arthur Maderson, Graham Knuttel, Markey Robinson, Damien Hirst, John Behan and many more artists.
This Chinese Tibeto gilt bronze sceptre with an estimate of €3,000-€5,000 sold for a hammer price of €30,000 at the opening session of Sheppards three day auction in Durrow of contents from Grange Manor, Co. Kilkenny and other clients. It contains the six-character reign mark of the Yongle Emperor (1402 – 1424). The makara head is above flowing lotus scrolls over a faceted pierced dorje handle. The Makara is a legendary sea creature in Hindu mythology. The Currach Fishermen by Liam O’Neill made €11,000, the Great Seal of Ireland of Henry VIII made €8,500, a pair of gilt console tables made €5,500, a Mughal hand woven carpet made €5,500, a tree of life carpet made €5,500, a Donegal carpet made €5,500, a pen and ink portrait by Jack B Yeats made €5,000, a gilt, bronze and marble clock garniture made €4,800, a George III inlaid bookcase made €4,000, a portrait of Anna Stewart by Nathanial Hone made €4,000, a large two tier Irish crystal chandelier made €3,800, a pair of 19th century Black Forest bears made €3,000, a 20th century Meissen figure of King Augustus on Horseback made €3,200 and an Irish brass bound peat bucket made €2,800. The sale is ongoing.
