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    SAMUEL BECKETT’S ENDGAME, A RARE FIRST EDITION

    Sunday, November 21st, 2010

    A first edition of Endgame for sale in Cork. UPDATE: IT WAS UNSOLD

    Samuel Beckett’s Endgame,  in its first French edition from 1957, comes up at the Morgan O’Driscoll sale in Cork on Monday, November 29.
    Arriving on the market at the moment when the financial game is up for Ireland, the national endgame for this indebted country involving a financial bailout from the IMF, the ECB and countries like Britain and Sweden, this particular version is Number 32 in an edition of 54 numbered copies.  It is estimated at 3,500-4,500.
    Endgame is a one act play with four characters by the Nobel Prize winning Irish writer. It was originally written in French and entitled Fin de partie.  Beckett, as was his custom, translated it into English.
    The play was first performed in a French language production at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1957.
    A first edition of L’innommable (The Unnamable) by Beckett, inscribed by the author in 1953, also features in the sale.  It is estimated at 3,000-4,000.
    L’innommable is the final installment of Beckett’s trilogy of novels Molloy/Malone Dies/The Unnamable.   This edition was inscribed by Beckett to his Swedish translator Carl Gustaf Birger Bjurstrom.
    Morgan O’Driscoll will conduct two auctions at the Radisson Hotel at Little Island in Cork on November 29,   The 296 lot antique furniture, silver, Republican memorabilia and rare book
    auction at 4 p.m. will be followed by a 225 lot art sale at 7 p.m.

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    DOLANS IRISH ART IN GALWAY

    Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

    The Ploughed Field by Jay Murphy (estimated at 500-800) features at the Dolans Art Auction at the Marriott Hotel in Galway on Sunday, November 21. (click on image to enlarge) UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    This watercolour by Annemarie Bourke entitled Aspects of Galway (estimated at 800-1,200) features at the Dolan's art auction on November 21. (click to enlarge) UPDATE: IT MADE 1,000

    Traditional and contemporary work by Irish artists features at the Dolans art auction at the Marriott Hotel in Galway on Sunday November 21 at 3 p.m.  The emphasis is on affordability.

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    EARLY GIANT’S CAUSEWAY PHOTOGRAPHS AT BONHAMS

    Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

    An album of rare photographs of the Giant’s Causeway taken in 1867 by Dublin based photographer, F H Mares is a feature of Bonhams sale of  Books, Maps and Historical Photographs in Oxford on  November 30 next.  The album is inscribed: “Emma Townsend, from her affectionate Sister Bessie on the return from Ireland, March 27th, 1879” and is estimated at £200 – 400.

    The Giant's Causeway in the 19th century. (click to enlarge) taken in 1867 by Dublin based photographer, F H Mares is a feature of Bonhams sale of Books, Maps and Historical Photographs in Oxford on November 30 next. The album is inscribed: "Emma Townsend, from her affectionate Sister Bessie on the return from Ireland, March 27th, 1879" and is estimated at £200 - 400. UPDATE: IT MADE £660.

    Other lots of Irish interest include the Dublin Edition of Clarendon’s History of the Civil Wars in England from the library of the 5th Earl of Drogheda (£300-500): a set of over 80 photographs of personalities of the Kildare Hunt from 1890, (£300-500): 80 books and manuscripts belonging to the Earls of Donoughmore contain a scare eighteenth century devotional work in Irish, ‘An Teagasg Criosdiadhe,’ by Bonaventure O’Hussey, (£900-1,200).
    This influential Tridentine catechism was written in Antwerp in the early years of the 17th century to increase awareness of  international developments in catholic practice in Gaelic Ireland.
    The collection also features a group of rare librettos for eighteenth century comic operas performed at the Theatre Royal, Smock Alley, Dublin (£1,000-1,500). They include Galluppi’s ‘The Guardian Trick’d’ and the 1762 work, ‘The Fair of Malmantile,’ by Goldoni.
    UPDATE: THE F.H. Mares album made £660, the Kildare Hunt photographs sold for £864, An Teagasg Criosdiadhe made £2,880 and the Theatre Royal librettos failed to sell.

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    DIAMOND AUCTION RECORD SMASHED

    Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

    This rare pink diamond sold for 33.7 million euro at Sotheby's in Geneva. (click on image to enlarge)

    A rare pink diamond broke auction records when it made 33.7 million euro at Sotheby’s in Geneva on November 16.  The buyer was London diamond dealer Laurence Graff.

    Sotheby’s had said in advance that the market for coloured diamonds is extremely strong.  They are the most sought after gemstones in the world’s auction rooms today.

    This one is an exceptionally rare 24.78 carat fancy intense pink diamond of the purest hue.  It had been purchased directly from Mr. Harry Winston 60 years ago and has not been on the open market since.

    Sotheby’s had estimated the stone at $27-38 million Swiss Francs or about 20-25 million euro.  Demand for rare gems as wealth that is portable has pushed up prices.

    See post on antiquesandartireland.com for October 4



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    George Stubbs’s portrait of Viscount Gormanston’s White Dog

    Friday, November 12th, 2010

    George Stubbs’s portrait of Viscount Gormanston’s White Dog

    George Stubbs Portrait of a white dog, the property of Lord Gormanston and later owned by Lord Beaverbrook. (click to enlarge) UPDATE: IT MADE £361,250

    is a feature lot at Sotheby’s Old Master & British Paintings sale in London on December 8.  The painting was commissioned in 1781 by the 11th Viscount Gormanston of Gormanston Castle, County Meath, one of only two Irish patrons of the artist. Gormanston Castle was the seat of the Preston family – bearers of one of the oldest titles in both Britain and Ireland– until around 1950.

    Stubbs remains arguably the world’s greatest animal portrait painter. His paintings of dogs in particular demonstrate his exceptional ability to portray an owner’s treasured animals, and such portraits rarely appear on the open market. The painting, which was purchased by the 1st Lord Beaverbrook in 1951, is estimated at £300,000-£400,000.
    Sotheby’s will offer important old master paintings, modern British art and other works from the collection of 20th-century press baron and business tycoon Lord Beaverbrook in a series of auctions in both London and New York through January 2011.
    UPDATE:  The Stubbs’ portrait of Viscount Gormanston’s White Dog made a hammer price with buyer’s premium of £361,250. There was a new world record for Stubbs at this sale when his Brood Mares and Foal sold for £10,121,250. This was more than three times the previous record for a Stubbs. The Old Master and British Paintings sale brought in £23,577,600.

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    JADE EMPEROR’S SEAL MAKES £2,708,000 at BONHAMS

    Friday, November 12th, 2010

    Emperor Qianlong’s (1711-1799)  seal made £2,708,000 at Bonhams in London on November 11.  It was sold to a Chinese buyer from Beijing after competitive bidding from three people in the room. The perfect four centimetre square jade seal bearing the inscription `Zi Qiang Bu Xi’, (‘Self-Strengthening Never Ceases’) is closely linked to the Emperor’s 80th birthday celebration which coincided with the 55th year of his reign.

    Meantime a bidding war by Asian buyers resulted in a Qianlong vase (on right) making a record £51.6 million pounds at west London auction rooms Bainbridges on November 11.  It was discovered in an attic during a routine house clearance in the London suburb of Pinner.  The vase was estimated at £800,000-£1.2 million.

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    Fabergé Work Box Leads Christie’s Russian Sale

    Thursday, November 11th, 2010

    A Fabergé work box is the highlight of the Christie’s Russian works of art sale on November 29, 2010.  The jewelled enamelled Imperial presentation snuff-box with the workmaster’s mark of Henrik Wigström was presented to the Turkish diplomat, Turkhan Pasha in December 1913 on behalf of Emperor Nicholas II.

    This was probably to commemorate the end of his five year ambassadorship in St. Petersburg. In 1919 the snuff-box changed hands for the last time, when it was acquired by the family of the present owner. It is estimated at £400,000-600,000.

    Almost 500 lots of Russian Art, including fine paintings, works of art and unique pieces of neo-Russian furniture  will be included.

    UPDATE:  IT sold for £937,250 in a sale that realised £14.9 million.

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    SOTHEBY’S CONTEMPORARY ART TOTALS $222,454,500

    Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

    Sotheby’s November 9 evening sale of Contemporary Art in New York totaled $222,454,500, well ahead of the high estimate of $214 million. There were five new artist records. Highlights were Coca-Cola [4] Large Coca-Cola by Andy Warhol, which made $35,362,500 (estimate $20/25 million), and Mark Rothko’s Untitled from 1955, which made $22,482,500. Six works sold for more than $10 million and almost half the works sold achieved prices in excess of the high estimate. This was a very strong result for the market.

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    HONE MINIATURE OF MRS. SIDDONS AT BONHAMS

    Tuesday, November 9th, 2010

    Horace Hone's miniature of Mrs. Siddons

    A portrait miniature by the Irish artist Horace Hone of Sarah Siddons the best known tragedienne of the 18th century will be offered by Bonhams in the Fine Portrait Miniature sale taking place in Knightsbridge on November 24. The portrait miniature by Horace Hone (1756-1825) was painted at the height of her career on Drury Lane. A member of the famous Dublin family of artists Horace Hone received his early training from his father Nathaniel Hone the Elder.

    According to Bonhams this miniature can be compared with another portrait by Hone of the previous year now in the collection of the National Gallery of Ireland. Painted during Siddons’ second visit to Dublin, it is one of the earliest known portraits of the tragic actress and one of the most recognisable, having subsequently been engraved by Francesco Bartolozzi. The Mrs. Siddons portrait is estimated to make £6,000 – 8,000.

    UPDATE:  It sold for £12,600.

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    MATISSE BRONZE LEADS AT CHRISTIE’S

    Thursday, November 4th, 2010

    Matisse’s monumental bronze sculpture of a woman’s back made $48.8 million at Christie’s in New York on November 3 well above its $35 million high estimate.  This was a new record for the artist.

    It was bought by dealer Larry Gagosian for a client he did not name.

    The sale, strongest for quality items, brought $231.4 million against an estimate of $199 million to $287 million. Of the 84 works on offer, 67 sold.

    A 1913 Cublist painting by Juan Gris, “Violin and Guitar.” made $28.6 million, a record auction price.

    See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for October 5 and November 1.


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