GEORGE I BURR MAPLE BUREAU BOOKCASE. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,600 AT HAMMER
In Dublin James Adam will offer this George I burr maple bookcase in a timed online warehouse auction on July 10. The estimate is 2,000-4,000 and a starting bid of 200 is being sought at this stage. The bookcase is to be sold without reserve. In the manner of Coxted and Woster it is in three sections with arched mirrored doors, a fitted interior and a slope front desk. The sale will be on view in Dublin on July 8 and 9 and the catalogue, with 316 lots, is online.
A six seater Victorian carriage. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
IT is in need of restoration but this six seater Victorian carriage with a fringed canopy top takes pride of place at O’Donovan’s online sale in Newcastle West, Co. Limerick on July 10. On offer is the excess stock from the Old Irish Ways Museum near Bruff. A Surrey is defined as a popular American doorless four wheeled carriage with a variety of tops including a fringed canopy top so this one. though Irish, presumably fits the bill. It is, at 1,500-3,000, the most expensively estimated lot in an auction with 345 lots. The catalogue is online.
Rosewood sideboard by Gianfranco Frattini. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,000 AT HAMMER
This Italian rosewood credenza dates to the 1960’s and comes up at de Veres timed summer online art and design auction which runs until July 24. It was designed by Gianfranco Frattini for internationally renowned La Permanente Mobili Cantù with shelf gallery back above drawers with shaped handles, on metal legs. The estimate is 600-900. The auction of over 150 lots offers a selection of art along with furniture, lamps, mirrors and collectibles by renowned designers.
Attributed to Sean Keating (1889-1977) – Irish Free State Chicken. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,500 AT HAMMER
In 1928 Sean Keating painted a finished design in gouache entitled Irish Free State Chicken. Commissioned by the recently-formed Empire Marketing Board it was part of a campaign to promote the sale of agricultural produce, including Irish produce, internationally. Keating produced three images for the campaign, to be used as the basis for posters and billboards; the other two designs were for bacon and dairy. In his finished version of Irish Free State Chicken, along with a donkey and cart and a multitude of white poultry, he included the figures of men and women he had sketched on the Aran Islands, building up an image that conveyed the spirit of independence he so admired in the West of Ireland. This work, which comes up at Fonsie Mealy’s Chatsworth summer art sale in Castlecomer on July 10, is close to Keating’s finished design. There are also significant differences, and it is possibly a preparatory sketch. Mealys say that the provenance of this work also suggests it is by Keating. The estimate is 3,000-5,000. The catalogue for the sale is online.
There was a new world auction record to Titian at Christie’s in London this evening when his early masterpiece Rest on the Flight into Egypt made £17,560,000. The painting was offered by Lord Bath and the Longleat Trustees as part of their long-term investment strategy. It has been owned by Dukes, Archdukes and Holy Roman Emperors, by Napoleon and stolen in the late 20th century.
Lord Bath said: “It has been fabulous to see the interest in Titian’s work as this unique painting was previewed in the lead-up to this evening’s auction. It has been well-received which clearly demonstrates how the fascination with this exquisite early masterpiece has been maintained across the centuries. It has an extraordinary history, looted by Napoleon, bought by the 4th Marquess in 1878 and then stolen from Longleat in 1995 before miraculously being recovered. As the next chapter in the Rest on the Flight into Egypt’s story is written, I am pleased with the outcome of tonight; which will support our considerable long-term investment strategy at Longleat to build on the vision and legacy of my ancestors for the benefit of future generations.” The Titian was the top lot at Christie’s Classic Week evening sales, Old Masters Part I and The Exceptional sale, which realised a combined total of £50,788,420.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for April 4, 2024)
DAMIEN HIRST (B.1965) BRITISH – BUTTERFLY SPIN. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,900 AT HAMMER
Butterfly Spin by Damien Hirst comes up as lot 17 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Off the Wall online art auction which draws to a close from 6.30 pm this evening (July 2). The estimate for the acrylic on card is 3,000-5,000, making it the most expensively estimate lot in the sale. More than 450 lots of affordable art will come under the hammer and the catalogue is online.
T.E. Lawrence | Seven Pillars of Wisdom, 1926, Cranwell Edition, Col. Pierce Joyce’s copy. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £33,600
This copy of T.E. Lawrence’s Seven Pillars of Wisdom – an autobiographical account of his participation in the Arab Revolt – comes up at Sotheby’s in London on July 11 with an estimate of £26,000-£35,000. It is accompanied by a letter from Lawrence – subject of the film Lawrence of Arabia – to Galway born Colonel Pierce Joyce, expressing his relief that Joyce’s copy of Seven Pillars had reached him, expressing his own feelings about his book’s success, discussing Joyce’s recent retirement as military advisor to King Faisal of Iraq and move home to Ireland, mentioning his own Irish roots (“…We actually come from Killua, in Meath…”).
Col. Pierce Charles Joyce (1878-1965) had joined the Egyptian Army in 1907 and was a key figure in the British support of the Arab Revolt against the Ottomans from its outbreak in 1916. He was commanding officer of Operation Hedgehog, the British military mission to the new Arab army, meaning that for some time Lawrence was nominally under his command. In reality their work ran parallel, with Lawrence advising Emir Feisal – King of Iraq from 1921 to 1933 – on the Bedouin irregulars, and Joyce on the Arab Regulars. Joyce, like Lawrence, led operations against the Hejaz Railway; he also captured the Crusader Castle at Shobak, was responsible for logistical planning for the Allied advance northwards into Palestine, and commanded the armoured cars and artilllery that supported the Arab army in the second half of 1918.
An antique gramophone with wooden horn UPDATE: THIS MADE 420 AT HAMMER
With everything from a fine old Cork clock in need of full restoration and seascapes by Erwin Charles Gunther to an antique oak cased gramophone and a pair of Chinese Foo dogs modelled as lamps the sale at Lynes and Lynes on July 6 is brimful of specialist interest.
Viewing is underway in Carrigtwohill for a 372 lot auction made up of the remaining part of the estate of the late Roma Peare (nee Knox) of Kinsale, a residence at Templenoe, Kenmare, Co. Kerry and a house at Beaumont Avenue in Cork. A collection of old cameras is another feature.
A Cork clock by James Aickin UPDATE: THIS MADDE 360 AT HAMMER
A clock by James Aickin does not come up at auction every day. This longcase brass dial clock by one of the most eminent Cork clockmakers needs much attention and is estimated accordingly at just €300-€500. Aickin was a prominent Freemason active from 1738-1780 at a time when Cork was a major Atlantic port with extensive trade links to many European countries. Among his commissions was “repairing and putting up” the town clock in Youghal in 1777 for which £8 was set aside for him by the Corporation of Youghal. He manufactured both bracket clocks and long case clocks. One of his sons, George, became a clockmaker with premises at James St. adjacent to the Cork Courthouse, a centre for clockmaking in Cork before the advent of mass production. Other clocks include a table clock retailed by Mangan, Cork (€400-€500.), an Irish longcase clock by Robert Fishbourne, Carlow (€1,500-€2,000) and a French painted wood and ormolu Cartel clock (€1,500-€2,000).
A selection of lots on offer
The German artist Erwin Charles Gunther (1864-1927) is known for his seascapes and there are two of them in the sale, each estimated at €600-€1,000. A set of four William Harrington prints of Cork, each signed by the artist , are each estimated at €60-€100.
Collectors will be interested in an antique gramophone on a carved oak case, complete with a rare wooden horn and in full working order (€300-€500). Chinese Foo dogs are both popular and auspicious. Designed in pairs, male and female, they represent yin and yang. The female yin protects those dwelling in the home, the male yang protects the structure. The Foo dog lamps are estimated at €200-€300.
Among the more expensively estimated lots are a set of ten Cork 11-bar chairs (€1,500-€2,000), an old cut glass six branch chandelier (€1,000-€1,500), a set of six Cork 11-bar chairs (€800-€1,200), a Georgian style dining table with satinwood crossbanding
Drogheda Quay by Nano Reid (1900-1981) UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,700 AT HAMMER
Nano Reid, Colin Middleton, Banksy, Edward Delaney, Pauline Bewick, Neil Shawcross, Edward Delany, Louise Mansfield, Rita Duffy and Graham Knuttel are among the artists at Whyte’s summer online art auction which ends from 6 pm onJuly 1. The sale offers a good selection of affordable and accessible art from Ireland and is on view in Dublin this afternoon and from 10 am to 5 pm next Monday. The most expensively estimated lot is a bronze An Tostal commemorative plaque by Gabriel Hayes (€2,500-€3,500). There is a wooden postcard (€400-€600) and a lithograph (€700-€1,000) by Banksy, a charcoal self portrait by Sean Keating (€1,500-€2,000), a Canal Scene by Walter Verling (€400-€600) and an etching by Dame Elisabeth Frink (€250-€350) among more than 300 lots.
Paul Henry – Hillside Cottages – UPDATE: THIS WAS BID TO 50,000 AND WAS UNSOLD
THIS small oil on board by Paul Henry with a long Cork provenance is the feature lot at Woodwards sale in Cork today. Hillside Cottages has been authenticated by art specialist Dominic Milmo-Penny. It is possibly an untraced work exhibited under another title either at The Fine Art Society in London in 1934 or in New York and Boston in 1930. The painting has aroused significant interest. Woodwards, who last sold it at auction in 1964, say a label on the back indicates it was framed by John Gilbert, Patrick St., Cork in the 1930’s. The name M. Quinlan, 6-8 South Mall is pencilled on the back and the name “Quillivan” is written in chalk. It was acquired by Michael ‘Dick’ Donegan in the 1960’s and thence by descent.
The work is part of a small private collection with paintings by Grace Henry, Alexander Williams, John Faulkner, Joseph Poole Addey and Harry Scully also on offer. The auction gets underway at 10 am today and the catalogue is online.
