A Donegal Carpet, Killybegs, Ireland, Early 20th Century. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $6,985
This early 20th century Donegal carpet in exceptional condition comes up at Sotheby’s in New York on January 30 with an estimate of $5,000-$7,000. The previous owner inherited it from his father, an antique restorer, who some 40-odd years ago was commissioned to work on some damaged library panelling for a client. In the course of the restoration he discovered a sealed room in which the carpet had been stored, probably for at least 50 years, which explains its exceptional condition with an extraordinary full pile. It comes up during Old Masters Week aslot 127 in a sale titled The Pleasure of Objects: The Ian and Carolina Irving Collection.
A c1800 Cork Silver sugar bowl stamped STERLING by John Toleken. UPDATE: THIS MADE 800 AT HAMMER
This Irish 18th century Cork silver sugar bowl comes up as lot 5 at Hegarty’s timed and live auction on January 24. It is engraved with initials to one side and a family crest to the other and estimated at 800-900. The auction includes French furniture, silver, art and collectibles and the catalogue is online.
EARLY 20TH CENTURY DIAMOND DOUBLE CLIP BROOCH. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This early 20th century diamond double clip brooch comes up as lot 404 at O’Reilly’s auction of jewellery, silver and antiques at Francis St. in Dublin on January 24. There are 517 lots in total. The brooch illustrated here is set throughout with old cut diamonds mounted in white gold and is estimated at 7,700-8,000. The catalogue for the sale is online.
An interior shot of Elton John’s Peachtree Road penthouse. (Photograph Visko Hatfield, courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2024.) UPDATE: THE PIANO MADE $201,600
Where does Elton’s future lie? Let’s not go there. Suffice to say it is beyond Peachtree Road. The rock star is saying goodbye to his Atlanta condo at Park Place on Peachtree – acquired in 1992 – and Christie’s New York will sell the contents in a series of eight live and online sales beginning on February 21.He began collecting photographs in the 1990’s and there is work by pioneers like Andy Warhol, Helmut Newton, Robert Mapplethorpe, Peter Beard, Herb Ritts, Richard Avedon and more.Damien Hirst’s Your Song, signed and inscribed to Elton and David is estimated at $350,000-$450,000 (€319,850-€411,230) and a portrait of Elton John by Julian Schnabel is estimated at $200,000-$300,000 (€182,770-€274,150). There is fashion from his stage wardrobes including an ivory and gold piece designed by Annie Reavey c1971 and vintage Gianni Versace shirts and upholstery. The sale will offer tableware, decor, a grand piano, art glass, antiques and artefacts from his global travels. Live day sales will continue on February 22 and 23 and online sales open for bidding on February 9 and run to February 27 and 28.
A GROUP OF SEVEN SILK SHIRTS GIANNI VERSACE, CIRCA 1993. UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR $30,240
(photo left to right: Elizabeth Taylor’s Karl Lagerfeld caftan, Princess Diana’s Catherine Walker dress, Princess Grace’s Givenchy ensemble, Dior Galliano newsprint dress, tutu worn by Sarah Jessica Parker, Chanel ski suit and Paris Hilton’s Louis Verdad dress)
Princess Diana’s black silk velvet cocktail dress (estimated $100,000-$200,000) created by Catherine Walker sold for $325,000, over three times its original estimate of $100,000 at Julien’s in Hollywood. Worn to a private event it features an off-the-shoulder neckline, a princess-seamed bodice with boning, and bias-cut ivory satin accents sewn at the neckline, cuffs, and hem. A 1961 Givenchy ensemble worn to the White House by Princess Grace with Prince Rainier to meet President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy sold for $325,000 (original estimate: $250,000-$300,000). It consists of a “Kelly-green” wool, tweed sleeveless dress with a gathered skirt with an elbow-length sleeved tweed jacket worn with a white hat, which appears as flowers about to bloom. Sarah Jessica Parker’s three-tier tutu skirt worn in her iconic role of Carrie Bradshaw on Sex and the City turned sold for $52,000, six and a half times its original estimate of $8,000. The oyster white tulle three-tier tutu skirt with a matching satin waistband worn by Parker in her Emmy award winning role in the opening credits of the HBO series during its entire run from 1997-2004 was originally found for five dollars in a bin in New York by the show’s legendary costume designer Patricia Field. Another recognisable Sex and the City design made a sensational appearance when John Galliano for Christian Dior’s newsprint silk chiffon strapless gown with an asymmetrical ruffled flounce hemline hit the auction runway for $11,430 (estimate: $8,000 – $12,000). A Chanel 2001 nylon ski suit in pale green with silver hardware and logo zipper pulls that was featured in cream in the Chanel Identification winter ad campaign sold for $7,800 (original estimate: $1,500-$2,000)
FELIM EGAN – Untitled (2004) UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,200 AT HAMMER
This small untitled work by Felim Egan kicks off Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish art online auction which runs until January 22. The estimate for the oil on board is just 400-600 but so far it has attracted 18 bids and will go higher. When he died in 2020 Egan was regarded as one of Ireland’s leading contemporary artists. He represented Ireland at the Paris Biennale in France in 1981 and the Sao Paulo Biennial in Brazil in 1985 and won the Unesco international prize for painting in Paris in its inaugural year of 1993. He exhibited widely in Europe and his work is held in many international collections including the European Parliament and the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The catalogue for the sale is online.
A matched pair of Irish two-light mirror chandeliers. UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR $6,096
This matched pair of Irish white, cobalt and clear cut glass mirror chandeliers come up at Sotheby’s in New York on January 31 with an estimate of $12,000-$18,000. One is c1800, the other probably later. According to Sotheby’s this particular form of an oval mirror with a faceted glass and hanging girandole appears to be an Irish invention. Related mirror girandoles are in the collections of the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. They are part of the estate of Houston oil and diesel and trucking magnate Jimmy Younger, who died in 2022 aged 94. The drawings, paintings, sculptures, furniture, and works of decorative art from the collection encapsulate the varied artistic trends that defined European Mannerist and Baroque art of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He served on many boards including The National Gallery, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and The Blanton Museum of Art.
A replica of the facade of No. 10 Downing St. used in The Crown. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £10,880
A replica of the facade of No. 10 Downing St. comes up at a sale of sets, costumes and props from Series 1-6 of The Crown at Bonhams in London on February 7. Tbe estimate is €23,000-€35,000. There is a similar estimate on a replica of the ceremonial coronation garments worn by Claire Foy as The Queen in Series 1 Episode 5. There will be two auctions, an online sale just underway continues until February 8 and the live sale on February 7. Proceeds from the live sale will go towards establishing the Left Bank Pictures Crown Scholarship Progamme at Britain’s National Film and Television School.
A reproduction of Britain’s gold state coach inspired by the 1760 commission by Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings, for King George III is estimated at €35,000-€58,000.
An interior shot of Palazzo Volpi in Venice with contents to be sold by Sotheby’s in Paris.
Art mirrors life and the life it is currently mirroring is one of censorship and intolerable attacks on freedom of expression. The art world has not been immune as the Israeli-Hamas war has spawned a new wave of hidden and not so hidden persuaders who move to stifle anything other than total support for hardliners against humanity. Against this background of global uncertainty there is a pipeline of interesting international sales coming up in 2024. On offer already are a variety of covetable lots as diverse as the contents of a sumptuous Venetian palace on the Grand Canal to Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Archive to a Royal portrait by Velazquez and property from the life and career of Marilyn Monroe. We must assume that all this will be okay once there is nothing in these auctions – such as seeking a ceasefire in Gaza – that can be construed as anti-semitic.
A pair of stools or tabourets delivered to the Empress Josephine at Christie’s in New York
Sotheby’s will offer 200 lots from Palazzo Volpi in Venice at an auction in Paris on February 28. The collection will include palatial Roman tables, ballroom banquettes, art panels in the style of Jacopo Sansovino, Wagner sofas and Venetian mirrors. Julien’s will offer contents from the Playboy archives and from Marilyn Monroe at a three day sale in Los Angeles on March 28, 29 and 30. Highlights will include a Playboy Bunny silkscreen by Andy Warhol and a black and cellophane effect evening gown worn by Monroe in The Seven Year Itch. The Velazquez portrait of Isabel de Borbon is at Sotheby’s in New York on February 1.
A black and cellophane effect evening gown worn by Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch at Julien’s
Elvis Presley’s Gretsch guitar from his Las Vegas residency is among the lots at Christie’s Exceptional Sale in New York on the same day along with a pair of c1800 tabourets or stools delivered to the Empress Josephine at Chateau de St. Cloud.
It has the potential to be an exciting year with many records being broken at home and abroad. Yet in 2024 there are well founded accusations of censorship in an art world that has never been noted for its lack of freedom of expression. In New York board members and many art writers withdrew in protest after the editor of the prestigious Artforum magazine, David Valasco, was abruptly fired when a letter supporting Palestinian liberation was published which omitted to mention the victims of the Hamas attack on October 7. Advertisers like gallerist David Zwirner and the Chanel culture fund threatened to withdraw.The Saarland Museum in Germany cancelled an exhibition by Candice Breitz, who is Jewish and has condemned Hamas, saying they would not show works by anyone who does not recognise Hamas terror as a rupture of civilisation. The entire selection panel for the next curator of Documenta, a global art exhibition in 2027, resigned after disputes with administrators about the war. This mirrors the wider environment. Think of resignations like that of Harvard President Claudine Gay in a campaign led by the Wall Street Jewish financier Bill Ackman whose wife is a former member of the IDF. You do not need to be a soothsayer to know there will be more resignations. UPDATE: The first American retrospective of Samia Halaby (87), regarded as one of the most important living Palestinian artists, has been cancelled by officials at Indiana University.
The earliest posted envelope using a prepaid stamp comes up at Sotheby’s in New York on February 2. The Penny Black fixed to a Mulready envelope is estimated at $1.5-$2.5 million.
Introduced at the beginning of May, 1840, the Mulready, an ornate wrapper designed by William Mulready, and the Penny Black, the world’s first adhesive postage stamp, aimed to streamline and revolutionize postage prepayment. Both methods were an important new step in communication, eliminating the need fol carriers to handle money, reducing the risk of theft and forgery. This pre-paid envelope, the earliest known in existence, was successfully sent, firstly stamped with a Penny Black on May 2, then ingeniously repurposed, turned inside out, and remailed as a Mulready on May 4, the letter covered a combined journey of over 400 miles, all before the official start date for the stamp on May 6.
Before the introduction of postage stamps, mail in the United Kingdom was paid for by the recipient, a system that was associated with an irresolvable problem: the costs of delivering mail were not recoverable by the postal service when recipients were unable or unwilling to pay for delivered items. The adoption of prepayment, championed by Birmingham School teacher Rowland Hill, was a result of the Postage Reform Act of 1839, which abolished free franking privileges and established uniform penny postage rates. The subsequent Treasury Competition, offering a prize for the best prepayment solution, garnered over 2,600 entries, leading to the creation of new stationery and stamps. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
