A collection of Communion tokens, derived from the Irish wars of religion of the mid 1600’s, comes up at a sale of Coins, Tokens and Historical Medals at Dix Noonan Webb in London on July 6 and 7. Amassed over many years by Delmas Parker, an American, the collection comprises 72 lots, totalling 455 pieces, mostly from the northern counties like Antrim, Down and Derry. Most of the towns and villages in Northern Ireland are represented in the collection. Protestants assembled in large church meetings, which served, not just as religious meetings, but also as political gatherings. To keep track of just who was attending these larger meetings, which were subject to activities of political spies and people that did not belong, communion tokens came into being. They were given to known local congregants by the priest or pastor. The tokens would be surrendered at the larger church meetings. They acted as passes, allowing members from smaller congregations to assemble in larger churches and not be deemed political spies or unrepentant sinners.
Lot 1075 is a collection of communion tokens from Co. Antrim. UPDATE: THESE MADE £240 AT HAMMER
A presentation pair of Armada pattern silver claret jugs are included in a collection of Irish silver at Dreweatts online auction in Newbury, Berkshire on July 7. Made by John Smyth and Sons of Grafton St. they were presented to Dublin Lord Mayor George Moyers in 1881. The estimate is £3,000-£5,000. Other Irish pieces in the sale include a George III silver salver, a George II cream jug, a mid 18th century silver bowl and a twin handled silver cup by Robert Calderwood.
Irish Victorian silver Armada pattern claret jugs by John Smyth, Dublin. UPDATE: THESE MADE £6,000 AT HAMMER
MORE than 300 lots will come under the hammer at Hegarty’s live online auction in Bandon on July 4. Among them are a pair of late 19th century silver tazzas made in Dublin c1892 with the maker mark MH. They are estimated at 700-1,400. The sale features antique furniture, jewellery and collectibles. The catalogue is online. UPDATE: THESE MADE 550 AT HAMMER.
The sale of Fine Asian Art at James Adam in Dublin got off to a rollicking start this afternoon. Bidders on various internet platforms, Drouot and on the telephone vied for Fine Art from China and Himalaya on the first day of the sale. The most expensively estimated lot of the auction, Lot 18 – a Chinese School scroll with the signature of Giuseppi Castiglioni, known as Lang Shining made a hammer price of €110,000 over an estimate of €10,000-€100,000. A yellow glazed Hundred Shou Qing Dynasty cup with an estimate of 500-700 made a hammer price of 3,800 and most lots so far have attracted considerable competition. The auction is continuing.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for June 19, 2021)
THIS SCROLL BY GUISEPPE CASTIGLIONE SOLD FOR 110,000 AT HAMMER
This pair of 19th century bookcases with brass mounts comes up at Victor Mee‘s June Decorative Art sale which gets underway online at 2 pm today. Lot 95 has an estimate of €1,000-€2,000. Among other lots of note in this two day auction are; a 19th century kitchen table in elm; an oak bank of 15 shop drawers; a pair of upholstered easy armchairs in the Howard style; a Georgian four poster bed; a cast iron gothic bench and a pair of moulded sphinxes.
THIS very large coral model of a standing lady with fan and lotus sprig comes up as lot 88 at the James Adam online sale of Fine Asian Art today and tomorrow. It dates to early 20th century China and is estimated at €20,000-€40,000. Fine Arts from China and Himalaya comes under the hammer today. Tomorrow it is the turn of fine arts from Vietnam, South East Asia, India, the Middle East, Japan and Korea.
A large untitled iron sculpture by John Burke, exhibited outside the Crawford Gallery for many years, comes up at Sheppards annual Glantelwe Gardens sale in Durrow on June 30. The catalogue is online and in person viewing gets underway today. One of the most significant figures in the history of sculpture in Ireland the pioneering John Burke, who died in 2006, introduced the use of steel and welding process into an Irish world of sculpture dominated by carved marble and cast bronze. Like any artist ahead of his time his work is not always understood. Two of his best known pieces are the Red Cardinal at the Department of Health in Dublin and the large untitled piece at the Wilton Roundabout in Cork. A native of Clonmel, John Burke studied at the Crawford in Cork and the Royal Academy in London and travelled widely before setting up a workshop and studio near Blarney. He taught at the Crawford and numbered acclaimed artists like Vivienne Roche, Eilis O’Connell and Maud Cotter among his pupils. He made large and small pieces which are held in public and private collections. It is rare to see his work coming up at auction and this piece is estimated at €80,000-€120,000.
Gardens have become much more important in the lives of many of us during lockdown and in this sale Sheppards has no less than 522 lots of architectural ornament, garden statuary and about 30 lots of floral themed jewellery. There is something for every garden and every budget from a half life size bacchanal fountain by Robin Buick (€25,000-€35,000) to a 19th century terracotta chimney pot (€100-€150).
John Burke – Untitled. UPDATE: THIS MADE 110,000 AT HAMMER
The global search for collectors of rare precious objects marks one way in which the auction world has adapted very quickly to changed circumstances. In 2021 there is nothing particularly unusual about the fact that an Irish firm –James Adam – has already held a Paris preview for a sale of Fine Asian Art due to take place in Dublin on June 29 and 30.The Paris view is not entirely unconnected to the fact that Adams has created its own Asian department and appointed Thibault Duval as its Dublin based head. M Duval was latterly head of the Asian Art Department at Drouot in Paris. This appointment marks a recognition of sorts that if major auction houses in Ireland are to survive and prosper in the 21st century they must open out to the new global realities and view Brexit as an opportunity rather than a threat.
Qing Dynasty russet and white jade group. UPDATE: THIS MADE 5,000 AT HAMMER
A company like Sheppards in Durrow, Co. Laois with a track record of breaking records for Asian objects and then breaking them again has amply demonstrated that if you can produce the goods the buyers will come.
Adams has some interesting goods to offer in its sale on Tuesday and Wednesday week. Notable consignments include a collection of rare Chinese antiques from the estate of Carlos Alfredo Tornquist Altgelt (1885-1953), a hound scroll painting inscribed with the signature of Jesuit painter Giuseppe Castiglione, also known as Lang Shining, from the collection of Juan Carlos Katzenstein (1925-2018) who served as Ambassador to the Holy See and a wooden ruyi scepter from the collection of Nadezhda, widow of the Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov. There is a famous portrait of Madame Rimsky-Korsakov by Franz Xaver Winterhalter in the collection of the Orsay Museum. In Chinese Buddhism a ruyi can be a ceremonial scepter or a talisman symbolising power and good fortune in Chinese folklore.
Chinese School scroll by Giuseppe Castiglioni known as Lang Shining (1688-1766). UPDATE: THIS MADE 110,000 AT HAMMER
There are Chinese jades last seen at auction at Drouot in 1925 and a jade horse formerly in the collection of Baron Pierre DeMenasce who contributed to an exhibition at the V & A Museum in 1975. A collection of Chinese Republican Period porcelains and an 18th century Meiping vase will feature among the 550 lots on offer.
The sale at Sotheby’s of the manuscripts, first editions, letters and bindings that make up the legendary Honresfield Library – assembled with passion by self-made Victorian industrialists William and Alfred Law at the turn of the 20th century – has been postponed. The Honresfield library contains a treasury of English and Scottish literature including the most important Bronte material to come to light in a generation.
Working together with the UK charity Friends of the National Library (FNL), Sotheby’s has agreed to postpone the commencement of the auctions to allow for negotiations for the entirety of the library to be acquired by a consortium of institutions for the nation. The FNL has launched an appeal with an additional donation from its own resources and will be working over the next months to fundraise with the public and private philanthropists. Institutions involved include the Bodleian Libraries, the British Library, The National Library of Scotland, Brontë Parsonage Museum, Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, Brotherton Library (University of Leeds), Abbotsford (The Home Of Sir Walter Scott) and Jane Austen’s House, among others.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for May 25, 2021)
Walter Scott manuscript of The Lay of the Last Minstrel
This diamond and sapphire cluster ring is lot 245 at O’Reilly’s of Francis St., Dublin sale of fine jewellery, watches and silver which runs online until June 18. It is estimated at 2,000-3,000. The sale of 581 lots is now underway. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,000
