This image is of a c1905 mourning locket and a late 19th century citrine seal. From an Irish family it comes up at Chiswick Auctions jewellery sale in London on May 14. The sale contains mourning jewellery from the Bligh and Brownlow families of Co. Meath.
John Bligh, Fourth Earl of Darnley (1767-1831) was an Irish peer and cricketer who took part in 27 first-class cricket matches between 1789 and 1796. His wife was Elizabeth Brownlow and they had seven children. Mourning jewellery was popular in Georgian and Victorian times. Georgian jewellery featured skulls, coffins and other symbols of death. This changed in Victorian times to memory pieces often containing hair of the dead person. The locket and seal here are estimated at £80-120.
Around 130 couture and ready-to-wear items from the wardrobe of ’60’s icon and award-winning film star Claudia Cardinale will come up at an online sale by Sotheby’s from June 28 to July 4. They were all created by the leading Italian designers of the day including Emilio Schuberth, Roberto Capucci, Irene Galitzine, Barocco and Balestra, as well as the Parisian house Nina Ricci, which regularly dressed the actress during the 1960s.
Among the leading items is a long gown in fuchsia organza embroidered with floral motifs by Livia, worn by Cardinale for her first appearance at Cannes Film Festival in 1961 (estimate: €3,000-€4,000). There is a sheath dress entirely covered in black sequins and trimmed with pink and blue flowers, by Nina Ricci (Haute Couture collection, autumn-winter 1963-1964), which the actress modelled at the 37th Academy Awards in Los Angeles in 1965 as a presenter alongside Steve McQueen (estimate: €6,000-€8,000).
Contents from Westport House, Luttrelstown Castle, Castle Durrow and Malahide Castle are among the lots at Sheppards two days sale Durrow next Tuesday and Wednesday. More than 1,200 lots will come under the hammer at auctions scheduled to begin at 10.30 am and 2 pm on Tuesday and Wednesday. There is a French ormolu corner cabinet from Westport House, a brass lantern from Luttrelstown Castle, a 19th century tapestry from Malahide Castle with lurchers and the castle in the background and a pair of William IV ebony curtain poles from Castle Durrow. Among the other lots from these sources are a pair of Irish mahogany side tables, a 19th century pine farmhouse table, an 18th century blunderbuss by Rigby of Dublin (3,000-5,000), a 17th century Italian School oil of The Last Supper, a pair of bronze Egyptian figures by Emile Louis Picault (1833-1915) and a 19th century classical urn.
One of a pair of Irish mahogany side tables UPDATE: THIS LOT MADE 4,400 AT HAMMER
Mid Century Modern is the title of the auction at James Adam in Dublin at 6 pm on April 30. This is a sale of 123 lots of 20th century furniture, lighting, glass, mirrors, sculpture and art with work by Nevill Johnson, Felim Egan, John Shinnors, Alice Maher, Sean Scully, Mark Francis and others. The catalogue is online.
Cecil King (1921-1986) Nexus II UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,000 AT HAMMEREAMES SOFT PAD OFFICE CHAIR, by Vitra UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 1,400
The Great Irish Interiors auction at Sheppards in Durrow on April 30 and May 1 will see more than 1,200 lots come under the hammer. There is a very good across the board selection at all price levels. There is garden furniture and statuary, art, silver, antique furniture, Oriental porcelain, brassware and a variety of collectibles. Adding even more interest is the fact that the sale will include lots from Westport House, Luttrellstown Castle, Castle Durrow and Malahide Castle. The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:
Panelling from the Brittanic – sister ship of Titanic – will come up at auction in Killenard, Co. Laois on May 1 and 2. Rediscovered after their use in a Dublin city-centre cinema until 1972, both the first-class lounge and the second-class library panels are expected to generate international interest at the sale by Niall Mullen antiques at The Heritage golf resort.
OAK PANELLING FROM BRITANNIC UPDATE: THE PANELLING SOLD FOR A COMBINED TOTAL OF 366,000 – EACH SET SOLD FOR 183,000.
Britannic’s yard number, S-433, was one of the most significant identifying factors in these panels. The same number, 433, is to be the lot number for the panelling. Lot 433 is the second-class library, panelled and framed in maple, handsomely carved in a Colonial Adams-style design and includes a magnificent mahogany bar fronted with copper with a guiding price of €200,000 – €300,000. Lot 433a is the first-class lounge panelling, framed in richly carved polished oak and carved in Louis XV style, with a guiding price of €250,000 – €350,000.
They were designed by Arthur Durand, who was heavily involved in all three Olympic Class liners and who had also worked on the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Launched in 1914, the Britannic was intended to be superior to her twin the Titanic, which sank in 1912. During World War I the ship was requisitioned as a hospital ship and had the fittings removed. It hit a mine and sank in the Aegean Sea in 1916. The Britannic’s stored luxurious furniture and fittings were auctioned in Belfast in 1919.
The panels will come up on May 1 when the first 600 of 1,500 lots in total will come under the hammer. The sale will also include contents from the Merrion, Burlington and Shelbourne Hotels in Dublin, an Anglo Indian curiosity cabinet originally at Lissadell House, maritime lots and items from embassies in Dublin.
Ballyconneely in Connemara is the venue for an Easter Sunday art and antique auction at 2 pm tomorrow. Dolan’s art auction house will offer nearly 400 lots at a sale timed to coincide with the busy Bank Holiday weekend in the west of Ireland. Dolan’s holiday auctions in Connemara are always crowd pullers and this one features art by Kenneth Webb, Hughie O’Donoghue, Edward Delaney, Sean Keating, Harry Kernoff, Sean McSweeney, George Campbell, Norah McGuinness, Tony O’Malley, Charles Harper, Mark O’Neill, Carina Scott, Arthur Maderson and many more.
There are some vintage toy cars by makers like Triang and Dinky, a Hornby train set, a set of three antique ebony elephants with ivory tusks, ebonised and inlaid cabinets, antique furniture including easy chairs, dining chairs, a sofa table, long case clocks, rugs, porcelain, silver and glass. Estimates for the art on offer range from a couple of hundred euro to 12,500, the top estimate for an orange cat tapestry by Graham Knuttel. This is inscribed “Tapisserie D’Aubusson Felletin” and the estimate is 7,500-12,500.
Brooks Emporium, Baggot St. Lower by John BrobbelStanding Figures by Edward Delaney
A live shell from 1895 found in a suitcase sent for auction in Ballybrittas, Co. Laois was removed by gardai and bomb disposal experts. It was in one of four suitcases of historical memorabilia. Auctioneer Sean Eacrett noticed the live shell with primer and head still intact. The cases had been bought in a jumble sale more than 35 years ago and had remained in the attic at Marshalltown Cottage, Castledermott, Co. Kildare until last week. The entire contents of the cottage go under the hammer at Ballybrittas on April 27.
An Irish Library – the sale at James Adam in Dublin at noon next on April 17 – reflects the sort of weird and wonderful idea of the library in an Irish country house. This is as repository for all sorts of exotica. This interesting sale offers a range of books, furniture, art, taxidermy and militaria. Ten coloured engravings by Giovanni Ottaviani of Raphael’s Loggia, an outstanding pair of celestial and terrestrial globes, a pair of Irish carved side tables, a magnificent George II secretaire and a Killarney davenport are among the prime lots There is art by Richard Carver, Edwin Hayes and Erskine Nicol and taxidermy includes antlers, a wild boar, a lion and a bear cub. The catalogue is online.
A pair of George IV celestial and terrestrial globes by Newton UPDATE: THESE MADE 30,000 AT HAMMER
With everything from a portrait of Lord Tracton to the Dennis silver tray which recounts in Victorian detail the sterling efforts of a magistrate in Wicklow to repress insubordination along the borders of Wicklow, Carlow and Kildare in 1822 the Fortgranite house contents sale by Fonsie Mealy next Tuesday offers much to tempt collectors. Among more than 850 lots are a Qing Dynasty cabinet, war medals from both World Wars, a Boer war letter from Winston Churchill and a Qing Dynasty cabinet. Fortgranite in Baltinglass, Co. Wicklow was the home of the Dennis family for three centuries. They were originally Swifts, related to Jonathan Swift, Dean of St. Patrick’s, satirist and creator of Gulliver’s Travels, who changed their name to inherit an estate at Tracton in Cork. This inheritance was highlighted on these pages last Saturday through lot 428, letters patent on vellum from King George III granting the title Baron Tracton to James Dennis, son of a timber merchant of Kinsale, who died childless in 1782.The lavishly decorated Dennis silver tray, made in Dublin in 1822, was presented by local bigwigs to Thomas Stratford Dennis: ” …. for his conspicuous Zeal and active intrepidity as a Magistrate of their County And for his successful exertions in repressing the spirit of insubordination and contempt for the Laws which prevailed along the borders of the Counties of Wicklow Carlow and Kildare in the year 1822″. That year marked an ongoing economic slump following the end of the Napoleonic Wars, a disastrous potato crop failure and agrarian unrest.Lot 358 is a tooled gilt binding published in London in 1741 and estimated at 1,000-1,500. By Lewis Riccoboni it is an historical account of the Italian, Spanish, French, English, Dutch, Flemish and German theatres. The carved hardwood Qing Dynasty cabinet, purchased in Hong Kong, is estimated at 2,000-3,000. A portrait of Esther Johnson in the style of James Latham is estimated at 7,000-10,000. She was Dean Swift’s Stella and rumoured to have been his wife.
UPDATE: The sale realised 660,000 on the hammer and was 95% sold. The top lot was an Irish George II hunt table which made 25,000 at hammer.
A 1741 edition of the history of theatres in Europe UPDATE: THIS MADE 620 AT HAMMER: THE DENNIS SILVER TRAY SOLD FOR 12,000
