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Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) – VISAGE TOURMENTÉ
22 carat gold repoussé plate Diameter: 16 3/8 in. Courtesy Christie’s Images Lt.d, 2013. (Click to enlarge).  UPDATE: THIS MADE £193,875

THOSE unsure about whether to invest in art or gold might find an answer to their prayers at Christie’s.  How about a solid gold plate designed by Picasso?  Exactly such a unique piece will highlight a new annual sale of Picasso Ceramics just launched at Christie’s in South Kensington.

The auction will take place on June 18 and follows the sale of the Madoura Collection in 2012, which realised over £8 million.

A highlight of the sale is Visage Tourmenté. This 22 carat gold plate is estimated at  £100,000-£150,000.  Picasso created only a limited number of designs for precious metals. Of the 19 designs made in collaboration with celebrated goldsmith François Hugo, 20 were produced in silver and only one in gold. Visage Tourmenté was bought by the current owner directly from François Hugo in the early 1970’s and has not been seen in public for over 40 years.

The auction  features 172 lots and includes unique pieces and works in editions.  Estimates range of £100 to £150,000.

UPDATE:  The gold plate made £193,875 and was the top lot in an auction that was 100 per cent sold.  The sale attracted buyers from around the world.

Joyce, James
Ulysses (pp. 136-137). Paris: Shakespeare and Company, 1924.  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $43,750.

Joyce, James
Anna Livia Plurabelle Part I from “Work In Progress.” Cambridge: The Orthological Institute, [ca. 1929.). UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $5,000.

A second lot features Joyce reading Anna Livia Plurabelle Part I from “Work in Progress” Cambridge: The Orthological Institute c1929.  It contains a typed and autographed label pasted over His Master’s Voice pictorial label.  Further highlights of the sale include rare dust-jacketed copies of F Scott Fitzgerald’s first two books and a copy of The Great Gatsby with the author’s notes transcribed. (Click on either image to enlarge it).

An 18th century Cork silver brandy saucepan by William Clarke..  (Click on image to enlarge).

A c1750 Irish George II library chair made 2,400 at hammer at the St. Fin Barre’s auction.

This large c1730 Cork silver brandy saucepan by William Clarke sold for 8,000 at the St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral fundraising auction by Sheppards at Fota in Cork. It weighs 678 grams.

Antique, traditional and contemporary fireplaces will come under the hammer at an auction in Dublin on June 8.  Matthews Auctioneers of Capel  St. will offer the collection of Niall Woods, the founder, in 1980 of Belle Cheminee. The sale will include 500 lots from the shop at 106 Capel St. and from the home of Mr. Woods in Co. Meath.  There is over 100 fireplaces and 60 over mantles as well as fireplace accessories and garden ornaments.  Estimates range from 100 to 35,000.    Viewing is at Belle Cheminee from June 6.  Here is a small selection.

The auction of contents from Belle Cheminee, Capel St., Dublin.

Some of the appetizing lots on offer.

Pages from the manuscript showing a portrait of James Joyce on the lower left. (Click on image to enlarge).

A heavily corrected manuscript page. (Click on image to enlarge).

One of the most important 20th century working manuscripts remaining in private hands – Samuel Beckett’s first novel, “Murphy” – will come up at Sotheby’s in London on July 10. Thought capable of re-defining Beckett studies it is estimated at £800,000-£1 million.

Handwritten in six exercise books between August 1935 and June 1936 in Dublin and London whilst Beckett was undergoing psychoanalysis, the manuscript, initially entitled “Sasha Murphy” is heavily revised throughout.  The hundreds of cancellations and revisions bear witness to Beckett’s struggle to give form to his artistic vision.  The novel is characterised by exuberant language and is the most comic of all Beckett’s works, although it also has deep philosophical roots. The plot concerns the eponymous Murphy’s attempts to find peace in the nothingness of the “little world” of the mind without intrusion  from the outside world. Spurred on to find employment by his prostitute girlfriend, Murphy finds some tranquillity working in an insane asylum before accidentally immolating himself in his garret.

The notebooks are also full of lively doodles hinting at the author’s preoccupations during this period, including recognisable portraits of James Joyce, Beckett himself, and Charlie Chaplin (later an influence on the tramps in Waiting for Godot), as well as astrological symbols and musical notations.

Peter Selley, Sotheby’s Senior Specialist in Books and Manuscripts commented: “This is unquestionably the most important manuscript of a complete novel by a modern British or Irish writer to appear at auction for many decades. I have known about the existence of this remarkable manuscript for a long time – as have a number of others in the rare book business, and some Beckett scholars – but it has only been glimpsed, tantalizingly, by a few chosen individuals during that time. The notebooks contain almost infinite riches for all those – whether scholars or collectors – interested in this most profound of modern writers, who more than anyone else, perhaps, captures the essence of modern man. The manuscript is capable of redefining Beckett studies for many years to come”.

A GEORGE II SILVER COFFEE-POT, MARK OF PAUL DE LAMERIE, 1738 (£3.5-4.5 million) © Christie’s Images Limited 2013. (Click on image to enlarge).  UPDATE: IT WAS UNSOLD

THE most important coffee pot ever at auction comes up at Christie’s London in The Exceptional Sale on July 4.  The Rococo masterpiece by Paul de Lamerie (1688–1751) – the greatest silversmith working in Britain in the 18^th century – is expected to become the most valuable piece of English silver ever to be sold at auction. The George II silver coffee-pot was created in 1738, for a successful merchant and is now estimated at £3.5-4.5 million. It was the centrepiece of the British Silver exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum in New York.

A copper plate etching by Rembrandt dating from 1642 is among the  more unusual lots at O’Reilly’s sale of antique and vintage jewellery, silverware, watches and paintings at Francs St. in Dublin on May 22.  St.Jerome in a Dark Chamber measures 151 x 173 mm and was with Harcourt’s Gallery in San Francisco in 1983.  Here is a small selection from the auction.

REMBRANDT VAN RIJN, ”St Jerome in a Dark Chamber’, copper plate etching 1642, 151 x 173 mm (800-1,200).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,200

A diamond brooch modelled as a bee (700-800).

A c1940’s diamond plaque bracelet (20,000-22,000).

A diamond cluster pendant set with old cut stones.