A 19th century inlaid foldover card table UPDATE: THIS MADE €300 AT HAMMER
The auction by Mullen’s of Laurel Park, Bray on February 1 kicks off a busy week of sales in Ireland. Estimates for furniture are reasonable and there is no shortage of attractive antique pieces like a 19th century walnut and kingwood foldover card table (€400-€600), a continental display cabinet (€500-€700), a Georgian mahogany chest on chest (€500-€800) and a vintage Beidermeier style kingwood and walnut pedestal desk (€400-€600).
The most expensively estimated lot, from a total of 633, is a Georgian mahogany bureau bookcase with an architectural pediment and mirrored doors (€1,500-€2,000). There is value in pieces like an early carved oak court cupboard (€300-€400), an embossed leather five fold screen (€200-€300), a set of ten dining chairs (€500-€800) and a nest of quartetto tables (€300-€400). An Irish four piece silver tea set, made in Dublin in 1973, is estimated at €800-€1,200).
The auction is on view from 10 am to 4 pm today and tomorrow. The catalogue is online and the sale kicks of at 6 pm.
A 1973 Irish silver tea service UPDATE: THE CLOSING BID WAS €1,950
A pair of 19th century Japanese censers. UPDATE: THESE MADE €150 at hammer
Viewing gets underway in Castlecomer today for Fonsie Mealy’s Making Room sale which will take place over two days on February 4 and 5. There are 633 lots in total including this pair of 19th century bronze Japanese censers of elephant form with pagodas. They are each 13 inches in height and the estimate is €250-€350, The catalogue is online.
Chinese Chippendale Mirror UPDATE: THIS MADE 650 AT HAMMER
The estimate on this Chinese Chippendale carved wood and gilt mirror surmounted by an eagle is €1,200-€2,200. It comes up as lot 15 at Gormley’s auction of contents from St. Martin’s, Trim, Co. Meath on January 27 at 5 pm. Around 480 lots will come under the hammer. St. Martin’s is the house where actor Mel Gibson stayed while Braveheart was being filmed in Ireland. On offer is the unique collection of Meath publican, hotelier and businessman Gerry Brady, who hosted the cast and crew. On offer is a 60 year collection of furniture, art, porcelain, glass and pub memorabilia. The catalogue is online.
Late 18th/early 19th century Italian marble model of the Warwick Vase UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £6,033
This Italian marble model of the Warwick Vase – an ancient Roman marble vase excavated from Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli around 1771 – is at Woolley and Wallis on January 20 with an estimate of £4,000-£6,000. It was previously owned by Earl-Bishop Frederick Hervey, (1730-1803), Bishop of Cloyne, Country Cork Ireland and later the Bishop of Derry, until his death. The vase was housed at the estate he built, the historic Downhill House in Northern Ireland, and remained there until 1950 when the house was sold. It was then given as a gift to prominent Belfast solicitor and connoisseur Peter Rankin (1943-2015), who amassed a large carefully curated private collection and became a leading figure in the preservation and promotion of architectural and cultural heritage in Northern Ireland and beyond. He was a founder member of the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society.
The auction by R J Keighery in Waterford on Monday January 12 includes a lifetime collection of clocks, railwayana and maritime items. A longcase clock with brass dial by Alex Gordon, Dublin has an estimate of €2,000-€3,000 but estimates for many others are lower than this. A 19th century Siebbe Gorman 12 bolt diving helmen is estimated at €1,500-€2,500 and an 1894 timetable for the Dingle and Tralee light railway has an estimate of €6,000-€8,000. There is a selection of old enamel road signs and the catalogue is online.
IF what you really really wanted somehow did not arrive then Victor Mee’s December decorative interiors sale on December 30 might provide the answer. A full size snooker table complete with lights, cue holder, cues, a set of six caricature paintings, snooker and billiard balls and a plaque with the rules of snooker are on offer. Lot 293A is estimated at 2,000-4,000. The catalogue for the sale is online.
Gustav Klimt – Blumenwiese (Blooming Meadow) sold for $86.9 million in November
Sotheby’s announced projected consolidated sales of $7.0 billion for 2025, a 17% increase on 2024. Auction sales rose 26% year-over-year to $5.7 billion, with sales accelerating significantly in the second half of the year, up 59% versus the second half of 2024. Private sales reached $1.2 billion, down slightly from the prior year. Both the Global Fine Art and Luxury categories posted strong gains, with Global Fine Art sales increasing 15% to $4.3 billion and Luxury sales up 22% to $2.7 billion.
The company sold the most valuable collection of the year for the sixth time in the last seven years – the Leonard A. Lauder Collection – and sold seven of the year’s top ten auction works globally. The company inaugurated its new global headquarters at the Breuer with six white-glove (100% sold) sales totaling $1.17 billion, including the highest total for Modern art sold in one week at Sotheby’s ($843 million), the highest value work of art ever sold at Sotheby’s (Gustav Klimt’s Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer (Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer) for $236.4 million) and the largest Contemporary Day sale ever.
Sotheby’s executed its most valuable single-owner sale ever staged by Sotheby’s in London and in Europe with Pauline Karpidas: The London Collection realising a combined total of $137 million.
Arnout Tholinx, Inspector (circa 1656) made £3.1 million in December, a new world record for a Rembrandt print.
With projected global sales of $6.2 billion in 2025 Christie’s is ending the year on a high note. Auction sales accounted for $4.7 billion (up 8%), private sales for $1.5 billion according to figures released today by Christie’s. No less than 17 works sold privately for more that $15 million and the top three works sold by Christie’s this year were sold privately.
“The energy has returned to the saleroom, online, and across the market. We’ve seen renewed confidence worldwide, reflected in these outstanding results. Our selling performance has remained consistently strong throughout the year: a solid first half followed by an even more competitive second half, delivering exceptional, market-leading outcomes for our clients” said Bonnie Brennan, Christie’s ceo.
The Americas amounted for 41% of sales, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) 36% and Asia Pacific for 23%.
EARLY 19TH CENTURY CORK GLASS COMPANY DECANTER. UPDATE: THIS MADE 360 AT HAMMER
This highly collectible c1800 glass decanter made by the Cork Glass Company is at Hegarty’s Christmas auction on December 17. There are three milled rings to the neck and the base is stamped Cork Glass Company, which operated from 1782-1818. The estimate is €200-€400. The sale offers a collection of silver among a wide variety of lots.
Haystacks (c1930) by Sir William Rothenstein UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Haystacks by Sir William Rothenstein (€5,000-€7,000), probably painted around 1930 when he was principal at the Royal College of Art, will lead the At Home online sale at Adam’s in Dublin on December 17. Like his close associate Orpen, Rothenstein was an official war artist. This work was in the collection of the late Bruce Arnold whose Mirror to an Age published in 1991 is one of the the foremost biographies of Orpen.
Everyone, everywhere always needs something for the home. This sale offers no less than 496 lots of art, furniture, silver, delft, porcelain, lighting, brass, rugs, mirrors and a variety of collectibles. From Irish silver tea and coffee services to a 19th century gilt overmantle mirror, a pair of mahogany framed Georgian style humpback couches and a set of brass wall sconces to Oriental carpets, a c1913 Louis Vuitton travel trunk, a 20th century Spanish silver Egyptians and Nubians chess set and a pair of 19th century Italian decorative panels the auction delivers no shortage of lots to let the imagination soar.
One of a pair of Georgian style couches UPDATE: THE PAIR MADE 6,000 AT HAMMER
There are portrait miniatures, an Irish yew and elmwood Windsor armchair, a French giltwood pier mirror, a Georgian wingback armchair, a slope front walnut and satinwood inlaid bureau, a pair of Crown Derby porcelain peacocks, various selections of cutlery and silver condiments and a Chinese ebonised and gilt eight leaf dividing screen to choose from too.
One of the more expensively estimated lots is a set of four portrait prints after Sir John Lavery published c1922 by Hartnell and Co., Dublin. The subjects, with artists proof blindstamp to the lower margin and manuscript inked signature by Lavery, are Arthur Griffith, Cardinal Logue, Eamonn J Duggan and Archbishop Mannix. The estimate is €4,000-€6,000.
A Spanish Egyptians and Nubians chess set UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 4,200
The catalogue cover lot is a striking late 19th century oil on canvas of Breton Women in Woodland by an unknown artist. A fine Louis Quinz style ormolu and kingwood marquetry bureau plat with leather top, loop handled drawers complete with brass sabot feet to protect the lowest part of the leg is estimated at €800-€1,200. A Louis Quinz style ormolu mounted mahogany longcase clock has an estimate of €1,500-€2,500.
The estimate is just €300-€500 for a pair of sang de boeuf porcelain vases, fitted as lamps but without shades. Furniture represents good value and there is a selection of small tables and chairs. A Victorian walnut kidney shaped writing table (€600-€1,000), a Sheraton Revival inlaid satinwood side cabinet (€1,000-€2,000), a Georgian brass mounted side cabinet (€400-€600) and an Irish George III longcase clock with brass dial by Gregory Upington, Cork (€1,000-€2,000) offer an indication of the value to be found. The auction is now on view at Adam’s on St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin.
A Louis Quinz style bureau plat. UPDATE: THIS MADE 850 AT HAMMER.
