The Ivy Bench by Sasha Sykes at de Veres. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,800 AT HAMMER
The sale of classic 20th century design furniture and Irish art at de Veres in Dublin on October 24 offers some cutting edge Irish design alongside a selection of major international designers like Mies van der Rohe, Ingmar Relling, Marceel Breuer, Charles and Ray Eames, Rolf Benz and Ligne Roset. The Ivy Bench by Irish sculptural furniture maker Sasha Sykes is an acrylic and resin piece from an artist who explores the material language of the natural world and is influenced by the Irish landscape. The most expensively estimated lot, at 70,000-100,000, is a west of Ireland painting by Paul Henry of the Maam Valley.
A PAIR OF LATE LOUIS XV GILTWOOD AND WHITE-PAINTED FAUTEUILS – Price Realized: $6,221,000 Louis Delanois, Joseph-Nicolas Guichard, Jean-Baptiste Cagny, supplied to Madame Du Barry for Château De Louveciennes, Circa 1770-1771
The landmark Rothschild auction series at Christie’s in New York totalled $62,656,516. There was strong demand for decorative arts of all categories and price levels, and underscoring the enduring power of the Rothschild provenance on both sides of the Atlantic. The four sales averaged 280 percent sold hammer above low estimate, and 98 percent sold by lot. Millennial buyers accounted for an average of 15 percent of bidders and buyers across the week, and bidders and buyers from 40 nations participated. Christie’s broke the record for European 18th century seat furniture and then broke that record in the very same sale. Records were also set for Hispano-Moresque and Bernard Palissy earthenware as well as for 17th century flatware.
The series began with a sale of masterpieces. The leading lot was Gerrit Dou’s A young woman holding a hare with a boy at the window which made $7 million. A pair of late Louis XV gilt walnut fauteuils a la reine by the 18th-century French furniture maker Louis Delanoisset the record for 18th century European chairs making $4,406,00, and then shortly after that this record was broken again by a Delanois pair of late Louis XV giltwood and white-painted fauteuils, supplied to Madame Du Barry for her Château De Louveciennes, Circa 1770-1771, which made $6,221,000, the second-highest price ever for European chairs of any era.
An inlaid ormolu mounted side table at Woodwards. UPDATE: THIS MADE 480 AT HAMMER
Collectors have much to choose from in a variety of upcoming sales up and down the country. Prime lots at Woodwards in Cork on October 21 include an inlaid ormolu mounted side table, a set of Queen Anne chairs with hoof feet, a walnut serpentine fronted desk, a William IV teapoy and a Havana cigar humidor. A Bechstein baby grand piano in perfect condition is a feature lot at Aidan Foley’s two day live and online sale at Kilcolgan, Co. Galway on October 21 and 22 at noon on each day. Meantime more than 500 lots will come under the hammer at R.J. Keighery’s sale in Waterford on October 16. Feature lots include a Victorian dining table with five leaves, a four piece Irish silver tea and coffee set, two 19th century ebonised burr walnut side cabinets with ormolu mounts and some Waterford Crystal chandeliers. In Bandon Hegarty’s will offer a selection of antique furniture, Asian ceramics, bronzes, silver and jewellery in a live online sale on the evening of October 17. The catalogue is online.
A Bechstein baby grand piano at Aidan Foley’s Galway sal
Longboats from the Vikings Valhalla tv series. UPDATE: ONE OF THE LONGBOATS MADE 8,000 AT HAMMER, THE OTHER WAS UNSOLD
If a full sized replica of a Viking longboat is what you really really want then Victor Mee’s two day sale in Belturbet and online on October 17, 18 and 19 is the place to be. Not one but two such longboats feature in the auction each estimated at €10,000-€20,000. With 1,348 lots on offer in a remarkable sale drawn from BG Salvage yard at Naas the diverse range features a Buccaneer fighter jet pilots ejector seat and cockpit cover, bronze ship horns converted to table lamps, retro chrome and upholstered swivel chairs, a chemist and opticians sign from Disney’s “Disenchanted”, hand painted wooden panels from the film Braveheart and whatever you are having yourself.
A pair of 18th century painted pine doors with carved panels. UPDATE: THESE MADE 900 AT HAMMER
Salvage comes in all shapes and forms so there is plenty to explore here, for both interior and exterior use.Along with offering basic salvaged items BG Salvage is a resource for film, tv and stage productions in search of props and decor. The working longboats, measuring 46 feet and 49 feet respectively, are from the filming of the TV drama series Vikings Valhalla. Also from this series is an oriental table decorated with fo dogs and 19th century benches. There is a French gilded gesso room originally from a French chateau and a chemist and opticians signs from Disney’s Disenchanted. Among the film props are painted panels from Braveheart, a gothic angel from Reign of Fire, a timber and glass shop front from Penny Dreadful. There is a big selection of more than 400 furniture lots including gilded armchairs from Carton House, stained pine armchairs from the Tudor TV series, bar stools with leather upholstered seats and retro chrome swivel chairs.
A Brunswick style ebonised bar UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
There is a Brunswick style ebonised bar counter with mirrored back and glass panels, a painted hardwood shop cabinet with eight glazed doors above a bank of 40 drawers, a pair of 18th century painted pine doors, 19th century pitch pine doors with copper and glass panels, bronze sculptures, bronze lamps with reeded panels, a heavily carved tribal throne chair, blacksmith forged railings, a 19th century Irish pine kitchen table and a good selection of unusual architectural items from marbleised plaster Corinthian columns to onyx pedestals and a fibreglass wall panel depicting a Knight Templar and a wooden porthole window. Viewing at BG Salvage in Naas is from noon to 5 pm today and tomorrow.
A pair of chrome swivel chairs. UPDATE: THESE MADE 900 AT HAMMER
MIES VAN DER ROHE – A BARCELONA DAY BED UPDATE: THIS MADE 14,000 AT HAMMER
Designed in 1930 this Barcelona day bed by Mies van der Rohe comes up as lot 6 at de Veres art and design auction on October 24 in Dublin. The sale features around 200 lots of classic design Danish and Italian furniture and lighting by some of the major names of the 20th Century including Mies van Der Rohe, Ingmar Relling, Marcel Breuer, Charles & Ray Eames, Rolf Benz and Ligne Roset. The Barcelona day bed shares the same simple elegance as the iconic lounge chair of the same name and is estimated at €4,000-€6,000.
PAIR OF CHINESE FAMILLE-VERTE BISCUIT FIGURES OF PARROTS, KANGXI (1662 – 1722)
This pair of Kangxi parrots with late 19th century ormolu mounts made a hammer price of €32,000 over a top estimate of €8,000 at the James Adam Country House Collections sale at today. The mounts for the Famille Verte biscuit figures are stamped MB for Theodor Millet. A pair of 1776 elliptical side tables to a design by Wyatt made €50,000, a George III three pillar extending dining table made €19,000, a pair of capriccio Italian landscapes by Willem van der Hagen made €22,000 over a top estimate of €3,000, an Irish George III hall table made €55,000, Lady Nugent’s Hunter by John Ferneley snr made €32,000, an Irish mahogany rectangular side table made €17,000, an 18th century Gisburne Park Rules board made €9,000, The Salmon Leap at Leixlip by Thomas Roberts made €26,000, and a portrait of William Hoare Hume of Humewood by Robert Lucius West made €20,000.
The Blessington Commode attributed to John Kirkhoffer was bought prior to the sale by the National Museum of Ireland.
This bronze statue of the Emperor Napoleon was the top lot at the opening day of the James Adam Country House Collections sale today. It made a hammer price of €8,000 over an estimate of €2,000-3,000. The statue is on a grey marble bow front plinth with imperial gilt bronze appliques to the front and sides. An oil on canvas signed and dated by Joseph Sempill, Belfast 1873 made €4,800 over a top estimate of €4,000 and a c1800 Thames Valley Windsor chair made €4,600 over a top estimate of €4,000. This was a timed online only sale.
The Country House Collections sale continues live and online at St. Stephen’s Green at 11 a.m on October 10.
Pair of George II Carved Giltwood Armchairs, Circa 1760. UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR $152,400
This pair of Irish George II carved giltwood armchairs, one bearing the label R Stahan and Co., come up at Sotheby’s in New York on October 17 as part of a sale of Classic Design: Furniture, Silver and Ceramics. They are estimated at $100,000-$150,000. The chairs may have been commissioned by Charles Moore, 1st Earl of Charleville, an Irish peer and wealthy owner of large estates in County Limerick and Charleville Forest in County Offaly, who died without issue in February 1794, the estates passing to his nephew John Bury in 1764, who would himself pass away only six months later, leaving his newborn son Charles William as heir. Charles would become an Irish MP and later peer and was made Earl of Charleville 2nd creation in 1806. He used his large fortune to commission the architect Francis Johnston (d.1829) to erect a new house on the Charleville estate between 1800 and 1812 in the form of a medieval castle. Following the death of the 5th Earl without issue in 1875, Charleville Castle and its contents passed to his sister Lady Julia, who had married Captain Kenneth Howard-Bury (1846–1885), and their son Charles would inherit the estate in 1931.
Charles Kenneth Howard-Bury was a colourful character from the waning generations of the Anglo-Irish elite. Following his education at Eton and Sandhurst he joined the army and was sent to India, where he developed a taste for exploration, learnt Hindi and Urdu and went on tiger and crocodile hunting expeditions. After distinguished service in Flanders during World War I he returned to India and went on the first British expedition to Mount Everest, where he described wolves’ footprints in the snow that were mistranslated as belonging to an ‘Abominable Snowman’, thus giving rise to the expression for the first time. On his return to Ireland he resided at Belvedere House, a lakeside Palladian villa designed by Robert Cassels in 1740 inherited from his cousin Charles Brinsley Marlay in 1912. Whilst serving in the army during World War II, Howard-Bury met the RAF pilot Rex Beaumont (1914-1988) who became his companion and settled in Ireland after the war. A former Shakespearean actor informally known as ‘Sexy Rexy’, Beaumont and Howard-Bury became prominent local figures and entertained lavishly, their guests reputedly including Princess Grace of Monaco, the Crown Prince of Sweden, Charlie Chaplin and Elizabeth Arden.
The sale includes two pieces attributed to William Moore, a c1780 demi lune side table ($30,000-$50,000) and a c1790 demi lune commode ($50,000-$80,000).
An Irish George III Harewood, Tulipwood, Burr Yew and Sycamore Marquetry Demilune Commode attributed to William Moore of Dublin, Circa 1790. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $20,320
IRISH MAHOGANY FOLD TOP CARD TABLE, C.1760. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,000 AT HAMMER
This antique Irish card table comes up as lot 331 at the second day of the James Adam annual Country House Collections sale on October 10. The estimate is €1,000-€2,000. The first day is a timed online auction while day two will be live and online from the Adams saleroom at St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin. The 757-lot auction draws together period furniture, paintings, silverware and decorative objects from some of Ireland’s finest country houses as well as from more modest collections but with the emphasis on quality and rarity. Viewing at Townley Hall near Drogheda gets underway on October 7 and the catalogue is online.
A PAIR IRISH RED WALNUT AND PARCEL GILT MIRRORS ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN BOOKER, SNR. UPDATE: THIS LOT WAS UNSOLD
Collection of 11 Midleton Very Rare Irish Whiskeys, 2014 to 2023. UPDATE: THESE MADE 8,000 AT HAMMER
Irish art and rare Irish whiskeys, wine, antiques furniture and collectibles will come under the hammer at Dolan’s timed online sale which runs until the evening of October 9. The collection of Midleton’s shown here is estimated at €8,000-€10,000. Dolans has found strong demand for such lots from around the world. The catalogue for the sale is online.
