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.
Graham Knuttel and David Linley with their collaborative project. UPDATE: THIS MADE €40,000 at hammer
One of Graham Knuttel’s most striking creations is a chess set made in collaboration with the furniture designer and manufacturer David Linley. The limited edition (of 12) square table with marquetry chessboard top designed by Linley and silver and bronze chess pieces created by Knuttel is lot 5 at the Graham Knuttel II sale at Adam’s in Dublin on February 10. The four square table is supported by a tapered column on a walnut base, with a marquetry chessboard. The white chess pieces are made of solid silver, the black pieces are made of bronze. The estimate is €50,000-€80,000. It is the most expensively estimated lot in a sale of mostly paintings with some sculptures with estimates from €300 up. 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.
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%.
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.
River Run Poppies by Kenneth Webb at Sheppards. UPDATE: THIS MADE 15,000 AT HAMMER
Old favourites and new names combine to make an interesting selection at art sales by Sheppards in Durrow, de Veres in Dublin and the newly formed Lot 100 which is based in Lismore in the coming week.
An arresting view of River Run Poppies by Kenneth Webb is the catalogue cover lot for Sheppard’s evening sale of Irish and international art on December 11. Choices here range from Donald Teskey’s take on Kilkee, a dramatic abstract composition by the Norwegian artist Thorvald Hellesen, an image of Samuel Beckett by Louis le Brocquy and houses by Mary Lou, a self taught painter from the Glens of Antrim.
Abstract Composition by Thorvald Hellesen at Sheppards. UPDATE: THIS MADE 26,000 AT HAMMER
Her contribution is an oil on board of a village in the west of Ireland in a bold, graphic style against a mountainous backdrop. A vibrant studio still life by Gladys MacCabe reflects a modernist style while a pen and ink drawing by Sir William Orpen was once in the collection of Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones. A Walled off Hotel box set by Banksy, a lithograph of Queen Beatrix from the Reigning Queen series by Andy Warhol, a screenprint of birdflight by Braque and a signed etching by Renoir of a seated bather are among the international lots on offer. The sale is on view in Durrow and the catalogue is online.
An Italian tinted mirror and tiered hall table at de Veres. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
The Christmas art and furniture online auction at de Veres on December 10 at 2 pm is headed by The Children of Lir, an oil on board by Patrick Collins. Artists in the sale include Peter Collis, Arthur Armstrong, William Carron, Yvonne Moore, Felim Egan, Mark Francis, Anne King Harman,Markey Robinson, Gerard Dillon and Patrick Scott.
There is a range of 20th century design furniture and period pieces by Hicks including a Georgian style semi-elliptical side table, a set of Dutch 18th century style dining chairs and a pair of compartmental wall mirrors. An Italian tinted and mirrored hall table and a pair of 1970’s black leather Swedish easy chairs cater for a contrasting taste in furniture.
An original and vintage portrait of Fellini’s Amarcord at Lot 100. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
A large scale, rare vintage poster for Federico Fellini’s Amarcord is among the highly collectible lots at the online auction by Lot 100 which runs until next Tuesday (December 9). Amarcord is set in his hometown of Rimini in the 1930’s and the extraordinary characters that surrounded him. Fellini commissioned the Italian painter Giuliano Geleng to create a portrait of some of the people and events that shaped his young life in this film classic.
There is art by Eithne Jordan, Joan Miro, Damien Hirst, Richard Long, Patrick Scott and a photographic portrait of Martin McDonagh by Steve Pyke in an eclectic selection that can be seen online and is on view this weekend in Lismore.
Michael Angelo Hayes (1820-1877) – The Kildare Hunt 1858. UPDATE: THIS MADE 50,000 AT HAMMER
An 1858 painting of the Kildare Hunt by Michael Angelo Hayes will lead Fonsie Mealy’s winter fine art and antique sale in Castlecomer on December 3 and 4. Estimated at €40,000-€60,000 it is part of a range of items celebrating our equestrian heritage including the Tralee Races Cup, the Blennerhassett Plate and the Kilkenny Hunt Cup.
The Hayes painting is a large group portrait outside Bishopscourt House near Straffan, Co. Kildare. It depicts the Earl of Clonmel, Lord Cloncurry, the Marquis of Drogheda, Thomas Connolly, Captain Colthurst, Sir John Power and many more identifiable figures.
More than 1,000 lots of antique furniture, art and collectibles are to be auctioned. There is a Faberge link gold bracelet, a selection of gold coins, a 19th century dining table on four pods, a Peel P50 one person commuter car from the early 1960’s, a 1963 Morris Minor, a pair of French Empire four branch candelabra, a specimen marble table and a silver ladle by Samuel Johns, Limerick among the leading lots. The catalogue is online.
A vintage Peel P50 one person commuter car. UPDATE: THIS MADE 8,000 AT HAMMER
Two mid-19th century Indian chairs from Elveden Hall, Suffolk
These mid-19th century Indian chairs from Elveden Hall in Suffolk – former home of India’s last Sikh Maharajah, Duleep Singh (1838-1893) – date from his period at the house. Crafted in Bombay in c. 1850 they remained at Elvedon after his death, when ownership changed to the Guinness brewing family. Elveden Hall was purchased by Edward Cecil Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh (1847-1927). At auction for the first time in over 40 years the chairs will be offered in London by Olympia Auctions on November 26 with an estimate of £8,000-£12,000. UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR £8,000
