 |
 |
THIS Edwardian corner cabinet comes up at Hegarty’s fine interiors sale in Bandon on March 29 with an estimate of just 200-300. The auction offers a selection of 270 lots of antique furniture, art, silver, jewellery and rugs. The catalogue is online.
This Chinese Export lacquered work box and writing stand has provenance by repute to the Drogheda born Irish actress Eliza O’Neill, Lady Wrixon-Becher (1791-1872). Regarded as the foremost tragic actress on the London stage and worthy successor to Sarah Siddons she earned a reputation for meanness, possibly because she had a large family to support. Thackery included this trait in his portrait of Irish actress Emily Costigan in his novel Pendennis. At the height of her fame she returned to Ireland in 1819 and concluded her career. Eliza married Sir William Wrixon-Becher (1780-1850), improving landlord, MP for Mallow and an amateur actor. Mother of three sons and two daughters she spent the greater part of her retirement at her family home at Ballygiblin, Co. Cork. The workbox comes up at Bonhams Home and Interiors sale in Knightsbridge on March 29-30 with an estimate of £600-£800 (€714-€953). UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
A Regency cheval mirror with satinwood crossbanding is among the lots of interest at Matthews sale of the entire contents of Rath House in Dundalk online from Kells, Co. Meath on March 20. The sale of 1,117 lots includes antique furniture, paintings, silver and collectibles. There are tables, sets of chairs, chests of drawers, bookcases, Oriental porcelain, Waterford Crystal, Victorian landscapes and portraits and all sorts of collectibles among a wide variety of lots. Viewing is now underway and the auction will be online.
The sale is a prelude to a number of auctions next week and the week after. Purcell Auctioneers in Birr will offer a 1908 limited edition Collected Works of W.B. Yeats (update – hammer 2,400) in verse and prose as a highlight of their sale of Irish and world interest books on March 23. A very rare Treatise on the Art of War by Roger, Earl of Orrery from 1677 comes up too (update – this made 1,250 at hammer). Works by Richard Brydges Beechey, Roderic O’Conor and William Orpen’s portrait of James Hugh Smith-Barry will highlight Fonsie Mealy’s sale of Irish and International Art on March 23. There are 236 lots on offer. A 48 hour timed online auction of jewellery by O’Reilly’s of Francis St. in Dublin runs from March 23-25.
You never know what you might come across at an auction of house contents. Which is why they are brimful of interest. This copper deep sea divers helmet with the insignia of the US Navy Mark V full size is one of the more unusual collectibles at Matthews sale of contents of Rath House, Dundalk on March 20. There are 1,117 lots including antiques, art, silver and collectibles. The helmet is lot 47 and is estimated at just 120-180.
The first highlights from the collection of Hubert de Givenchy were unveiled by Christie’s today. They include Woman Walking by Alberto Giacometti (€20-30 million); Passage of the Migratory Bird by Joan Miro (€2.5 – €3.5 million) and Faun with a Spear by Pablo Picasso (€1.5 – 2 million). With over 1,200 lots dating from the 17th to the 20th century, this collection features a remarkable gathering of nearly 800 pieces of French and European furniture, including many masterpieces of classical furniture from the French Regency period to the Neoclassical period and onwards.
In the decoration of his homes, Hubert de Givenchy always considered the furniture in constant dialogue with the works of art, both ancient and modern. Alongside numerous major sculptures and paintings by old masters such as Hubert Robert, the collection includes several masterpieces of modern art: from the couturier’s friend and collaborator Alberto Giacometti’s Woman Walking, a key painting by Joan Miró never before presented on the market, several works by Alberto’s brother, Diego Giacometti and more contemporary works by Claudio Bravo and François-Xavier Lalanne.
Already underway in Palm Beach, a selection of works from the collection will be previewed in several cities including New York, Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Sales will take place in Paris from June 14-17 and online from June 8-23.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for February 2, 2022)
These impressive sandstone urns, each 220 cm high, come up at Mullen’s timed classic and contemporary interiors sale which runs in Bray until March 13. The ovoid tapering urns, hung with ribbon tied floral festoons, are flanked by figural handles above a waisted sockel with square base. The estimate is 8,000-10,000, making this the most expensively estimated lot in an auction of 656 lots which is on view from March 10. Lot 2, an Arts and Crafts oak hat, coat and stick stand, is modestly estimated at 100-150. The catalogue is online.
This Irish 19th century provincial pine dresser made a hammer price of 1,900 at Hegarty’s in Bandon on March 6. Decorated at the top with dentil moulding and open heart shaped fretwork it was described as a rare and fine example of 19th century Irish woodwork and cabinet making.
This newly restored dwarf Georgian linen press is lot one at Hegarty’s auction in Bandon on March 6. There is antique furniture, art and jewellery pieces on offer including a yellow snake and moonstone pendant necklace, an Art Deco style diamond and ruby ring and a neatly sized secretaire bookcase with string inlay. The linen press is estimated at 900-1,200. The catalogue is online.
THIS Irish Regency convex mirror within a moulded frame surmounted by a carved eagle above a pierced stylized scallop shell sold for a hammer price of 5,200 at the opening day of Sheppard’s four day sale of contents from Erindale House today. It had been estimated at 5,000-8,000. An antique Irish spinning wheel made 550 at hammer and other hammer prices so far include the following: large gothic panelled peat buckets (1,700), neo classical marble chimney piece (4,200), pair of 19th century brass lamps (1,700), Edwardian Sheraton satinwood inlaid cabinet (1,400), Killarney wood chess set (3,600), Martin Finnin Abstract Study (3,300), large Donegal carpet (2,200), pair of brass bound campaign chests (1,500), 19th century kingwood games table (1,500), 19th century French ormolu clock (2,400), Celtic phoenix pattern runner (1,900) and a pair of brass bound peat buckets (2,600).
A large carved oak bookcase believed to have been made for the Cork Exhibition of 1902-03 is a centrepiece at Lynes and Lynes online sale in Carrigtwohill, Co. Cork on March 5. Contents from two house clearances which had been in storage and property from a religious order of nuns feature in this auction. The bookcase, which contained a note saying that it had been purchased by a Sr. Teresa, is estimated at €1,000-€1,500. Another piece almost certainly from the Cork Exhibition is a long oak coffer (€200-€400) with a carved front panel marked 1902.
Late Victorian and Edwardian Cork was eclipsed by the War of Independence and all the horrors it brought but the Great Exhibition of 1902, repeated in 1903, was the most comprehensive show the city ever mounted. Fitzgerald Park is among the legacies it brought to the people of Cork.The auction offers a wide variety of antique furniture, art and collectibles. A circular dining table with a diameter of 6’4″ is estimated at €3,000-€4,000 and there is an estimate of €300-€500 on a pair of reliquary stands believed to be from Mount Mellary. A late 19th century ships washbasin is estimated at €100-€200 and an American rug is expected to make €200-€300. A large 17th century painting of The Madonna and Child in a carved giltwood frame is estimated at €1,000-€2,000, a watercolour by Alexander Williams of Dromana on the River Blackwater is estimated at €100-€200 and a folding triptych with biblical scenes is estimated at just €60-€100. The catalogue is online.
