Killarney wood work table at Hegarty’s. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
A busy week of auctions, fairs and exhibitions on the home front is book ended by Art Source at the RDS this weekend and the National Antiques and Vintage Fair at Limerick Racecourse next weekend. At Art Source Gormleys will feature an exhibition by Damien Hirst and the work of around 160 artists will be on display.
Online auctions by O’Donovan’s in Newcastlewest and Aidan Foley in Kilcolgan, Co. Galway will take place respectively today and tomorrow. Sunday will also see a sale by Sean Eacrett in Ballybrittas, Co. Laois. On Monday it will be the turn of Milltown Auction Rooms, Dundalk. Among the prime lots at Hegarty’s sale in Bandon on Wednesday is a 19th century Killarney work table. Viewing for Fonsie Mealy’s sale of Irish and International art on Wednesday gets underway in Castlecomer on Monday. A fine Yeats, re-discovered Aran Island works by Sean Keating and works by John Shinnors, John Behan, Pauline Bewick and Daniel MacLise will feature.
The National Antique Fair at Limerick Racecourse on November 19 and 20 will bring more than 80 dealers from right around Ireland. Organiser Robin O’Donnell will exhibit at his own fair for the first time.
Robin O’Donnell will offer this Irish Regency rosewood teapoy at the National Antique Fair.
A total of 31 bids later the seven bidders competing for this Joseph Walsh Studio piece at the James Adam Mid Century Modern sale today saw it knocked down for a hammer price of 9,500 over an estimate of 2,000-3,000. The table is Ash was purchased from the Joseph Walsh Studio and came complete with an official certificate, Niamh Barry’s Touch Vessels failed to find a buyer, a pair of c1950 valet stands by Fratelli Reguitti made 8,500, a pair of lady chairs by Marco Zanuso made 7,000, a set of eight Danish Model 62 rosewood chairs by Niels Otto Moller made 15,000, a teak Spade chair by Finn Juhl made 5,500, an oil on panel portrait of a young girl by Harrington Mann made 11,000 (1864-1937), a charcoal drawing by Alice Maher entitled Lovers made 5,500 and Rhapink Nudge by Richard Gorman made 5,000.
SIDEBOARD BY ARNE HOVMAND OLSEN. UPDATE: THIS MADE 5,000 AT HAMMER
THIS rosewood sideboard by Arne Hovmand Olsen comes up as lot 37 at the James Adam Mid Century Modern sale in Dublin on November 8. The c1960 model for Mogens Kold, Denmark is titled MK 5II. The estimate if 5,000-8,000. This is a timed online sale which features furniture, art and collectibles and the catalogue is online.
A pair of George III marquetry and giltwood console tables attributed to Ince and Mayhew at Christie’s. UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR £163,800
A pair of George III marquetry and giltwood side tables probably supplied to the Earls of Kerry in 1770 and attributed to Ince and Mayhew will be a highlight at Christie’s sale of the collection of Lord and Lady Weinstock in London on November 22. Estimated at £100,000-£150,000 (€116,230-€174,340) the tables are among a selection of works with strong Irish provenance in the sale. Arnold Weinstock was a leading businessman who transformed GEC into one of the most successful companies of the post war era. A keen racehorse owner he maintained strong Irish connections through Ballymacoll Stud in Co. Meath, which he owned, and where his 1979 Derby winning horse Troy was bred.
Among lots with Irish links are a set of four George IV gilt bronze wine coolers almost certainly commissioned by John Browne, 1st Marquess of Sligo, is estimated at £20,000-£30,000 (€23,000-€34,000); a pair of silver tazze by Joseph Walker, Dublin 1792 (€3,500-€5,700) and a pair of Irish giltwood mirrors (€23,000-€34,000).
A set of four George IV wine coolers from Westport House at Christie’s. UPDATE: THIS SET MADE £40,320
CONTINENTAL KINGWOOD GILT BRASS MOUNTED SPECIMEN TABLE. UPDATE: THE CLOSING BID WAS 4,000
This continental specimen table comes up as lot 356 at Mullen’s timed Classic and Contemporary Interiors sale which runs until November 6. The top is inlaid with Breccia, Verona, Lapis-Lazuli, Malachite, Blue John various other examples above a concave spreading column on a platform base. The estimate is 4,000-6,000. The catalogue for the sale of 833 lots is online and it will start to finish from 6 pm.
Touch Vessels by Niamh Barry at Adam. UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD
With notable exceptions like Eileen Grey and Joseph Walsh Irish designers tend to get overlooked when it comes to auctions of design. Upcoming timed online sales of design at de Veres in Dublin on November 1 and at Adams on on November 8 feature the sort of designer pieces from the middle of the last century and later that are increasingly in vogue here.
There is a wide selection of Danish, Italian and French work available but where are the modernist Irish designers? Artists like Felim Egan and Cecil King, couturier Sybil Connolly whose designs were used on porcelain by Tiffany and Co. and craft makers like the Dixon Carpet Company of Oughterard, established as V’Soske Joyce in 1957 were ahead of the curve. Did they flourish in isolation? Hardly. We have designers, craftspeople and innovators in plenty who remain relatively unknown or overlooked. Half a century ago, when the Kilkenny Design Workshops was in its infancy, the international view was that the Irish produced only remarkable writers and poets. That theory has been debunked enough to make one wonder whether as yet unheralded Irish designers are waiting to be discovered. Innnovative designers of every sort feature at crowd pulling events like the annual Crafts Fair at the RDS – the next one runs from November 30-December 4.
Intrusion by Cecil King at de Veres. UPDATE; THIS MADE 2,200 AT HAMMER
One of the most expensive pieces at Adams is from an Irish artist that few of us have heard of. Niamh Barry’s “Touch” vessels – hand raised, mirror polished, patinated and brushed solid bronze – are estimated at €20,000-€30,000. After graduating in ceramics from the NCAD in 1991 Niamh Barry turned to metalworking and began translating the natural landscape into metal forms. After decades of perfecting her craft critical acclaim followed her representation by Todd Merrill, the Manhattan dealer in 20th century design. Then her debut at Art Basel Switzerland led to a steady stream of commissions. Her work has been exhibited in London, New York, Switzerland, Dubai, Toronto, Miami and at a solo exhibition at the National Museum of Ireland.The catalogues for the sales at Adams and de Veres feature stylish design pieces for every nook and cranny of the contemporary home and are online. There will be viewing at de Veres this Bank Holiday weekend and viewing gets underway at Adams on November 5.
ANTIQUE OAK CARVED JACOBEAN CHAIR. UPDATE: THIS MADE 110 AT HAMMER
This oak Jacobean chair comes up at the fine interiors sale at Hegarty’s online in Bandon on November 1. The estimate is just 100-200 and includes cushions and covers in upholstery fabric from Haggastrand, Sweden. The online auction features Swedish furniture and Middle Eastern rugs from the private collection of a Swedish diplomat who retired to Ireland after serving in several countries in Asia, the Middle East and in the US and items from a Cork collection.
JEAN-ANTOINE WATTEAU (1684-1721) – Three head studies of a girl wearing a hat made: $3,420,000
With global participation the sale of the Ann and Gordon Getty Collection at Christie’s made more than $150 million. This firmly established the collection, sold across ten auctions which concluded in New York yesterday among the top three fine and decorative art sales at Christie’s. It ranks alongside the collections of Yves St. Laurent and Pierre Berger and that of Peggy and David Rockefeller. Records were set for Mary Cassatt’s Young Lady in a Loge Gazing to Right ($7,489,000); Jacques-Émile Blanche’s Vaslav Nijinsky in ‘Danse Siamoise’ ($2,700,000); Jules Bastien-Lepage’s Portrait de Sarah Bernhardt ($2,280,000) and Jean-Antoine Watteau, Three Head Studies Of A Girl Wearing A Hat (work on paper) ($3,420,000).
One of a set of eight Chinese Qing watercolours. UPDATE: THESE MADE 32,000 AT HAMMER. THE FOLDER MADE 27,000.
Lot 290 at Sheppard’s Gentleman’s Library sale online at in Durrow on October 27 is a set of eight Qing watercolours. They depict figures at various pursuits within a walled garden. The set is estimated at €8,000-12,000. Lot 289 is a folder of 24 Qing watercolours depicting indigenous peoples. There is a similar estimate on this. The sale, which is on view in Durrow today, offers 368 lots in total with an afternoon session devoted to musical instruments headed by some Froggy Bottom guitars.
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for October 22 and October 14, 2022)
French Empire library chair at Sheppards. UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,200 AT HAMMER
Wonderful antique furniture, art including a folder of 24 Qing watercolours, unusual collectibles like a pair of Howdah flintlock pistols and customised guitars all feature at the Gentleman’s Library sale at Sheppards in Durrow on October 27. A late 19th century Louis XVI style inlaid commode with breccia marble top by G. Durand in the style of Jean Henri Riesener is, at €15,000-€20,000, the most expensively estimated lot. Other furniture lots include an 18th century library pole (€500-€800), a 19th century French terrestrial globe (€1,500-€2,500), a French Empire library chair (€4,000-€6,000), two George III Dublin brass bound peat buckets (€2,500-€2,500), a Regency library bookcase (€5,000-€8,000), a leather Chesterfield couch (€2,000-€3,000), a Regency rent table (€1,500-€2,500), an Irish 18th century bureau (€800-€1,200), a French bureau plat (€4,000-€6,000), various Gainsborough chairs and bureaux and plenty of other pieces to choose from.This is an auction to browse through and savour at leisure, either at viewings in Durrow which get underway today or online. On offer is 367 lots from The Smithwick Collection and other clients. A c1688 oval portrait of James FitzJames Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde is attributed to Sir Godfrey Kneller (€3,000-€5,000). Other art pieces include a folder of 24 Qing watercolours (€8,000-€12,000), four oils on canvas of a Fete Galante after Watteau (€10,000-€15,000), Irish School portraits, sporting pictures, engravings, lithographs and drawings.There are black basalt Wedgwood lamps and urns, a 17th century stucco bust of an unidentified Roman after an original from Herculaneum, Presbyterian minute books from 1734-1834, a Killarney wood specimen cabinet, mantle clocks, a c1800 pair of Howdah flintlock pistols by Charles Moore of London amd a Burmese arched harp on stand.Among 69 lots of musical instruments are Froggy Bottom customised guitars and guitars by C.F. Martin and Co., Collings, Taylor and other makers. There is a concert harp by Sebastian and Pierre Errard, a Challen baby grand piano, a Paragon tenor banjo and a French violin.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for October 14, 2022)
Portrait of James FitzJames Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde attributed to Sir Godfrey Kneller. UPDATE: THIS MADE 7,700 AT HAMMER
