Decorative and fine arts from the London and country homes of Mrs. Henry Ford at Eaton Square and Turville Grange, Oxfordshire will come under the hammer at Christie’s on April 15. The sale is led by Impressionist works including a self portrait by Edouard Vuillard. The decorative arts are led by a Louis XV ormolu-mounted Chinese black-lacquer commode by Laurent Felix and a George III Pembroke table attributed to Thomas Chippendale. Silver includes a George VI silver cigar box inset with grass from the sod cut by Edsel Ford in 1929 when breaking ground for the Dagenham Ford motor factory.
Louis XV c1755 black lacquered commode. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £137,500. THE SALE REALISED £3.98 MILLION
The ricochet effect of the pandemic in our beckoning post lockdown world is a cause for speculation. Many new online buyers at auction houses are tech savvy youngsters. This much needed infusion is a sign of hope for the future of the trade. Whether they incline to online buying post lockdown, or turn up in person to bid is anyones guess. Auction action online is now normal, as distinct from new normal, and collectors can and do expect to range far and wide in pursuit of more variety and price points in any given week than ever before. So what next? In the immediate future there is more than enough art, antique furniture, collectibles and historical memorabilia at auction in Ireland to keep us all occupied and out of trouble.
Image of August Strindberg by Louis le Brocquy at Morgan O’Driscoll. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
An oil by Arthur Maderson (€6,000-€8,000) and a set of Cork 11 bar dining chairs (€1,500-€2,000) are among the highlights at Woodwards sale in Cork on April 17. More than 300 lots will come under the hammer. Among them are a Louis XV bonheur du jour (€1,000-€2,000), a George II card table (€750-€1,500), a Queen Anne walnut chest on stand (€1,000-€1,600), a five piece cast iron garden suite (€1,600-€2,200) and a Georgian walnut card table (€700-€1,500).
The range of antique furniture at Woodwards includes a walnut davenport, an Edwardian bow fronted sideboard, a William IV rosewood card table, a Regency tip top table, a Georgian drop leaf dining table, a three tier dumb waiter, an Edwardian knife box and a selection of cellos and violins. There is a silver owl pepperette by George Richards, an ormolu figured mantel clock, a mariners brass theodolite, an Art Deco dancing figure and a Cork Distillers Irish Whiskey sign.
A George II walnut chest on stand at Woodwards.
The April version of the new monthly timed online auction at Hegarty’s features over 300 lots and closes on April 11. Highlights this time include a coloured limited edition lithograph by Mark Chagall of a stained glass window, a Royal Humane Society Award given in 1904, an oil of the Great Mosque, Cairo by Peter Sunderland, a collection of antique optometry equipment and an electric machine for nervous diseases patented in 1854.
Among the 196 lots that Morgan O’Driscoll will offer at his Irish and International online art sale on April 19 are two major head studies by Louis le Brocquy of August Strindberg and William Shakespeare from 1980 and 1981 respectively. Each one is estimated at €100,000-€150,000. In a catalogue note Peter Murray recounts how, one day in 1964 at a time when the artist was feeling dissatisfied and unable to find a way forward, he chanced to visit the Musee de l’Homme in Paris was inspired by a selection of Polynesian painted skulls. The Celts visualised the head as a kind of magic box housing the spirit and le Brocquy was directed towards the idea of encapsulating a lost human presence rather than a living portrait subject. A three day house clearance auction by Matthews of Kells gets underway online at noon today. On offer are contents from the Co. Louth home of the late Professor Kieran Taaffe, head of international affairs at Dublin Institute of Technology and a lifetime collector. More than 2,100 lots will be sold including Irish and International art, old silver, antique furniture, rugs, gilded mirrors, books, oriental items and collectibles.
Meantime the Co. Cavan auctioneer Victor Mee will offer a selection of 1,206 lots at an online Easter interiors and historical sale on Aril 13 and 14.
With everything from a wonderful landscape by John Butts to suits of armour to watches designed for the space age there is plenty to interest collectors at auctions open for online browsing in Ireland over this Easter Weekend. The library collection, a timed online sale at James Adam in Dublin running to April 14, offers art, antique furniture and bookcases, old maps, miniatures, Qing Dynasty bronzes, a carved and stained birdcage modelled as a two storey house and a pair of Georgian upholstered armchairs once at Ashford Castle in a wide ranging sale of 227 lots.
John Butts (c1728-1764) – A Mountainous Wooded Landscape. UPDATE: THIS MADE 15,000 AT HAMMER
Christofle serving dishes, a Georgian style dining suite by Harrods, a bespoke silver canteen by Carrs of Sheffield, a pair of Eames chairs, sculpture and maritime art by S Francis Smitheman (1927-2016) will come under the hammer on April 7. Sean Eacrett, the Ballybrittas, Co. Laois based auctioneer will offer contents from 35 Abington, Malahide in an online sale of 383 lots.
Meantime three centuries of watches and clocks from the Age of Reason to the Age of Steam to the Space Age are on offer at a timed online evening sale by Mullens of Laurel Park, Bray on April 11. A pocket watch made in Dublin in the 1730’s by Thomas Coote, the earliest watch in the sale, is estimated at €700-€1,000. There are 12 examples of American railroad grade precision watches which came into being following an investigation into a head on collision 40 miles west of Cleveland in 1891. Nine men died when the fast mail hit the Toledo express on a single track near a siding. The investigation centred on the engineers watches, one of which was found to be four minutes slow. Space age travel with massive G forces and zero gravity presented new challenges and Max Hetzel devised the Bulova Watch Company “Accutron” win 1960, marketed as the Space Age watch. There are five of them in the sale with estimates of €80-€300.
A c1780 George III pocket watch by William Ross, Cork at Mullens
Lot 89 at Adams, A Mountainous Wooded Landscape by John Butts (c1728-1764) is estimated at €15,000-€20,000. Influenced by Claude Lorraine and Nicolas Poussin the Cork artist is regarded as one of the finest early Irish landscape painters. Among other more expensive lots is a c1780 Irish satinwood pier table (€10,000-€15,000), a giltwood and marble topped side table (€5,000-€8,000), a river landscape by the Dutch artist Albert Meyering (1645-1714) (€10,000-€15,000) and an Irish Regency serving table (€5,000-€7,000). A Victorian snooker score board by J. Thurston and Co. London has an estimate of €500-€800.
The maritime art of Francis Smitheman at Sean Eacrett’s sale is headed by three oils with estimates of €6,000-€8,000 and there are also some limited edition prints. The mahogany Harrods dining suite is estimated at €8,000-€12,000 and the silver canteen is estimated at €8,000-€10,000. There is a selection of Art Deco pieces, African sculptures from Cape Town, attractive garden furniture and some large terracotta urns.
There will be a three day online house clearance auction with 2,100 lots by Matthews of Kells on April 10, 11 and 12. On offer are contents from Ardlaois, Blackrock, Co. Louth, home of the late Professor Kieran Taaffe who was head of International Affairs at Dublin Institute of Technology. There is Irish and international art, old silver, antique furniture, rugs, gilded mirrors, books, oriental items and collectibles. The catalogue is online.
Lot 100 is an Irish mahogany turf bucket (1,000-1,500). UPDATE: THIS MADE 980 AT HAMMER
Fine and decorative art from the collection of entrepreneur, collector and philanthropist Sydell Miller will come up at Christie’s two marquee weeks in New York. A selection of 20 works of art will highlight the 20th and 21st Century Week from May 11-14, and a dedicated auction on June 10 entitled will feature masterworks of 18th Century French furniture and Design. Her Palm Beach ocean front house called La Rêverie was a true achievement in collecting – a vision of art and design that was the result of Mrs. Miller’s avant-garde eye and connoisseurship, complemented by the renowned talent of interior designer Peter Marino. The collection in total is estimated to exceed $30 million. Sydell Miller and her late husband Arnold Miller co-founded Matrix Essential, which became the largest manufacturer of professional hair and beauty products in America. Mrs. Miller devotes much of her time and energy to philantrophy, chiefly the Cleveland Clinic. The Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute houses the heart hospital on the main campus in Ohio.
FRANÇOIS-XAVIER LALANNE (1927-2008) Rare ‘Elephant’ Centre Table, 2001 ($1-1.5 million)
This George III ormolu mounted white marble and biscuit porcelain clock by royal clockmaker Benjamin Vulliamy was made around 1791. One of the richest and most sophisticated examples of Vulliamy’s known work is described by Christie’s as a tour de force of English Neo-Classical design. From the collection of Mrs. Henry Ford II, who died aged 80 last year, it comes up at Christie’s in New York on March 30. The porcelain figures are by John Deare, the pedestal by Thomas Brownley and it is estimated at $250,000-$400,000. The collection of Kathleen Ford is to be offered at two sales in New York and London. Contents from the Palm Beach home come up in New York while contents from her mansion flat at Eaton Square, London and residence at Turville Grange in Oxfordshire come to auction on April 15. She married Henry Ford II (1917-1987) in 1980 and was his third wife while he was her second husband.
UPDATE: The New York sale totalled $4.7 million. The top lot was a pair of c1770 lacquer cabinets attributed to Joseph Baumhauer which made $846,000 over a top estimate of $600,000. The clock was unsold.
Antique jewellery, furniture and silver are among a total of 370 lots at an online auction at Hegarty’s in Bandon, Co. Cork on March 28. Among them is this c1790 Georgian demi lune side table of large proportions. Lot 2 is estimated at 500-1,000. The catalogue is online. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 1,450
This portrait of Matthew Parker (1504-1575), the Archbishop of Canterbury, by a follower of Hans Holbein the Younger soared to £189,000, more than 75 times its estimate of £2,000-3,000 at Sotheby’s sale of the family collection of Patricia Mountbatten. Over 1,400 participants from 55 countries drove the total to £5,620,798 over three times the pre-sale estimate with 98% of lots sold. The eldest daughter of Britain’s last Viceroy of India Louis Mountbatten, Patricia Knatchbull was the great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, great niece of Russia’s last Tsarina and first cousin to Prince Philip. A Jaguar 420 commissioned by Lord Mountbatten in 1967 made £126,000 over an too estimate of £20,000; a group of four pieces of mourning jewellery belonging to Queen Victoria made a combined total of £100,800, more than doubling their estimates; a c1905 Lacloche Frères pig-shaped evening bag sold for £109,620 over a top estimate of £3,000; a rare pale celadon jade teapot, Qing Dynasty sold for £176,400, eighteen times its estimate; The Banks Diamond, a late 18th century brooch with a cushion-shaped yellow diamond given to explorer and botanist Joseph Banks by his eccentric sister Sarah around the time of his marriage in 1779 sold for £138,600 and a Fabergé gold-mounted cigarette case and Imperial enamel timepiece bought by the last Tsar and Tsarina as gifts for the parents of Louis Mountbatten, both soared above their estimates, selling for £47,880 and £81,900 respectively.
THIS c1905 Lacloche Frères pig-shaped evening bag sold for £109,620
If you are looking at ways to ward off evil and spice up your garden or an interior space at the same time Woodwards sale in Cork on March 13 might have the answer. A pair of antique Qing Dynasty foo dogs – also known as stone lions or shishi in Japan – is on offer with an estimate of €2,000-€3,000. These highly stylised lions originated in Chinese Buddhism and are thought to offer protection from harmful spiritual influences or people. A popular decorative feature found everywhere from imperial palaces to the entrances of restaurants and supermarkets they are an ideal additive in 2021, though vaccines are even better.
The selection on offer includes an Edwardian games table (€600-€1,000), a bureau bookcase (€600-€1,000), a kidney shaped desk (€400-€600), an Oriental pod table (€300-€500), a Georgian library table (€300-€500), a William IV work table (€300-€400) and a Georgian Pembroke table (€300-€500). A pair of Coalbrookdale garden benches (€1,500-€2,000) and a five piece patio set will also be offered. The sale features items from the estate of the late Stan Cussen who was well known in Cork as owner of the Planes, Boats and Trains model toy shop on Princes St. and the Farmhouse cafe and cake shop.
Pair of Qing Dynasty Foo Dogs. UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD
With everything from a rare Victorian steeplechase board game, a pair of 19th century model brass cannons, a suite of three Paul Storr meat covers and a painting of the East Indiaman Hotspur leaving Tyne on her maiden voyage in 1851 by William Garthwaite Sheppards online sales by Sheppards in Durrow on March 11 and 12 are brimful of interest. On offer are contents from Eyrefield Lodge Stud at The Curragh, home to Sir Edmund and Lady Susan Loder, as well as some other clients of Sheppards. Equestrian portraits, wonderful antique oak furniture, ceramics, glass, garden and conservatory pieces, racing memorabilia, wines and all the trappings of an exceptional home and garden come up at this sale. The steeplechase game dates to c1865 and is attributed to E.C. Spurin, London. Complete with mahogany cased board it is estimated at €800-€1,200. At the other end of the scale is a colourful Louis le Brocquy Aubusson tapestry of a garlanded goat with an estimate of €50,000-€80,000. A 19th century breakfront bookcase is estimated at €30,000-€40,000 but much of the fine furniture in this sale is far more affordable. There are wine tables, work tables, chairs, chests of drawers and cabinets including an attractive George III with vaulted back and scallop shell interior (€800-€1,200). The suite of three Paul Storr silver meat covers dates to 1811 and is estimated at €2,000-€3,000. A Chinese puce enamelled chrysanthemum dish is estimated at €800-€1,200 and a large Chinese porcelain jardiniere on stand is estimated at €1,500-€2,500. The pair of 19th century model brass cannons are estimated at €500-€800. The 1851 oil on canvas by William Garthwaite is estimated at €800-€1,200 and two pairs of Art Nouveau stained glass panels are each estimated at €400-€600. For the convenience of online bidders the auction of more than 800 lots will be broken up into four sessions, each of around 200 lots at 10 am and 2 pm on each day. The catalogue is online.
Rare Victorian steeplechase board game. UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,800 AT HAMMER
