A Donegal Carpet, Killybegs, Ireland, Early 20th Century. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $6,985
This early 20th century Donegal carpet in exceptional condition comes up at Sotheby’s in New York on January 30 with an estimate of $5,000-$7,000. The previous owner inherited it from his father, an antique restorer, who some 40-odd years ago was commissioned to work on some damaged library panelling for a client. In the course of the restoration he discovered a sealed room in which the carpet had been stored, probably for at least 50 years, which explains its exceptional condition with an extraordinary full pile. It comes up during Old Masters Week aslot 127 in a sale titled The Pleasure of Objects: The Ian and Carolina Irving Collection.
A c1800 Cork Silver sugar bowl stamped STERLING by John Toleken. UPDATE: THIS MADE 800 AT HAMMER
This Irish 18th century Cork silver sugar bowl comes up as lot 5 at Hegarty’s timed and live auction on January 24. It is engraved with initials to one side and a family crest to the other and estimated at 800-900. The auction includes French furniture, silver, art and collectibles and the catalogue is online.
Living in Style Gallery will feature this mid-century modern Italian lotus shaped desk lamp
The Winter 2024 Decorative Fair opens today at Battersea Park in London and runs until January 28. Since 1985 the design trade has flocked to The Decorative Fairs, which run three times a year, to source the finest choice of unusual and practical English and European antiques, super-stylish 20th century pieces, garden antiques, and a multitude of truly distinctive decorative items that are the making of unique and individual interiors and exteriors. Top trends currently include antique blue and white china and delftware, old-fashioned hall chairs, statement lights, traditional mahogany side tables, art nouveau glass, classical garden statuary, farmhouse refectory tables, modernist studio ceramics, dressers and small decorative mirrors. Landscape pictures and portraits are also making a comeback.
Colin Meyler of Inch, Co. Kerry will bring this oil on paper by Mary Swanzy to the National Antique Fair in Limerick next weekend.
The National Antiques Fair at Limerick Racecourse next weekend is not set up as some sort of antidote to the Eurovision Song Contest – Ireland’s entry is due to be chosen on the Late Late next Friday evening – but it most definitely promises all kinds of everything. The way we lived, the music we listened to, the way we wore, the way we dined, and all sorts of half forgotten objects that used to accompany our everyday lives will be displayed here in abundance.
The Purple Onion of Roscommon will bring Patti Boyd’s limited edition photo of Paul, Ringo and John
The younger moneyed crowd, keen to add to their collections of art or carats, will have their eye on expensive artworks by luminaries like Mary Swanzy or Kenneth Webb or set out to browse among the jewellery dealers, oldies like me will see things to bring us back…. Back to a time when the word brunch was unknown and when it was not unusual to get breakfast underway with half a grapefruit in a glass bowl along with a shaped spoon and a serrated silver knife designed to segment it, adorned perhaps with half a red cherry. If you feel a pang of nostalgia for those days then dealer Edwin Mercer has just the thing. He will bring a boxed grapefruit set, dated to 1927, with cut crystal dishes, two Sheffield silver spoons and serrated knife in a box set retailed by D. Stewart, Jewllery, Stirling.
Edwin Mercer will bring this 1927 boxed grapefruit set
A limited edition photo of Paul, Ringo and John by model and photographer Pattie Boyd, married sequentially both to George Harrison and Eric Clapton, will be of interest to Beatles fans. Art by Mary Swanzy does not turn up at fairs every day but dealer Conal Meyler from Inch will bring an unframed oil on paper. He deals mostly in 17th and 18th century Chinese porcelain and effects and is a relative newcomer to the fairs. A large fair like this one is dynamic and in an era when so many antique shops have vanished a number of new dealers are emerging. There will be more than 80 shops, dealers and galleries present and nine of them are making a first appearance.Fair organiser Robin O’Donnell of Hibernian Antique Fairs will bring a late 18th century Irish coromandel wood campaign chest. He describes it as the best example of a military campaign chest that he has come across in 40 years in the antiques business. It is complete with carrying handles and a fully fitted bureau.With dealers from all over the country this two day fair will run from 11 am to 6 pm on January 27 and 28. If the idea of a stroll into Aladdin’s Cave floats your boat then this promises to be a not to be missed show.
Robin O’Donnell will bring this late 18th century Irish campaign chest in coromandel wood
EARLY 20TH CENTURY DIAMOND DOUBLE CLIP BROOCH. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This early 20th century diamond double clip brooch comes up as lot 404 at O’Reilly’s auction of jewellery, silver and antiques at Francis St. in Dublin on January 24. There are 517 lots in total. The brooch illustrated here is set throughout with old cut diamonds mounted in white gold and is estimated at 7,700-8,000. The catalogue for the sale is online.
This Tiffany peony lamp is being shown by Macklowe Gallery, New York at the premier art, antiques and design fair in the United States, the New York Winter Show. Now in full swing there is a total of 70 internationally known dealers taking part. Museum quality works from antiquity to the present day are on display. This year the show is celebrating its 70th anniversary. It runs until January 28.
An interior shot of Elton John’s Peachtree Road penthouse. (Photograph Visko Hatfield, courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2024.) UPDATE: THE PIANO MADE $201,600
Where does Elton’s future lie? Let’s not go there. Suffice to say it is beyond Peachtree Road. The rock star is saying goodbye to his Atlanta condo at Park Place on Peachtree – acquired in 1992 – and Christie’s New York will sell the contents in a series of eight live and online sales beginning on February 21.He began collecting photographs in the 1990’s and there is work by pioneers like Andy Warhol, Helmut Newton, Robert Mapplethorpe, Peter Beard, Herb Ritts, Richard Avedon and more.Damien Hirst’s Your Song, signed and inscribed to Elton and David is estimated at $350,000-$450,000 (€319,850-€411,230) and a portrait of Elton John by Julian Schnabel is estimated at $200,000-$300,000 (€182,770-€274,150). There is fashion from his stage wardrobes including an ivory and gold piece designed by Annie Reavey c1971 and vintage Gianni Versace shirts and upholstery. The sale will offer tableware, decor, a grand piano, art glass, antiques and artefacts from his global travels. Live day sales will continue on February 22 and 23 and online sales open for bidding on February 9 and run to February 27 and 28.
A GROUP OF SEVEN SILK SHIRTS GIANNI VERSACE, CIRCA 1993. UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR $30,240
(photo left to right: Elizabeth Taylor’s Karl Lagerfeld caftan, Princess Diana’s Catherine Walker dress, Princess Grace’s Givenchy ensemble, Dior Galliano newsprint dress, tutu worn by Sarah Jessica Parker, Chanel ski suit and Paris Hilton’s Louis Verdad dress)
Princess Diana’s black silk velvet cocktail dress (estimated $100,000-$200,000) created by Catherine Walker sold for $325,000, over three times its original estimate of $100,000 at Julien’s in Hollywood. Worn to a private event it features an off-the-shoulder neckline, a princess-seamed bodice with boning, and bias-cut ivory satin accents sewn at the neckline, cuffs, and hem. A 1961 Givenchy ensemble worn to the White House by Princess Grace with Prince Rainier to meet President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy sold for $325,000 (original estimate: $250,000-$300,000). It consists of a “Kelly-green” wool, tweed sleeveless dress with a gathered skirt with an elbow-length sleeved tweed jacket worn with a white hat, which appears as flowers about to bloom. Sarah Jessica Parker’s three-tier tutu skirt worn in her iconic role of Carrie Bradshaw on Sex and the City turned sold for $52,000, six and a half times its original estimate of $8,000. The oyster white tulle three-tier tutu skirt with a matching satin waistband worn by Parker in her Emmy award winning role in the opening credits of the HBO series during its entire run from 1997-2004 was originally found for five dollars in a bin in New York by the show’s legendary costume designer Patricia Field. Another recognisable Sex and the City design made a sensational appearance when John Galliano for Christian Dior’s newsprint silk chiffon strapless gown with an asymmetrical ruffled flounce hemline hit the auction runway for $11,430 (estimate: $8,000 – $12,000). A Chanel 2001 nylon ski suit in pale green with silver hardware and logo zipper pulls that was featured in cream in the Chanel Identification winter ad campaign sold for $7,800 (original estimate: $1,500-$2,000)
FELIM EGAN – Untitled (2004) UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,200 AT HAMMER
This small untitled work by Felim Egan kicks off Morgan O’Driscoll’s Irish art online auction which runs until January 22. The estimate for the oil on board is just 400-600 but so far it has attracted 18 bids and will go higher. When he died in 2020 Egan was regarded as one of Ireland’s leading contemporary artists. He represented Ireland at the Paris Biennale in France in 1981 and the Sao Paulo Biennial in Brazil in 1985 and won the Unesco international prize for painting in Paris in its inaugural year of 1993. He exhibited widely in Europe and his work is held in many international collections including the European Parliament and the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The catalogue for the sale is online.
One of a pair of Louis XV period armchairs which Galerie Léage, Paris will bring to the Winter Show
More than 70 internationally renowned dealers from Europe and the Americas have assembled in New York for The Winter Show which runs from January 19-28 after the opening night party on January 18. The premier art, antiques and design fair in America will feature a breadth of works spannign 5000 years from antiquity to today. Pictured here is one of a pair of A La Reine armchairs of the Lous XV period attributed to Louis Delanois and carved with gilt wood. They will be exhibited by Galerie Léage, Paris.
“In the 70 years that The Winter Show has shown in New York, it has consistently addressed the shifting role and value of art, antiques, and design within our communities,” said Helen Allen, Executive Director of The Winter Show. “We are thrilled to celebrate this momentous anniversary with returning presenters and patrons, while also welcoming new audiences to the Show and to the mission of East Side House. We are part of an exciting revival honoring objects that prioritize craftmanship and style. More importantly, each presentation honors a story of the past and its continued legacy in the present moment. The Winter Show offers a platform for a generation with renewed interest in design lead by storytelling, craftsmanship, and sustainability, and invites visitors to participate in an experience that also supports New Yorkers in need.”
