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%.
EARLY 19TH CENTURY CORK GLASS COMPANY DECANTER. UPDATE: THIS MADE 360 AT HAMMER
This highly collectible c1800 glass decanter made by the Cork Glass Company is at Hegarty’s Christmas auction on December 17. There are three milled rings to the neck and the base is stamped Cork Glass Company, which operated from 1782-1818. The estimate is €200-€400. The sale offers a collection of silver among a wide variety of lots.
Sarah Walker (b. 1965) – BEARA MEADOW, 2018. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This mixed media on canvas by Sarah Walker is at Whyte’s Christmas art sale on the evening of December 15. The estimate is €1,000-€1,500. Artists in this seasonal sale of affordable art include Patrick Scott, Jack Yeats, Louis le Brocquy, Norah McGuinness, Markey Robinson, Pauline Bewick, Louise Mansfield, James Brohan, Desmond Carrick, Patrick Leonard, Elizabeth Rivers, John Shinnors, Banksy, Damien Hirst and Imogen Stuart. The catalogue is online and the auction is now on view in Dublin.
The annual winter group show at Solomon Gallery in Dublin showcases a range of painting, sculpture and print by celebrated Irish artists. Among them are Michael Quane, Eilis O’Connell, Rowan Gillespie, Margo Banks, Corban Walker, Tom Climent, Comhghall Casey, Margaret Egan and Bernadette Madden. It continues until December 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.
NEWELL CONVERS WYETH (1882-1945) – Wild Bill Hickok at the Cards
This painting by N C Wyeth, father of the artist Andrew Wyeth, is from the William I Koch collection to be sold by Christie’s in January. The Visions of the West sale is billed as the most valuable western American art auction in history. The low estimate is in the range of $50 million. There will be an evening sale on January 20 followed by a high noon sale on January 21 at the Rockefeller Center in New York. The auctions will offer an array of American western art, including masterworks by Frederic Remington, Albert Bierstadt, and Charles Marion Russell. The Remingtons, featuring 16 rare and important sculptures, as well as some of his greatest paintings, are particularly noteworthy. William I Koch is known as a collector, industrialist, scientist, winner of the America’s Cup and more. The Wyeth is estimated at $1 million – $1.5 million.
PAUL HENRY – AN ACHILL BOG AT BLACKSOD BAY UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £45,000
This oil on canvas by Paul Henry – An Achill Bog at Blacksod Bay – was painted in 1918 and comes up at Woolley and Wallis in Salisbury on December 11. It has been in the same family for three generations. Lot 535 is estimated at £20,000-£30,000.
Lennox Robinson, Author by the caricaturist Mac is part of an exhibition of 18th to 21st century Irish paintings at the Gorry Gallery in Dublin. Isabella Mary Macnie (Mac) (1869-1958) was a sports woman, suffragist and actress who turned to creating caricatures in the early 1920’s. Her skill was discovered by accident at a dinner party. She revealed that she saw people in geometric shapes and created the first Mac caricatures to illustrate the point. Her subject matter was the politicians and artists in newly independent Ireland and the work was published in many newspapers. In 1925 Mac published a book of 20 caricatures – The Celebrity Zoo – which included W B Yeats, George Russell and William Cosgrave. The Gorry Gallery show, which runs until December 19, features a number of works by her.
A c1900 enamel, sapphire and rose quartz brooch by Carlo and Arthur Giuliano at O’Reilly’s of Francis St., Dublin. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Jewellery and books make acceptable Christmas presents so two sales on December 10 have potential to offer inspiration at across the board price points. Estimates at O’Reilly’s of Francis St., Dublin – who will offer 511 lots at a live and online sale – range from €25-€80 for a collection of costume jewellery, an Irish sterling silver signet ring and an Egyptian revival pill box to €42,000-€52,000 for a round cut diamond solitaire of 5.35 carats and €34,000-€40,000 for a diamond line bracelet with radiant cut stones. The selection in between these figures ranges from rings, necklaces and brooches to watches, earrings and a 1947 Mexican 50 peso gold coin.
More than 600 lots, from limited, rare and signed first editions to Marvel comics and works of sporting and antiquarian interest, will come under the hammer at Purcell Auctioneers in Birr. The sale will be led by a 1920 book of Irish Fairy Tales by James Stephens with illustrations by Arthur Rackham (€1,750-€2,250). A rare catalogue from the May 1939 sale of 2,711 lots from Ashford Castle by Jackson, Stops and McCabe (€200-€300), a programme from Ireland’s Grand Slam winning match against Wales on March 13, 1948 (€350-€600), Marvel’s Amazing Spiderman from 1984 featuring the first appearance of his black suit (€300-€400) and a signed first edition of Normal People by Sally Rooney (€200-€250) are among the highly collectible lots.
The programme for Ireland’s 1948 Grand Slam winning rugby match at Purcell Auctioneers in Birr. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
William Harvey’s Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus, 1628 Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2025. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £1,016,000
The groundbreaking first description of blood circulation, William Harvey’s 1628 Exercitatio anatomica de motu dordis et sanguinis in animalibus, is a highlight at Christie’s books, manuscripts and photographs sale in London on December 10. The sale will include a selection of 100 books, manuscripts and photographs from the library of the Royal Society of Medicine, featuring some of the most important names and breakthroughs ever made. The Harvey book is estimated at £800,000-£1.2 million (€913,120-€1.37 million). A first edition Essay on the Shaking Palsy by James Parkinson, published in 1817, is estimated at £50,000-£70,000 (€57,070-€79,900). UPDATE: THE PARKINSON BOOK MADE £101,600.
