A walnut crossbanded tilt top table at the National Antiques Fair in Limerick
Time to giddy-up, clear all hurdles and chase over to Limerick Racecourse, the new and larger venue for the National Antiques Art and Vintage fair on September 10 and 11. The race is on to this winners enclosure of rare, unusual, desirable and collectible pieces from right around the island of Ireland including Northern Ireland. Pick a winner from more than 60 antique shops, vintage shops, art galleries and collectibles dealers with everything from antique furniture to art, jewellery, books, silver, porcelain, coins, banknotes, militaria and vintage fashion.
The Irish Antique Dealers Association will be represented by members including Martin Maguire of Mayo, Weldons Dublin, Donegal Antiques, Marie Curran, Dublin, Greenes Antiques, Drogheda, Treasures Irish Art, Athlone and Courtville Antiques, Dublin. With costume jewellery from €5 to top end diamonds at €50,000 there will be something here for everyone. The odds are in favour of keen punters and collectors at this convenient location with ample parking.
Portrait of a young lady in a period frame. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,700 AT HAMMER
A stylish portrait requiring further research, a 19th century walnut carved bench with a motto we could all adopt, vintage hats in their original Munster Arcade boxes, a clock carved with the Cork coat of arms and a valuable Patek Philippe wristwatch will contribute to an interesting sale at Lynes and Lynes on September 10. Viewing gets underway in Carrigtwohill today for an auction made up of contents from Ballynoe House, Rushbrooke, Cobh, a large Cork city residence and several individual clients. The most expensively estimated lot is the Patek Philippe Nautilus automatic gentlemans’ wristwatch from Ballynoe House, which has recently been sold. It is estimated at a cool €30,000-€50,000 and auctioneer Denis Lynes reckons that it could well exceed the top figure.
A 19th century walnut carved long hall bench with a central heraldic shield is also from Ballynoe and estimated at €1,000-€1,500. It is carved with the motto ‘Nun Quam Non Paratus’ meaning Never Unprepared. A half portrait of a young lady painted in the style of Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) bears an Agnews label on the back. In a period frame it was purchased at the contents auction of Galtee Castle, Co. Tipperary, which was demolished circa 1941. The castle was built in 1780 by the Kingstons and remodelled in 1892 by Abel Buckley, MP of Ryecroft Hall near Manchester. The venerable firm of Agnews, a leading London Old Master art dealer since 1860, was founded in Manchester in 1817. Located since 1877 at a prominent gallery at Old Bond St. the firm of Thomas Agnew and Sons closed in 2013 and re-opened at St. James’s Place in London. Their archive was given to the National Gallery. The painting is estimated at €1,000-€2,000.
A pair of Irish Georgian peat and plate buckets. UPDATE: THESE MADE 1,600 AT HAMMER
A curiosity of the sale is an oak mantel clock carved on the top with the Cork Coat of Arms. The nautical theme is enhanced with flanking cannons and anchors set on a cushion base with swag decoration. This product of the Cork School of carving is estimated at €300-€500. Of vintage interest is a collection of ladies hats in their original Munster Arcade boxes (€50-€80). A top hat by W. Dennehy and Sons of Patrick St. and Castle St., Cork (€40-€60) is accompanied by a shooting stick.The sale kicks off with a pair of Irish Georgian mahogany and brass bound turf and plate buckets (€600-€1,000) and a large Waterford 10 branch chandelier comes with an estimate of €2,000-€3,000. The catalogue for this sale of 354 lots is online.
DAMIEN HIRST (B.1965) BRITISH – Pharmacy (1998 – 2003). UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,200 AT HAMMER
A complete set of Damien Hirst’s matchbooks from his Pharmacy restaurant comes up as lot 119 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s auction of Important Irish Art online until September 12. On offer is the complete set of 60 matchbooks with an estimate of 800-1,200. The catalogue is online and the sale will be on view in Skibbereen from September 8.
Danish walnut crossbanded drinks cabinet. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,300 AT HAMMER
This 19th century Danish walnut crossbanded drinks cabinet is lot 465 at the James Adam At Home sale in Dublin on September 4. Viewing for this auction is now underway and the catalogue is online. There is a selection of furniture, silver, art, jewellery and collectibles among the 518 lots on offer. The cabinet here is estimated at 1,000-2,000.
David Hockney, Early Morning, Sainte-Maxime (1969). UPDATE: THIS MADE £20,899,500
David Hockney’s Early Morning, Sainte-Maxime (1969) will highlight Christie’s 20th / 21st Century evening sale in London on October 13. Depicting a sublime view in the South of France it is a tribute to Hockney’s emotional state at the height of his relationship with Peter Schlesinger and anticipates some of the artist’s greatest works. The estimate is £7,000,000-10,000,000.
This is one of four paintings based on photographs taken during a trip to France with Hockney’s then partner in autumn 1968. It was at this time that the pair first spent time in the home of the film director, Tony Richardson, near Saint Tropez. They became regular guests at the lavish parties Richardson threw at ‘Le Nid du Duc’, set in the mountains just outside Le Garde-Freinet. Hockney had returned to London in 1968 after spending four years in California. The South of France became an instant draw for him and Schlesinger and would come to play a central role in their relationship. It was Richardson’s home that became the setting for his masterpiece Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) when the relationship ended in 1971.
This c1785 demi lune table by the renowned Irish furniture maker William Moore will be a highlight at Timeless – The Irish Antique Dealers Fair at the RDS in Dublin from September 23-25. Returning after an absence this year the fair will offer a blend of antique and contemporary focussed pieces and is designed to appeal to a wide audience. Contemporary pieces include an original Brionvega RR126 record player and speaker set similar to David Bowie’s personal model. It will be displayed by Acquired and stand alongside their mid-century designs like an iconic Cameleonda sofa by Mario Bellini upholstered in green velvet mohair. The demi-lune table by William Moore will be shown by McBain and Byrne.
This 1955 Ferrari 410 Sport Spider by Scaglietti sold for $22,005,000 at RM Sotheby’s in California. Over three days in Monterey, California, RM Sotheby’s made $239,258,340 US at auction, setting a record for the highest grossing automotive auction of all time and netting a higher total than all other Monterey Car Week 2022 auctions combined. Seven of the top ten lots were by Ferrari. Porsche also presented a strong showing, with a 2022 911 “Sally Special” becoming the most expensive factory-new Porsche ever to sell at auction at $3.6 million, while a 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540 K Special Roadster by Sindelfingen was RM Sotheby’s second-highest sale of the week at $9,905,000. An impressive 180 cars were sold over the three auctions, which saw bidders from 38 different countries. Fifty-two of them sold for over $1 million.
This 19th century rank badge, embroidered with silk thread on a dark ground, comes up as lot 50 at Hegarty’s online sale in Bandon. The Chinese tradition of wearing rank badges (Buzi), also known as Mandarin Squares, to demonstrate civil, military or imperial rank began in 1391 during the Ming Dynasty and continued throughout the Qing Dynasty up until 1911. A badge featuring a bird (such as the one here) identified the wearer as a civil official. It is estimated at 180-250. The sale gets underway online at 6 pm on August 31 and there are 260 lots.
This pair of silver four branch candleabra made a hammer price of €17,000 over a top estimate of €3,000 at Mullens of Laurel Park on August 28. Stamped Hull and Roskill, late Storr and Mortimer London 1873-79 they weigh 296 troy ounces. The pair is of naturalistic form with four sconces on fruiting vine branches raised on puttis with lions frolicking on a platform above a circular foot decorated with vines on scroll legs.
Thomas Henry Kavanagh VC (1821-82) being disguised as a native during the Indian mutiny at the siege of Lucknow, 9th November 1857, c.1860 by Chevalier Louis-William Desanges (c) The National Army Museum
The Victoria Cross awarded to a Mullingar civil servant for an epic and daring escape and rescue during the Siege of Lucknow comes up at Noonan’s in London on September 14. Months into the siege during the Indian Mutiny of 1857 Thomas Henry Kavanagh crept out in disguise from the surrounded Residency at night. Against all odds the Irishman, a clerk at the Lucknow office, successfully crossed enemy lines, made contact with the Commander in Chief 15 miles away at Cawnpore and guided a relieving force through the city to the beleaguered garrison by the safest route.
Even though Kavanagh was a tall man with fair hair and blue eyes he made the trip dressed as a sepoy accompanied by a Brahmin scout, Kananji Lal. This painting at the National Army Museum in London by Chevalier Louis-William Desanges shows him being disguised. The siege had begun in June and by November the situation was becoming critical. He himself devised the plan for what was to become one of the best known episodes of the defence of Lucknow. Thomas Henry Kavanagh was the first civilian to be awarded the VC, Britain’s highest honour. His wife was wounded during the siege and his youngest child (of 14) died at the Residency as a baby.
He was promoted to the post of Assistant Commissioner at Oudh, given a reward of £2,000 and granted leave to return to England. He was presented with his medal by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle and became a Victorian celebrity, touring England and Ireland and publishing an account of the Siege entitled: “How I won the Victoria Cross”. A first edition copy of this book is included with the lot. Photographs of him became popular postcard images. Afterwards he continued his career in India and his spendthrift ways, which had almost cost him his job prior to the siege. Seriously in debt again by 1875 he was asked to resign. Born in Mullingar in 1821 he took ill while returning from India in 1882 and died at Gibraltar, where he is buried. His VC is estimated at £300,000-£400,000 (€353,410-€471,210).
UPDATE: THIS MADE £930,000 – A WORLD RECORD PRICE FOR A V.C.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for September 18, 2022)
