A new design series by Joseph Walsh – Riverstick, Co. Cork based global design superstar – opens at Sotheby’s in London today. On show is a selling exhibition of key pieces from his newly developed Gestures series on display for the first time. The 12 sinuous works include a large dining table, a sculptural bench, free form lounge chairs, dining chairs and various wall mounted sculptural shelves.
Now in mid career Joseph Walsh is the Eileen Gray of this generation – and not every generation throws up designer innovators of this calibre. A century ago Gray was making lacquered pieces in Paris. This new series by Joseph Walsh, whose work is celebrated by design cognoscenti from Tokyo to Chicago to Paris, is finished in ebonised black. Beginning with charcoal sketches which Walsh translates into scale model studies in wood Gestures has emerged over the past three years. Wood is cut into layers, rebuilt and carved to create an uninterrupted sculptural form and finished in black. Each piece is functional and boldly sculptural. The show at Sotheby’s, which coincides with the London Design Festival, runs until September 29.
A growing selection of free art to enjoy on the streets of Cork city. Ardu – Cork’s contemporary street art project – returns this month with three new large scale murals by Claire Prouvost (Pope’s Quay/Shandon St.), Kitsune Jolene (Sullivan’s Quay) and Vents 137 (South Terrace). The artists hail respectively from France, Belgium and Cork. Breathing new life into old walls their works will be created from September 18-30. It will bring the number of enlivening Ardu projects in Cork to 14.
Irish Georgian marble breakfront chimney piece. UPDATE: THIS MADE 14,000 AT HAMMER
This Irish Georgian fireplace is among the top lots at Victor Mee’s annual Palace Collection sale which runs from September 20-22. Viewing gets underway at the former Bishop’s Palace, Kilmore, Co Cavan on September 17 and the catalogue is online. There are 1,748 lots of antique furniture, decorative interior pieces and garden furniture and the auction includes contents from Benmore House in Co. Fermanagh. The breakfront chimney piece with centre plaque illustrated here is estimated at €15,000-€25,000 and is lot 250b. It is one of a number of fireplace pieces in the sale. There is a big selection of antique furniture, art, collectibles and a variety with a wide appeal to all tastes across varying price ranges.
UPDATE: THIS MADE £930,000 – A WORLD RECORD PRICE FOR A V.C.
The ‘Siege of Lucknow’ Victoria Cross awarded to Irishman Thomas Henry Kavanagh was sold for a world-record price of £930,000 (€1,073,355) by Mayfair-based auctioneers Noonans today. Bought by an un named collector in a sale of Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria it was the first civilian V.C. of five to be awarded. Estimated at £300,000-400,000 it was one of only two not currently in a museum. The price includes a 24% buyer’s premium.
Kavanagh, who was born on July 15, 1821 in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath was employed as a clerk in the Lucknow Office prior to the Siege, which occurred during the Indian Mutiny. In November 1857, he volunteered to leave the safety of the Residency disguised as a Sepoy accompanied by a Brahmin scout. The pair jostled past armed rebels through the narrow Lucknow streets and talked their way past sentries in the moonlight, crossed deep rivers, tramped through swamps and narrowly avoided capture after startling a farmer who raised the alarm. On finally reaching a British cavalry outpost, Kavanagh delivered a vital despatch to Sir Colin Campbell and ably guided his column to the relief of the Residency garrison.
Oliver Pepys, Associate Director and Medal Specialist at Noonans said: “Kavanagh’s gallantry at Lucknow 165 years ago stands out as one of the most premeditated and sustained acts of gallantry in the history of the Victoria Cross and the price achieved at auction demonstrates the high regard which Kavanagh is still held in today.”
Pierce Noonan, Chairman and CEO of Noonans auctions, said: “The record price achieved for Kavanagh’s Victoria Cross reflects not just Kavanagh’s extraordinary gallantry, but also the strength of the market for small collectibles more generally where the prices for high quality items continue to go from strength to strength.”
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for August 28 and August 18, 2022)
MYSTERY-SET SAPPHIRE AND DIAMOND FLOWER BROOCH, BY VAN CLEEF & ARPELS
THIS mystery set sapphire and diamond flower brooch by Van Cleef & Arpels made a hammer price of €110,000 at James Adam sale of Fine Jewellery and Watches in Dublin on September 13. Described by the auctioneers as rare and collectible it had been estimated at €30,000-€50,000. Patented by Van Cleef & Arpels in 1933 the Mystery Setting “is a technique which allows the jeweller to model any form, any movement”. The apparently invisible mounting of the stones without visible claws or prongs creates an effect which makes them almost look as though they are floating.
Contents from the Greenway Antiques and Book Store, Mulranny, Co. Mayo are now on sale. Rare and out of print books and first editions from the collection of the late Vanessa Parker, who along with Roger Grimes Antiques has been a fixture of the Irish antique trade for decades, are on offer at up to 70% off. This copy of Curly Wee is priced at €171 and there are three more from the series. There are first and early edition of poetry by Yeats among thousands of rare books and first editions. For the future Roger Grimes intends to trade on a smaller scale and on the internet on https://antiquesandbooks.com
Royal Mughal pashmina carpet c1650. UPDATE: THIS MADE £5,422,000
An extraordinarily rare survivor from the golden age of Imperial Mughal carpet production comes up at Christie’s in London on October 27. This Royal Mughal pashmina carpet woven for the court of the Emperor Shah Jahan is of ‘Lattice and Flower’ design, exemplary for its brilliant colour and pattern, woven with the most luxurious and costly materials with prized pashmina goat hair woven onto a fine silk foundation. One of only four 17th century pashmina carpets remaining in private hands. This one is estimated at £2,500,000 – 3,500,000.
The carpet is an example of the Flower Style in Mughal India which became popular in architectural decoration and the decorative arts under the emperor Shah Jahan (r. 1628-58). A variety of flowers represented in profile and organised in rows is a hallmark of the style. In most rug-weaving cultures, silk is the most valuable and sumptuous fibre. In Mughal culture, in northern India, this was not the case. The most highly prized fibre for the pile was goat hair, pashmina, the undercoat of the Himalayan mountain goat. Each pashmina fibre measures almost one sixth the width of a human hair, which meant that these Mughal carpets were among the finest carpets ever woven. The highest knot count exceeds 2,000 knots per inch, which goes beyond what the eye can “read.” The majority of examples fall between 400 and 1,000 knots and the carpet discussed has an average of 672 knots per sq. inch. It will be a leading lot in the Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds including Oriental Rugs and Carpets auction.
This table was once the property of Queen Marie Antoinette. UPDATE:THIS WAS UNSOLD
There is considerable provenance to lot 652 at Fonsie Mealy’s autumn Chatsworth auction in Castlecomer on September 27-28. According to the auctioneer the 18th century French Louis XVI oval walnut and tulipwood table pictured here was once the property of Marie Antoinette. Purchased in Paris by Lord Charles Beresford it was given as a gift to Mrs. Maude of Belgard Castle, Clondalkin, Dublin on the birth of her son Marcus “Markie” Maude in 1896. He died in Mesopotamia aged 24 and the table went by descent to Mount Juliet from Colonel Silcock. It was purchased by the present vendor at Mount Juliet. The table was made by Jean-Pierre Dusautoy (1719-1800) and is stamped. There is a three quarter pierced brass gallery and oval top with a tooled leather inset inside a crossbanded edge. It is estimated at 4,000-6,000. The two day sale of over 1,000 lots is brimful of interest and the catalogue is online.
Oval centre table estimated at just €400-€600. UPDATE: THIS MADE 600 AT HAMMER
Just like Patrick Kavanagh you might meet your object of desire on Raglan Road on an autumn day. In the case of the poet it was a lady whose dark hair would weave a snare which he might one day rue. In yours and mine, more prosaically, it could just be something from the timed auction that de Veres is running at 25 Raglan Road until September 19. The auctioneers say this entire sale offers a window into the mind of an interior designer and that this is an opportunity to pick up pieces as new. The mix of antique, modern and contemporary furniture is complemented by lighting, prints, mirrors, soft furnishings, porcelain and household items. One of the most expensively estimated lots is an Andrew Martin sofa (€1,000-€2,000). Mirrors, chairs, curtains, dressing tables, lamps, lined curtains, chests of drawers and porcelain are all very reasonably estimated, many at under €300. There will be viewing at the house next Friday, Saturday and Sunday week. The catalogue is online now.
Direct Provision by Brian Maguire at Morgan O’Driscoll. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,100 AT HAMMER
The autumn Irish art selling season gets underway in a spirit of optimism this month. It kicks off with Morgan O’Driscoll’s online sale on September 12 and there will be auctions of Important Irish Art at Whyte’s, and Adams on September 26 and 28 respectively. At James Adam the belief is that there has never been a better time to sell Irish art. Price records continue to be broken at auctions. Sales of Important Irish Art at Adams in 2021 and 2022 have grossed over €8.5 million to date. The sale at Adams on September 28 will include art by Norah McGuinness, Roderic O’Conor, Daniel O’Neill, Louis le Brocquy and Hughie O’Donoghue.
The selection at Whyte’s is appetising. Here you will find work by Jack Butler Yeats, Roderic O’Conor, John Lavery, Seán Keating, Norah McGuinness, Harry Kernoff, Mainie Jellett, Colin Middleton, Grace Henry, William Scott, Pauline Bewick, Louis le Brocquy, John Shinnors, Donald Teskey, Joseph Edward Southall, Bob Dylan and many others. At the time of writing the catalogue for de Veres sale is not to hand. This is an auction house that rarely disappoints and you are likely to find a particularly good selection of fine contemporary Irish art.
Rivermouth by Jack B Yeats at Whyte’s. UPDATE: THIS MADE 180,000 AT HAMMER
With monthly online sales interspersed with auctions of Important Irish and International Art shown in normal times for viewing both in London and New York Skibbereen based Morgan O’Driscoll keeps the ball rolling more than any other auctioneer of art in Ireland. The online catalogue for the auction next Monday offers much to choose from. The selection ranges from Yeats, Harry Kernoff, Nano Reid, May Guinness and Colin Middleton to Pauline Bewick, Felim Egan, Tony O’Malley and the French born Los Angeles based Mr. Brainwash whose work he has been successfully selling in latter years.
Contemporary art is driven by the experiences of contemporary life. The artist Brian Maguire never shirks difficult subjects. He is driven by the struggle against inequality and violence and is represented in this sale by a challenging work entitled Direct Provision. It features faces, bright eyes and white teeth against a darkand brooding ground. The acrylic on paper is estimated at €2,000-€3,000. Now firmly established as a first world country where refugees seek a haven it is no harm to be reminded that we Irish among the dispossessed not too long ago. John Behan’s unique bronze Famine Ship, lot 89 at Morgan O’Driscoll with an estimate of €8,000-€12,000, is a reminder of a dark and risky past that still exists for others today. In the 21st century the focus has shifted from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and the English Channel.
John Behan – West of Ireland, Famine Ship at Morgan O’Driscoll. UPDATE: THIS MADE 16,000 AT HAMMER
