This Pugin style oak confessional box is one of the more unusual collectibles items of furniture to come up at auction in Ireland for some time. It is at €3,000-€5,000 the most expensively estimated lot at Victor Mee’s online sale of antique furniture, decorative interiors and ecclesiastical items from Clonliffe College Seminary in Dublin on May 10. Among a total of 628 lots are an ebonised Steinway grand piano, a Regency five pillar dining table and a 19th century oak pulpit with wrought iron balustrade.
The Dublin archdiocese has offered its former seminary at Clonliffe in Drumcondra for the accommodation of Ukranian refugees.
THIS REGENCY MAHOGANY FIVE PILLAR DINING TABLE MADE 10,000 AT HAMMER
Fleur de lys brooch by JAR courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2022
Twelve jewels by JAR from the estate of Ann Getty will highlight Christie’s Magnificent Jewels live sale in New York on June 8. Ann Getty’s striking group of jewels by JAR is one of the largest and most important private collections of works by the visionary designer, Joel Arthur Rosenthal to appear at auction. The group is expected to achieve in the region of $1.5 million. JAR’s masterfully crafted jewels are beloved by collectors as sculptural works of art. Evocative of 18th and 19th century design, they draw inspiration from historic architecture, intricate textiles, art and nature, and are often defined by their exquisite palette of signature pavé stones. From the diamond and gem-set fleur-de-lys brooch reminiscent of a sublime medieval stained-glass window, to the carved agate Zebra brooch adorned with a royal headdress, Ann Getty’s collection of JAR jewellery perfectly captures the artist’s early years of design and exploration and includes stunning examples of his most important creative themes.
George I gilt and scarlet-japanned bureau-cabinet, circa 1720, in the manner of John Belchier. UPDATE: THIS MADE £151,200
This spectacular early Georgian gilt and scarlet japanned bureau cabinet is the most expensively estimated lot at Sotheby’s sale of contents from Monte Alverno, Dalkey, Dublin in London on May 26. Formerly at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire it was acquired at Mallett’s in London in 1999 and is now estimated at £150,000-£250,000. The City by Jack B Yeats has a similar estimate. Monte Alverno; An Irish Private Collection contains a remarkable collection of English and Irish furniture and paintings from a home perched high on a terrace in Dalkey with views over the Irish Sea. There is beautifully carved and patinated Irish furniture dating from the mid-eighteenth century through to later pieces by Hicks of Dublin, partnered with gilded mirrors, Chinese works of art and fine English furniture along with paintings by Jack B. Yeats, William Scott, James Arthur O’Connor, Patrick Swift and other renowned Irish artists. The catalogue is online.
A pair of George III mahogany torchères, circa 1770
GIOVANNI ANTONIO CANAL, IL CANALETTO Entrance to the Grand Canal looking East, with Santa Maria della Salute at right UPDATE: In the hours leading up to the auction, Christie’s announced the private sale of Venice, the Grand Canal looking East with Santa Maria della Salute by Giovanni Antonio Canal, called Canaletto, to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, enabled through a generous donation by Diane B. Wilsey.
The legendary Ann & Gordon Getty Collection will be sold at Christie’s through a series of landmark auctions beginning next October. The collection stands alone in its quality, rarity and beauty. Nearly 1,500 works of English and European furniture, Asian works of art, European ceramics, Chinese export porcelain, silver, European and Asian textiles, and Impressionist and Old Master paintings from the couple’s San Francisco residence will be offered. The sales in October are expected to achieve as much as $180 million. Proceeds will benefit the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation for the Arts and designated beneficiaries include California based organisations like the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Symphony, University of San Francisco, Berkeley Geochronology Center, and the Leakey Foundation.
HENRI MATISSE Chrysanthèmes dans un vase de Chine UPDATE: THIS MADE $5.1 MILLION
Gordon Getty commented: “Though she left us far too soon, I know Ann would be proud that her exquisite eye and unmatched dedication to craftsmanship and scholarship are being shared with the world, and that the philanthropic planning around our art collection is being realised. These sales are a continuation of the longstanding philanthropic goals of the Getty family first established by my father, J. Paul Getty.”
Irish silver 4 piece tea service by William Egan & Sons Ltd. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,400 AT HAMMER
This Irish silver four piece tea service by William Egan & Sons Ltd, Cork comes up at Woodwards online art and silver auction on May 7. It is of panelled form with shaped handles and raised bases with the Glenisheen collar hallmark for 1973 and is estimated at €1,500-€2,500. Among the highlights are an abstract by Mainie Jellett and there is art by Arthur Maderson, Kenneth Webb, Gladys MacCabe, Kenneth Webb, Bingham McGuinness, Thomas Ryan, Alexander Williams, John Kingerlee, Tom Nisbet, Stella Steyn, Victor Richardson, Eileen Meagher and others. A Cork helmet shaped cream ewer stamped STERLING, a pair of boat shaped sauceboats by William Egan, a strawberry dish by the Cork maker Cyril O’Mahony, a berry spoon by Isaac Solomon, Cork 1831 and a Dublin dish ring by West and Son will all come under the hammer. UPDATE: Composition No. 24 and Abstract by Mainie Jellett made hammer prices of €8,000 and €5,000 respectively, St Peter’s Basilica Rome by Arthur Maderson made €4,000 and Paris in Spring by Gladys MacCabe made €2,800.
DEINONYCHUS ANTIRRHOPUS – MONTANA, USA. UPDATE: THIS MADE $12.4 MILLION
The Raptor – one of the most famous and rarest dinosaurs and the most complete skeleton of his species ever found – comes up at Christie’s in New York on May 12. Deinonychus is nearly 10 feet long with 126 fossil bones. Excavated from Wolf Canyon in Montana it dates to approximately 115-108 million year ago.
Fifty million years before the reign of the dinosaurs ended in the age of Tyrannosaurus rex, a smaller, more agile, pack-hunting predator was the most feared—and smartest—animal of its time. Known for its swift gait, lethal sickle claws and potent kick housed in an elegant, compact frame, Deinonychus was an incredibly sophisticated dinosaur species of theropods (carnivorous animals that can walk on two legs). This one is estimated at $4 – 6 million.
WAYNE THIEBAUD (1920 – 2021) – Three Ice Cream Cones. UPDATE: THIS MADE $4.98 MILLION
Wayne Thiebaud’s Three Ice Cream Cones ($2,500,000-3,500,000) from the private collection of Nina Van Rensselaer will lead Christie’s Post War and Contemporary Art day sale in New York on May 13. The work was acquired by Van Rensselaer directly from the artist and has been passed down in the same private collection for six decades. Highlights also include Helen Frankenthaler’s Crete ($1,500,000-2,000,000) and works from contemporary artists including Shara Hughes, Weeping Blur ($400,000-600,000).
Wall Plena (2021) by Sean Scully at Kerlin Gallery in Dublin
The squares of Sean Scully are legendary. They grace major museums and have enhanced exhibitions right around the world. The artist regarded as among the most important proponents of abstraction has paid enormous attention to this particular structure. Square at Kerlin Gallery in Dublin from May 14 to June 25 will bring together over 50 years of oil paintings, watercolours, drawings, sculpture, writings and prints from 1968 by Sean Scully.
There are measured grid paintings from the 1970’s, his Wall of Light series and the recent Dark Window series made during lockdown. Square will include a new series of prints and drawings made with the artist’s finger on an iPhone screen. These playful drawings teem with life and energy. The creative potential of the screen is driving major artists more and more, among them David Hockney, who has produced a fascinating series of screen artworks.
Imperial Safari sofa by Archizoom. UPDATE: THIS MADE 9,500 AT HAMMER
Titans of modern British, European and American art like Patrick Caulfield, Bridget Riley, Karl Appel, Milton Avery and Lucien Freud and a selection of sleek designer pieces by Italian, French, Finnish and Danish designers make for a fascinating Mid-Century Modern sale at James Adam in Dublin on May 10. No less than 28 of the 216 lots on offer are from the estate of a deceased Dublin collector with a deep interest in Modern art. A collection like this one offers a variety of once off opportunities with rich pickings for the significant band of Irish collectors with a growing appreciation of this relatively recent period. It provided the catalogue cover lot, Patrick Caulfield’s Coach Lamp from 1994 purchased from the Waddington Galleries in London and now estimated at €40,000-€60,000.
Coach Lamp (1994) by Patrick Caulfield UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Three Squares in Yellow by Patrick Heron, regarded as one of the finest colourists of the 20th century, dates to 1960 and is estimated at €20,000-€30,000. Two Pines by the American artist Milton Avery, who is to be the focus of an exhibition at the Royal Academy this summer, is a mixed media work with an estimate of €20,000-€30,000 and Lucian Freud contributes an etching titled Head of a Man which dates to 1986/87 and comes with an estimate of €15,000-€20,000. There are paintings and drawings by Karl Appel, Jean Dubuffet, Josef Herman and Max Libermann. Among the Mod Brit artists on offer are Ben Nicholson, Graham Sutherland, Sir Terry Frost and Matthew Smith.
A set of six Les Arc chairs with leather seats on tubular black frames by Charlotte Perriand (€4,000-€6,000), an Imperial Safari Sofa by Archizoom (€10,000-€15,000), a large rosewood sideboard by Silvio Cavatorta (€4,000-€6,000) and a set of 12 chairs by Charles and Ray Eames with fibreglass shell seats on an aluminium base (€3,000-€5,000) will be of huge interest to collectors of modern furniture. A walnut sideboard by the Italian Gianfranco Frattini dates to 1960 and is estimated at just €3,000-€5,000, a 1950’s wood, brass and metal bench by Bugatti is estimated at €1,500-€2,000 and a c1950 dining table by Finn Juhl is estimated at €2,000-€2,500. Consoles, wall lights, bar cabinets, mirrors and armchairs from the period are included.Art from other private collections includes works by Stephen McKenna, John Boyd, Colin Martin, William McKeown, Mick Mulcahy, Francis Tansey, Eithne Jordan, Deborah Brown and Graham Gingles. Collectible graphic works by Francis Bacon, Sean Scully, Mark Geary and William Scott range in estimate from €500 to €5000. The catalogue is online now.
LOUIS LE BROCQUY (1916-2012) – Playboys of the Western World. UPDATE: THIS MADE €1,600 AT HAMMER
This set of six lithographs framed as one by Louis le Brocquy comes up as lot 15 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s affordable online Irish art auction which is running now. The estimate is 800-1,200. The catalogue, with work by a wide variety of artists, is online now and bidding ends from 6.30 pm on May 3.
