Nile Rodgers at Glastonbury, 2017. Photo credit: Jill Furmanovsky
More than 160 lots of vintage and storied guitars, iconic fashions, unique synthesizers, production equipment and rare cars from the collection of legendary and multiple GRAMMY-winning composer, producer, arranger and guitarist Nile Rodgers will be sold by Christie’s in New York on December 16. His renowned productions for artists such as David Bowie, Diana Ross and Madonna have sold over 500 million albums and 75 million singles worldwide, while his trendsetting collaborations with Daft Punk, Avicii, Keith Urban, Disclosure, Sam Smith and Lady Gaga reflect the vanguard of contemporary music. Proceeds will benefit We Are Family Foundation, a non-profit organisation co-founded by Rodgers and Foundation President, Nancy Hunt, that promotes cultural diversity while nurturing and mentoring the vision, talents, and ideas of young people who are positively changing the world.
Viewing at Barrettstown House, Newbridge, Co. Kildare takes place on October 30 and 31 for Sheppards sale of 788 lots online on November 2 and 3. Government covid regulations will be strictly enforced for the viewing. Meantime the catalogue is online. Among the more unusual lots is a Chinese Qing Dynasty Imperial Court silk robe. Embroidered with nine gold dragons chasing the flaming pearl of wisdom and truth it is estimated at 3,000-5,000. UPDATE: The hand made Chinese carpet in the image above made a hammer price of 2,000 and the Imperial silk robe made 3,200 at hammer.
The first Penny Black postage stamp comes up at Sotheby’s Treasures sale in London on December 7. The world’s first postage stamp is part of a unique document from the archive of British postal reformer Robert Wallace. It is dated April 10, 1840 and estimated at £4-£6 million.
This small Penny Black – a pristine impression, unused, and from plate 1a (the very first printed sheet) and lettered A-I – represents the birth of a device that would be central to the birth of mass communications across the globe for more than a century and a half and that still has not been completely supplanted by newer technologies. Rediscovered nearly three decades ago but not fully recognised until much more recently, the stamp’s identification began when British businessman and philatelist Alan Holyoake came into the possession of The Wallace Document, to which the stamp is attached, almost ten years ago. Holyoake was to instigate a three-year research project – which culminated with the document being issued with certificates of authenticity from The Royal Philatelic Society, London (2016) and The British Philatelic Association (2015), and its subsequent exhibition at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington DC.
‘The Wallace Document’, which will be offered for sale at Sotheby’s, is considered the most important piece of philatelic history in the world. It is from a now dispersed personal scrap-album assembled by MP Robert Wallace, and brings together two highly important philatelic artefacts: the Penny Black and a proof of the ‘Mulready Stationery’ that had been commissioned by the government as an alternative means to prepay postage. Both were given to him in thanks by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Francis Baring, for everything that Wallace had done to overhaul the postal system and bring these innovations to fruition.
Renowned Irish and international figures including Dorothy Cross, Gottfried Helnwein and Eilis O’Connell are among 300 artists who have donated post card size artwork to raise critical funds for Lismore Cathedral, one of Ireland’s most historic buildings. A total of 900 cards go on sale anonymously on November 6 at Verso Art. With restoration funds in short supply, a local community group led by Julia Keane has been working on an intriguing way to help to keep the roof on St Carthage’s Cathedral which has been a place of learning and worship since 635AD. The idea is simple – anyone can buy one of the 900 or so postcard sized artworks donated to the project, but you don’t know who the artist is until after you’ve bought it. As a bonus, every €50 spent will be matched by the Tomar Trust up to the sum of €30,000.
Seal the deal for €50. Artwork by undisclosed artist Photo: Stefan Syrowatka
Paul Henry – Turf Stacks in Connemara. UPDATE: THIS MADE 190,000 AT HAMMER
Art auctions cover an amazing range of subjects and Morgan O’Driscoll’s upcoming evening online sale of Irish and International Art on October 26 – now on view at the RDS – is no exception. Nowadays turf cutting is controversial, following an EU habitats directive making cutting illegal on numerous Irish bogs. This adds a certain poignancy to one of the major lots of the auction, Paul Henry’s Turf Cutting in Connemara. It depicts mounds of turf drying in a classical Connemara mountain and water landscape under changing skies. Once a familiar feature of the Irish landscape sights like this are no more. The painting, which had been in an Australian collection, is estimated at 1€20,000-€160,000.In complete contrast is Bridget Riley’s captivating Two Blues from 2003, a screenprint from an edition of 250 with an estimate of €2,500-€3,500. In a catalogue note the former Crawford Gallery curator Peter Murray comments on the stylish abstract areas of colour with no one colour dominant in this work by the distinguished British artist. Big name international artists don’t come cheap but no matter what the cost it is always a good idea only to buy art you really really love. Sean Scully’s Untitled No. 9, a composition of interlocking rectangles, dates to 1982 and is estimated at €60,000-€90,000. There is a similar estimate on Banksy’s Jack and Jill (Police Kids) from 2005.William Conor captures beautifully the joy of children balancing on a makeshift see saw in Shuggleshoo. Shuggle means to shake and this work was exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1951. It is now estimated at €20,000-€30,000.A triptych by Francis Bacon, a 1989 recreation of a version first made in 1944, depicts strange hybrid creatures evoking aspects of humans and other animals. The lithograph, numbered nine from an edition of 60, is estimated at$ €20,000-€30,000. The same estimate is on a watercolour by Louis le Brocquy entitled Riverrun, Procession with Lillies.A portrait drawing of Captain Consadine by Sean Keating is estimated at €7,000-€10,000 and a drawing by Jack B Yeats entitled Romantic Shades comes with an estimate of €8,000-€12,000.The selection of sculpture includes Family Group by Edward Delaney, Autumn Birds by John Behan, Girl and her Shadow by F E McWilliam and High King of Munster by Orla de Bri. There is art by William Crozier, Damien Hirst, John Shinnors, Donald Teskey, Sean McSweeney, Alex Katz, Basil Blackshaw, Frank McKelvey, Dan O’Neill, Roderic O’Conor and other highly collected artists. The catalogue is online and the sale gets underway at 6.30 pm next Tuesday (October 26).
Jack and Jill (Police Kids) (2005) by Banksy UPDATE: THIS MADE 62,000 AT HAMMER
The eleven Picasso masterworks from the MGM Resorts collection made a total of $108,873,350 at a Sotheby’s sale in Las Vegas last night which was livestreamed around the world. Femme au beret rouge orange which features Picasso’s lover and muse Marie-Thérèse Walter made $40,479,000 over a top estimate of $30 million. Homme et enfant made $24,393,000 and Nature Morte au panier de fruits et aux fleurs made $16,637,350. The Sotheby’s auction was held at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas, where the works had been on display in the Picasso Restaurant for years. Picasso was born on October 25 exactly 140 years ago. MGM Resorts plans to diversity its collection to include more art from women, people of colour and emerging nations as well as from LGBTQ artists and artists with disabilities.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for August 11, 2021)
In what can be hailed as a welcome return to normality of a sort Ireland’s biggest antique fair for a long time is underway this weekend at the South Court Hotel in Limerick. Visitors are advised to bring their Covid certificates and to wrap up warmly as there will be plenty of ventilation. There is an array of art, furniture, old Irish glass and collectibles of every sort.
Treasures are showing this 19th century Greek icon
No prizes for guessing that the contents of Tullamaine Castle, home of the Tipperary Hunt, will contain much of equestrian interest when they are sold by Sean Eacrett at the Horse and Jockey Hotel on October 25. The castle, which has been sold, was a stud farm for the last 40 years where Bob Lanigan bred equine stars like Delilah, Bid Ajwad, Hot Tin Roof, Pollinator and the Minerva Rose.Highlights include a life sized sculpture of a pack of hounds by Robert Till, a walnut and marquetry longcase clock by Anthonij van Oostrom of Amsterdam, art by Peter Curling, an oil on canvas of the Bailey Lighthouse by Stephen Catterson Smith and a collection of signed prints by the 19th century British artist Lionel Edwards. Viewing is now underway at Tullamaine Castle and the catalogue is online.
Master of the Hunt by Peter Curling – the watercolour depicts Michael Higgins, Master of the Tipperary hunt. UPDATE: THIS MADE €3,200 AT HAMMER
DONALD TESKEY (B.1956) – Fog Latitude. UPDATE: THIS MADE 18,000 AT HAMMER
There is art by Paul Henry, Sean Scully, Francis Bacon, Banksy, John Behan, Bridget Riley and many more Irish and international artists at Morgan O’Driscoll’s sale of Irish and International Art on October 26. Viewing for this evening auction gets underway at the RDS and continues right over the Bank Holiday weekend. The catalogue is online. Fog Latitude by Donald Teskey is estimated at 15,000-25,000.
A pocket watch mentioned in Ulysses by James Joyce comes up at Bonhams Time is Precious sale in Paris on November 4. The 18 carat gold hunter case pocket watch and chain was owned by John O’Connell, Superintendent of Glasnevin Cemetary. The reference to O’Connell’s watch comes in Hades, the sixth episode of Ulysses. The novel’s central character Leopold Bloom travels with the funeral procession from Paddy Dignam’s house to Glasnevin cemetery where O’Connell was Superintendent (or caretaker as Joyce calls him). O’Connell regales the small group of mourners with an anecdote, an event described by Joyce as follows: “The caretaker hung his thumbs in the loops of his gold watch chain and spoke in a discreet tone to their vacant smiles.”
John Kileen O’Connell (1844-1925) was Superintendent of Glasnevin Cemetery, and a well-known and respected Dublin character. In Ulysses, Joyce described him as a ‘portly man’, who “ambushed among the grasses, raised his hat in homage” as the coffin of the deceased Paddy Dignam passed by on a barrow.
Curator of the Time is Precious sale, James Stratton, said: “This watch has the most fascinating and unusual provenance of any I have ever encountered. To offer a tangible item from one of the most famous and influential novels of modern times is a rare privilege and something I never expect to be able to do again.” The watch is estimated at £50,000-£80,000.
18ct gold hunter case pocket-watch and chain. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
