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This 19th century gilt brass mounted walnut table is lot 205 at Mullen’s Classic and Contemporary Interiors online auction at Laurel Park, Bray on August 24. Estimated at 800-1,200 it is one of more than ten desks and bureaux in this auction of 637 lots. The auctioneers reckon that these pieces might be of particular interest to those newly working from home. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
British born German based Tony Cragg is regarded as one of the world’s most distinguished contemporary sculptors. A dozen of his works made between 2018 and this year in bronze, wood and steel, will be shown at a Galerie Thaddeus Ropac exhibition in Paris from September 11 to October 16. An online viewing experience of the show will launch simultaneously at www.ropac.net. These new works connote the movement, change and transience of elements caught in the process of transformation. Overlapping layered structures and convoluted forms give rise to figurative landscapes. The implied motion of the forms is reminiscent of Italian Futurist speed fanatics like Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916) and Giacomo Balla (1871-1958). A Turner Prize winner (in 1988) Cragg considers himself a radical materialist, constantly seeking to explore and expand the possibilities of new materials. In 2007 he received the Praemium Imperiale for Sculpture from Japan and was made a knight in 2016.
This 1796 silver token, a ticket medal to the Private Theatre at Fishamble St. in Dublin, comes up at an online sale at Dix Noonan Webb in London on August 27. With the robed figures of Tragedy, Comedy and Lyric and in the name of L. Taylor it was made by William Mossop, considered to be the founder of metallic art in Ireland, and speaks to a history of theatre splits here.
The Private Theatre – located on the same premises where Handel’s Messiah had its world premiere at the New Music Hall in 1742 – was established in the1790’s as a result of dissatisfaction with the way affairs were conducted at the city’s Theatre Royal, which had opened at Smock Alley in 1662. Under the management of the Earl of Westmeath and Frederick Jones, described as a threatre promoter and gentleman of independent means from Vesington, Co. Meath, it must have involved some talent scouting. Each subscriber was allowed two silver tickets and could, if qualified, take part in the performance. Lot 219 is from a collection of 81 lots of Irish tokens from a private collection and is estimated at £300-£400.
UPDATE: THE TOKENS SOLD FOR £750
With everything from an old bowler hat and a shillelagh to antique furniture, silver condiments, oil lamps, costume and other jewellery, a George III military tray, Belleek and other porcelain, a Victorian cast iron fireplace with original tiles to armchairs, mirrors, garden sculpture, chests of drawers and books the three day sale by Matthews in Castlepollard, Co. Westmeath is brimful of interest for collectors and bargain hunters. More than 1,800 lots will come under the hammer at this three day on the premises clearance auction which gets underway today. Incorporating an original Victorian chemist shop the premises is a large townhouse on The Square. The online auction features a wide spectrum of goods gathered over three generations by the Slattery family.
Michael Jordan is rapidly becoming the ultimate collectible. A pair of his game worn sneakers has just sold for $615,000 at Christie’s. The game worn Air Jordan I Highs broke a record set in May when another pair of his sneakers sold for $560,000. The online sale of Jordan’s game worn and player exclusive rarities realised $931,875.
Meantime the historic rookie NBA official Chicago Bulls game jersey presented to Michael Jordan will come up at Julien’s in Hollywood next December 4 with an estimate of $200,000-400,000. Regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time Michael Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships and won the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player award in each of those championships.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for August 2, 2020)
The largest lunar sphere on earth will lead Christie’s Deep Impact: Lunar and rare meteorites sale online until August 25. It was fashioned from a lunar meteorite — a piece of the Moon ejected into space following an impact on the lunar surface. While not one milligram of the 400kg of Apollo material is available for private ownership, some of the material returned to Earth by Apollo astronauts is remarkably similar to select lunar meteorites, including this offering. With a 98mm diameter (4 inches), this is, besides the Moon itself, the largest lunar sphere known. It is estimated at $300,000-500,000. The sale features dozens of extraterrestrial specimens and estimates are from $500.
AN Irish manuscript cook book with recipes from 1755 onwards comes up at Bonhams Fine Books and Manuscripts auction in London on August 19. Lot 43, titled Rosconnel, February 25, 1755 / Receipts and cookery, includes 236 numbered recipes in several hands. There are 26 further pages of un numbered recipes including “A Friday Pudding”, “To make a Runnet”, “Dutch Beef, The Right Receipt”, “To Dry Cherrys in Bunches”, “To make Hartshorn Flumery”, “To dress Snails”, “Leg of mutton a la Daube”, “Pigeons in night gowns”, “Sauce for Wild Fowl”, “To Brew and distill Whiskey”, “To make a Devonshire Squab” , “Portable Soop”, “The famous Sally Lunn’s Breakfast Cakes” (“…by the time you have made three or four your hand will be in…”).
One of the first mentions of the famous Sally Lunn bun comes in 1776 in a poem about Dublin by the Irish poet William Preston and the first recorded mention of the bun in Bath, where it originated, is in Captain Philip Thicknesse’s 1780 guidebook to taking the waters at Bath. The recipe became enormously popular and the Sally Lunn bun can still be sampled at Bath’s eponymous tea shop.
The auction features Ruth Watson’s collection of Antiquarian Cookery Books. Lot 30 is a manuscript recipe book originally from the collection of the renowned Chicago food writer and restauranteur Arnold Shircliffe, including recipes “Written down for me by my Irish cook Margaret Berry 1854 – as done at their House”.
An Irish George II mahogany side table sold for £2,422 at Bonhams Home and Interiors sale in Knightsbridge, London last week. The c1755 table is complete with one frieze drawer over a shaped apron carved with a characteristic central scallop shell.
More than 1,800 lots will come under the hammer at a three day sale in Castlepollard, Co. Westmeath on August 15, 16 and 17. Matthews of Kells will conduct the on the premises contents auction online. Viewing gets underway on August 13. Pictured is a an overview of some of the lots to be sold.
Say it Loud spotlights 22 exceptional emerging and mid career contemporary Black artists around the world. The online virtual exhibition presented by Christie’s in New York until August 18 takes its title from the iconic James Brown song “Say it Loud: I’m Black and I’m Proud” . It is the first in a series of exhibitions and educational programming by Christie’s CSR Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives. Each of the artists uses their medium as a guiding force to construct images of identity, and to showcase the vulnerability of identity. The artist Josh Paige, born in Brooklyn in 1990, does this conspicuously with Target Practice (1), a digital print made this year. The arresting image shown here is from an edition of five and it is available via Christie’s for $500.
