18TH-CENTURY SINO-TIBETAN GILT BRONZE FIGURE OF A MANJUSHRI
This finely cast 18th century Sino-Tibetan gilt bronze made a hammer price of €9,500 over an estimate of €800-€1,200 at Sheppards two day sale of the collection of Philip and Constance Murphy in Durrow today. The figure of a Manjushri, the bodhisattva of transcendent wisdom, is seated in the meditation position atop a double-lotus throne with beaded rims. It is richly adorned with beaded jewellery and a five-pointed crown, with detailed facial expression and blue pigment remaining in the hair and crown crevices. A folder of 24 Chinese Qing watercolours made €14,000, a Chinese Qing period Hu shaped vase made €7,650 at hammer, a 19th century oil painting of a volcanic eruption by moonlight made €7,500, a 19th century marine chronometer made €5,400, a Chinese Qing Period blue dragon plate made €5,000, an Arts and Crafts carpet made €4,300, a 19th century automaton bird clock under a glass dome made €4,000 at hammer, a Persian Tabriz carpet made €4,200, an 18th century Dublin bracket clock made €3,600, a trio of Chinese gold commemorative coins made €2,800 and a Chinese lime glazed bowl made €2,800.
19th century French polished steel and brass centre table. UPDATE: THE CLOSING BID WAS 3,000
This white veined marble topped table is the leading lot at Mullen’s of Laurel Park timed online Classic and Contemporary Interiors auction which runs in Bray until July 20. The marble rests on a pierced foliate cast frieze on scroll supports. The estimate is €3,000-€4,000. The catalogue lists over 650 lots and is online.
NEVILLE BATH – The County of Cork surveyed. UPDATE: THIS MADE €1,600 AT HAMMER
A linen backed map of The County of Cork in 1811 by the land surveyor Neville Bath leads the timed online books and works on paper auction by James Adam in Dublin. The sale runs until July 17. The survey, carried out by order of The Grand Jury of the County, is estimated at €2,000-€3,000.
Sheppards will auction contents from this room at Royal Terrace West in Dun Laoghaire
Take a close look at this photograph of one of the reception rooms at 6 Royal Terrace West, Dun Laoghaire and you will undoubtedly agree that it is elegant, comfortable, lived in and loved. This was home to the late collectors Philip and Constance Murphy and Sheppards will auction their contents on July 15-16.
Because this room might not appear to be particularly fashionable in the current sense this auction offers a real opportunity for collectors. Take another look at the furniture in the room. The view from left to the middle of the picture reveals a Georgian sofa table, a Regency teapoy on tripod base in the window, a 19th century upholstered mahogany footstool, a mahogany open bookcase with fluted uprights and a three seater sofa.
At 2025 prices these five pieces are respectively estimated at €500-€800, €250-€350, €150-€250, €200-€300 and €300-€500. The lower estimates add up to just €1,400, the upper ones to €2,200. Even with the addition of fees of around 25%-30% including VAT prices like this represent startling value. Wonderful for buyers, not such good news for sellers.
Donegal runner designed by CFA Voysey UPDATE: THIS MADE €3,400 at hammer
At the very least the Murphys, as real collectors, will have experienced the joys of putting that room together over many years, of adding, subtracting and replacing pieces and greatly enjoying their home.
Continuing on our visual journey around this room we come across two Victorian armchairs, one with scroll arms, a Victorian Canterbury, a Victorian circular mahogany table, an Edwardian inlaid mahogany cabinet on stand, two upholstered wingback armchairs and a pair of Chinese red lacquer blanket chests doing duty as side tables.
The Victorian button back armchairs are each estimated at €200-€300, the Canterbury at €200-€300, the circular table at €400-€600, the cabinet on stand at €400-€600, the upholstered wingback armchairs at €150-€250 each and the pair of Chinese lacquered chests at €400-€600.
The front of a Georgian bureau bookcase can be glimpsed to the far right of the picture and this is estimated at just €500-€800.
A white Jambala Thangka or traditional Tibetan Buddhist painting on fabric. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 301
The auction is on view at the classic Victorian terraced house at Royal Terrace West on today, tomorrow and Monday from 10 am to 5 pm on each day. The sale of just over 1,000 lots will take place in Durrow and online.
19th century French gilt mantle clock with Daniel in the Lion’s Den. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
A c1770 Cork silver coffee pot by John Nicholson. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Silver, jewellery, art, rugs, furniture and collectibles will come under the hammer at Hegarty’s live online auction on July 16. Top lots include a George III Cork silver coffee pot by John Nicholson. The highly collectible c1770 piece is of baluster form, raised on a circular foot, with a cartouche, a family coat of arms and a hardwood handle. The estimate is €10,000-€12,000. At Hegarty’s last sale on June 26 a rare Irish silver cream ewer by Joseph Johns of Limerick from the same collection made €4,600 at hammer.
In a sale with a rich selection of rings a round, brilliant cut diamond solitaire of 2.02 carats and earrings is estimated at €10,000-€12,000. A Cartier cluster ring has an estimate of €7,500-€8,500, an Irish made gold, emerald and diamond ring is estimated at €2,000-€3,000 and a pair of Tiffany silver hoop earrings is estimated at €180-€220. An early panoramic oil on board of the Irish countryside by Norman McCaig is estimated at €800-€1,200 and Isabella, a sketch by John Butler Yeats, has an estimate of €700-€900. The catalogue is online.
Panoramic oil on board by Norman McCaig. UPDATE: THIS LOT WAS WITHDRAWN
Hermès, The Original Birkin Crafted For Jane Birkin, 1985
The original Birkin bag sold for world record €8,582,500 at Sotheby’s in Paris today. The black leather bag was made for Jane Birkin in 1985 after she spilled her belongings while sitting next to the Jean-Louis Dumas, head of luxury fashion house Hermès on a flight. She asked why they didn’t make bigger bags, so he sketched out the design for a new, more practical but still highly desirable item on the aeroplane’s sick bag. The Birkin bag became a modern icon and the most coveted bag in the world.
The prototype he made went to a private collector from Japan after a ten minute bidding war between nine collectors. Birkin, who died in 2023 at the age of 76 was a British and French singer, actor and designer whose steamy 1969 hit “Je t’aime moi non plus” with Serge Gainsbourg became a classic.
The price crushed the previous auction record for a handbag — $513,040 paid in 2021 for a Hermès White Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Retourne Kelly 28.
PAIR OF WILLIAM IV MAHOGANY X-FRAME WINDOW SEATS. UPDATE: THIS LOT WAS WITHDRAWN
This pair of William IV window seats are lot 58 at the James Adam timed online warehouse auction which runs until July 18. Complete with twist turns and cross stretchers and brown leather horsehair padded seats they are estimated at €1,000-2,000. More than 400 lots of art, furniture, silver and collectibles will come under the hammer with viewing at Adams Warehouse in Dublin from July 16. The catalogue is online now.
This early Penal Cross made a hammer price of €2,900 over a top estimate of €1,200 at Usher Auctions sale in Kells on July 7. Irish Penal Crosses are a survival from the 18th and early 19th centuries when religious practice for catholics was forbidden by the Penal Laws. These devotional objects were often carried by people at a time when public displays of catholicism was suppressed and catholic mass was held in secret. The small size of the cross meant that it could be carried by a priest up his sleeve.
Margaret Stokes (1916-1966) – Twilight, Merrion Square, Dublin. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £1,536
This oil on canvas by Margaret Stokes is at Bonhams sale of Modern British and Irish Art at Knightsbridge in London on July 16. The artist was a pupil at The Royal Hibernian Academy School and won the Purser Griffin Scholarship which she used to attend the Glasgow School of Art and later went to the Edinburgh College of Art. Her first influence was her cousin Mainie Jellett who gave her art lessons from an early age. This work is estimated at €800-€1,200.
Sean Scully has just turned 80 and to mark the occasion the Bucerius Kunst Forum in Hamburg is mounting a comprehensive retrospective. Sean Scully Stories , which runs until November 2, features artworks spanning over six decades, with large scale paintings, works on paper, sculpture and photographs. The retro format highlights how the acclaimed Dublin born artist continuously explores new forms of expression and re-interprets abstraction. For him nothing is truly abstract, his art is an expression of self-perception and photos in the show reveal the visual sources of his inspiration. Sean Scully now lives and works between New York, London and Mooseurach in the south of Germany.
