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THIS very large coral model of a standing lady with fan and lotus sprig comes up as lot 88 at the James Adam online sale of Fine Asian Art today and tomorrow. It dates to early 20th century China and is estimated at €20,000-€40,000. Fine Arts from China and Himalaya comes under the hammer today. Tomorrow it is the turn of fine arts from Vietnam, South East Asia, India, the Middle East, Japan and Korea.
The global search for collectors of rare precious objects marks one way in which the auction world has adapted very quickly to changed circumstances. In 2021 there is nothing particularly unusual about the fact that an Irish firm –James Adam – has already held a Paris preview for a sale of Fine Asian Art due to take place in Dublin on June 29 and 30.The Paris view is not entirely unconnected to the fact that Adams has created its own Asian department and appointed Thibault Duval as its Dublin based head. M Duval was latterly head of the Asian Art Department at Drouot in Paris. This appointment marks a recognition of sorts that if major auction houses in Ireland are to survive and prosper in the 21st century they must open out to the new global realities and view Brexit as an opportunity rather than a threat.
A company like Sheppards in Durrow, Co. Laois with a track record of breaking records for Asian objects and then breaking them again has amply demonstrated that if you can produce the goods the buyers will come.
Adams has some interesting goods to offer in its sale on Tuesday and Wednesday week. Notable consignments include a collection of rare Chinese antiques from the estate of Carlos Alfredo Tornquist Altgelt (1885-1953), a hound scroll painting inscribed with the signature of Jesuit painter Giuseppe Castiglione, also known as Lang Shining, from the collection of Juan Carlos Katzenstein (1925-2018) who served as Ambassador to the Holy See and a wooden ruyi scepter from the collection of Nadezhda, widow of the Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov. There is a famous portrait of Madame Rimsky-Korsakov by Franz Xaver Winterhalter in the collection of the Orsay Museum. In Chinese Buddhism a ruyi can be a ceremonial scepter or a talisman symbolising power and good fortune in Chinese folklore.
There are Chinese jades last seen at auction at Drouot in 1925 and a jade horse formerly in the collection of Baron Pierre DeMenasce who contributed to an exhibition at the V & A Museum in 1975. A collection of Chinese Republican Period porcelains and an 18th century Meiping vase will feature among the 550 lots on offer.
Bidding is underday for the timed online At Home sale at James Adam in Dublin which begins to close at 10 am on June 9. There is garden furniture, a big selection of silver including some Cork pieces, jewellery, antique furniture, art, porcelain and collectibles including a pair of 19th century brass starting cannons.
This George III Irish silver dish ring is lot 48 at the James Adam timed online At Home sale in Dublin on June 9. It was made in Dublin c1775 by Ambrose Boxwell and is estimated at 800-1,200. The online catalogue lists 110 lots of silver and plate as well as a large selection of jewellery, furniture and collectibles. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,600 AT HAMMER
Cottages in Achill by Paul Henry made a hammer price of 210,000 over a top estimate of 160,000 at the James Adam sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin this evening. Another top lot was an original copy of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic signed by the printer Christoper Brady. Inscribed on the rear is that it was obtained in Sackville St., Dublin on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916. It made a hammer price of 170,000 over an estimate of 150,000-200,000.
The Inlet by William Crozier is lot 17 at the online sale of Important Irish Art at James Adam this evening. It is estimated at 20,000-30,000. The catalogue lists 149 lots and offers work by Paul Henry, Jack B. Yeats and Camille Souter. The sale gets underway at 6 pm in Dublin.
Encompassing everything from genre paintings, still life, abstract art, landscapes and Saint Gobnait to an original copy of the Irish Proclamation and a large bronze plaque made for An Tostal in 1953 the art sales at Whyte’s on Monday and Adams next Wednesday are brimful of interest. Given that collectors have adjusted remarkably well to the online model it seems safe to predict that there will be no shortage of competitive bidding for the 160 works on offer at Whyte’s and the 149 at Adams. In a welcome move towards normality the easing of Covid restrictions allows viewing for these sales by appointment. Online or in person there is much to see and appreciate. Whyte’s kicks off online on May 31 at 6 pm. Sean Keating painted his friend Harry Clarke thinking about St. Gobnait on the Aran Islands while working on a commission for his series of eleven windows at the Honan Chapel in Cork. The acclaimed windows were installed in 1916. Gobnait is traditionally associated with Ballyvourney in Co. Cork and with the Aran Islands. The resultant oil painting by Keating – exhibited at the RHA in 1918 – is lot 45 at Whyte’s, with an estimate of €50,000-€70,000.Along with Yeats and Keating, Whyte’s has work by artists including Cedil Maguire, Nathaniel Hone, Walter Osborne, Charlotte MacCausland, Harry Kernoff, Patrick Leonard, William Leech, Mary Swanzy, Maurice MacGonigal, Dan O’Neill, Tony O’Malley, Louis le Brocquy, Sean Scully, Donald Teskey and many others. A bronze An Tostal commemorative plaque celebrating Irish life by the sculptor Gabriel Hayes (1909-1978) is estimated at €3,000-€4,000 and there are prints by Bob Dylan and David Bowie with estimates from €1,200 to €3,000.
Original copies of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic are always much sought after. The one at Adams next Wednesday evening, signed by the printer Christopher Brady and obtained in Sackville St. on Easter Monday, 1916, has an estimate of €150,000. The sky and sea are made of blues, blacks and purples in William Croziers’ structural landscape The Inlet which Adams estimate at €20,000-€30,000. There is a more traditional approach in Cottages in Achill by Paul Henry (€140,000-€160,000) while the acclaimed Limerick artist John Shinnors took inspiration from the River Shannon for his magnificent and dynamic oil on canvas diptych Over the Estuary (€30,000-€50,000). Camille Souters’ Cycling to Chioggia, a little town south of Venice, is a memory painting from 1961 that was once in the collection of Sir Basil Goulding. It is estimated at €15,000-€25,000. Another memory jogger is an Elkington and Co. bronze of Oliver Goldsmith after John Henry Foley RA RHA (1818-1874). The estimate here is €3,000-€4,000. In a Dublin Waxworks by Jack B Yeats (€60,000-€100,000) once in the collection of the late Garech Browne at Luggala, recalls a popular attraction in the capital until it was burnt down during the 1916 Rising.
Thibault Duval has been appointed head of the newly formed Asian Art department at James Adam in Dublin. Educated in Paris at Ecole du Louvre he is a member of the Société des Amis du Musée Guimet, Paris and of the London Oriental Ceramic Society. M. Duval holds a BA in Law from the Sorbonne and has trained at leading museums and auction houses. He launched an Asian art department at a North American auction house, returning to Paris in 2013. Latterly he has been head of the Asian Art department at Drouot in Paris. He has travelled extensively in Asia and practices Chinese calligraphy. There will be an Asian art sale with 500 lots at Adams on June 29.
THIS c1960 gem set and diamond bracelet by Boucheron comes up as Lot 58 at the timed online Fine Jewellery and Watches sale at James Adam in Dublin. The auction will begin to close at 5 pm on Tuesday May 25. The bracelet illustrated here is composed of fluted foliate links, highlighted with circular cabochon sapphires, emeralds and rubies, each accented by a trio of brilliant-cut diamonds, with rope twist detailing and mounted in 18 carat gold. It is estimated at 5,000-6,000. UPDATE: THIS MADE 6,000 AT HAMMER
Aria 2 by Mark Francis is lot 5 at the James Adam Mid Century Modern sale online on May 11. The oil on acrylic on canvas laid on board is estimated at €6,000-8,000. The sale of 164 lots offers a collection of furniture, art, paintings and collectibles. UPDATE: THIS MADE 7,000 AT HAMMER
