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This pink ground Famille Rose tea tray is among the top lots at the James Adam sale of Asian Fine Art, Oriental sculpture and ceramics in Dublin on November 5. The tray, with Jiaqing mark, dates to 1796-1820. The central reserve has an Imperial poem relating to tea preparation and date corresponding to 1797. It is estimated at 20,000-30,000.
UPDATE: The tray was unsold, a Qianlong Imperial Seal made 32,000 at hammer.
Hard on the heels of their Country House Collections auction at Townley Hall on October 15 the Dublin firm of James Adam will offer what is described as the most important single owner auction of Irish art in Dublin on October 23. On offer is around 200 lots of paintings, prints and sculpture from the collection of Antoinette and Pat Murphy. The total estimate for the sale is over one million euro. It is a collection of breadth and variety ranging from works by Nathaniel Hone, Paul Henry and Jack B. Yeats to contemporary work by Barrie Cooke, Basil Blackshaw and Camille Souter. The catalogue is online.
ACCORDING to James O’Halloran, managing director at James Adam in Dublin, the old reliables of Irish art perform best in the current market. The sale of Important Irish Art at Adams at 6 pm on September 25 contains a selection by some of Ireland’s best loved artists of the last 150 years.O’Halloran says that collectors of contemporary Irish art are well informed nowadays and only want the best that they can afford. In auctioneering terms this means fresh to market works by artists with a proven track record. In a small market this makes it very difficult for newcomers to break in. Sadly this has proved to be something of a brake on the auction development of emerging artists, whose work in Ireland is mostly promoted by galleries.On the Skibbereen Light Railway by Yeats is the auction highlight at Adams. Estimated at 150,000-200,000 the work, which explores the interaction between people on the long gone west Cork railway, was once owned by Leo Smith, founder of The Dawson Gallery, and at a later stage by the modernist architect Michael Scott. The auction features work by stalwarts like Sir John Lavery and Paul Henry. A classic west of Ireland landscape by Henry was purchased by Wilhelm Mueller, a member of the German Legation in Ireland in 1940 when the Second World War was raging. The family was granted permission to stay in Ireland after the war and did not return to their home country until the 1950’s. It has remained in their possession until now and is estimated at 60,000-80,000. The catalogue cover lot is Fighting Tinkers by Gerard Dillon (30,000-50,000). The Shelbourne Hotel has consigned a number of lots including Tony O’Malley’s Orpheus Autumn which dates from 1984 (15,000-20,000).
Paul Henry’s Cottages in a Landscape was the top lot at the James Adam sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin last night. It made a hammer price of 115,000. Other top hammer prices included Sean Keating’s Homeward Bound (76,000), Louis le Brocquy’s Aubusson wool tapestry Cuchulainn VIII 1999 (70,000), Gerald Leslie Brockhurst’s Portrait of Florence Forsyth (50,000), South of France Landscape by Mary Swanzy (32,000), A Lament for Art O’Leary, a set of six illustrations from 1940 by Jack Butler Yeats (19,000) and Girl in Stripy Jumper by Basil Blackshaw (18,000).
Top prices for Irish art at Bonhams in London yesterday included Looking at the Moon by Rowan Gillespie (£56,313); Londonderry by L.S. Lowry (£37,562); River scene, Londonderry by L.S. Lowry (£30,062) and November Evening, Bangor Pier by Colin Middleton (£22,562).
Rich pickings await collectors at two sales of Irish art in Dublin and one in London this week. The evening sale of art and sculpture at de Veres on June 11 offers three tapestries by le Brocquy including Allegory from 1950 (60,000-90,000). This series rarely appears at auction. There is as well a fine watercolour from his Tinkers series (40,000-60,000).The auction features work by artists like Patrick Scott, Mainie Jellett, Hughie O’Donoghue, Tony O’Malley, Robert Ballagh, Stephen McKenna and Sean McSweeney.A feature of this auction is the sculpture section, on view in the garden of The Merrion Hotel. The first piece on view is a massive bronze GI Bear by Patrick O’Reilly standing outside the hotel on Merrion Street (80,000-120,000).
Interest in the work of Mary Swanzy has hugely increased in latter years, helped no doubt by her major exhibition currently at the Crawford in Cork previously on show at IMMA. Her South of France Landscape dating from around 1915 is lot 38 at the James Adam evening sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on June 1. It is estimated at 20,000-30,000.Low Water, Spring Tide, Clifden by Jack. B, Yeats dates to 1906 and is his first oil painting, created when he was moving on from watercolour. It is estimated at 40,000-60,000 at Adams. The sale offers a number of fine 18th and 19th century landscapes by artists including William Sadler, John Henry Campbell, Frederick Brocas and William Ashford. Lot 62 is a monumental bronze by Edward Delaney featured in an RTE still photograph of the poet Patrick Kavanagh in 1962. Titled Cathedral it is estimated at 15,000-20,000. There are abstract works by Cecil King, William Scott, Felim Egan and Michael Farrell, A Connemara Landscape by Paul Henry and a 1920’s portrait by the English painter Gerald Leslie Brockhurst of Florence Forsythe. Adams point out that a portrait of film star Merle Oberon by Brockhurst sold last year for $290,000. Adams has a more modest estimate of 20,000-40,000 on their example.The Irish selection on offer at Bonhams Modern British and Irish art sale in London on June 12 is headed by Yeats’ Romeo and Juliet. There are two Irish sketches by L.S. Lowry as well as works by Louis le Brocquy, Colin Middleton, Rowan Gillespie, William Scott, Sean Scully and Sir John Lavery.
Brian Friel was a fan of the Cork artist Patrick Hennessy, one of whose paintings The Yew Walk was acquired by The National Gallery of Ireland at Sotheby’s in London last week for 9,794 euro. The playwright’s widow Anne Friel is donating the proceeds of the sale 23 paintings at James Adam in Dublin on September 26 to the Peter McVerry Trust which has been at the forefront of helping homeless people for many years.
Among them are four Hennessy’s including two major works featuring horses, Herding the Horses and Ruin and Horsemen. Estimates are around 7,000 and 6,000 respectively. Another highlight of the Anne Friel donation is Basil Blackshaw’s Game Cock bought as a gift for her husband as she thought the bird had the look of a survivor about it. Pictured here is Herding the Horses. UPDATE: THIS MADE 10,000 AT HAMMER
An Irish marble topped side table from the sale of the William Randolph Hearst collection in New York in 1939 is a feature lot at the At Home sale by James Adam in Dublin on June 17. It is estimated at 8,000-10,000. A George IV silver vine leaf dessert service is estimated at 6,000-10,000 and a set of George III neoclassical candlesticks is estimated at 6,000-8,000. There are 672 lots. The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:
AN IRISH MARBLE TOPPED SERPENTINE SIDE TABLE, c.1830 once in the Hearst Collection (8,000-10,000) UPDATE: THIS MADE 8,000 AT HAMMER
A George IV dessert set, Sheffield, 1829 (6,000-10,000). UPDATE: THESE MADE 16,500 AT HAMMER
A JAPANESE THREE PIECE IMARI PORCELAIN GARNITURE, Meiji Period (1868 – 1912) (1,500-2,000) UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,700 AT HAMMER
A SET OF FOUR GEORGE III NEO-CLASSICAL SILVER CANDLESTICKS, London 1785, mark of John Wakelin & William Taylor (6,000-8,000) UPDATE: THESE MADE 7,000 AT HAMMER
A FINE CHINESE KESI SILK WALL HANGING, 19th century (6,000-10,000) UPDATE: THIS MADE 6,000 AT HAMMER
The sale of about 100 lots from the UTV Collection, which was begun in 1959, will dominate the Irish art selection at James Adam. It offers a snapshot of art in Ulster throughout the 20th century. The Belfast Boys – Gerard Dillon, Colin Middleton, George Campbell and Dan O’Neill – are well represnted, Laganside at Dusk by Basil Blackshaw was an important commission and there is work by a range of artists from FE MacWilliam to Camille Souter. The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:
Paul Henry RHA (1877-1958) A Connemara Cottage 1925-30 (60,000-80,000) UPDATE: THIS MADE 87,000 AT HAMMER
Laganside at Dusk (1997) by Basil Blackshaw (40,000-60,000) UPDATE: THIS MADE 35,000 AT HAMMER
F.E. Mc William “Woman of Belfast III” (12,000 – 16.000) UPDATE: THIS MADE 35,000 AT HAMMER
Gerard Dillon “The Artist in the country” (15,000 – 20,000) UPDATE: THIS MADE 39,000 AT HAMMER
Weldon’s was established in Clarendon St. in central Dublin in the 1890’s. In the 1960’s Jimmy Weldon joined the business founded by his grandfather. A genial expert on Irish Georgian silver who has served twice as Master Warden of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths.
A very rare Kinsale silver trifid spoon (8,000-12,000 UPDATE: THIS MADE 11,000 AT HAMMER
A c1750 Limerick sugar bowl by Collins Brehon (8,000-12,000) UPDATE: THIS MADE 13,000 AT HAMMER
The Bronze Horses of St. Marks by Patrick Hennessy made a hammer price of 32,000 at James Adam.
Garden at Night by William Crozier sold for a hammer price of 19,000 at Whyte’s
