A rustic timber summer house from Kilkenny Castle. UPDATE: THIS MADE €3,000 AT HAMMER
A square timber summer house purchased at the dispersal sale at Kilkenny Castle in 1935 is among the rarities at Sheppards annual Glantelwe Gardens sale in Durrow next Tuesday (June 30) and Wednesday. It was designed to revolve on an iron wheel mechanism to follow the course of the sun throughout the day. The roof is now absent, steeply pitched gable ends have survived. The estimate is €3,000-€5,000.
The top lot is an impressive architectural garden folly. The circular carved stone temple is estimated at €15,000-€25,000. The sale offers everything from weathered staddle stones and 19th century turnstiles converted to tables to bronze fountains, garden seats, gazebos, stone piers, troughs, gates and architectural salvage sourced from private collections, country houses and gardens. Sheppards say that this popular annual event is Ireland’s only auction presented in a garden setting. The live and online auction with 749 lots is on view in nearly three acres of gardens from today (June 27).
A circular stone temple or garden pavilion at Sheppards. UPDATE: THIS MADE €8,500 AT HAMMER
John Constable (1776-1837) – Cottage in the Wood (1832) at Sheppards. UPDATE: THIS MADE 26,000 AT HAMMER
Cottage in the Wood (1832), a rare oil sketch by John Constable painted en plein air, leads Sheppards sale of Irish and international art in Durrow on June 10. According to former Crawford Gallery curator Dr. Peter Murray the scene is most likely Dedham Vale and this might well be Willy Lott’s cottage on the banks of the Stour near Flatford Mill, scene of Constable’s most famous work The Hay Wain. The estimate is €30,000-€50,000. This varied auction of 436 lots has work by David Hockney, Gerard Byrne, Arthur Maderson, Kenneth Webb, Henry Albert Hartland, Mildred Anne Butler, Louis le Brocquy, John Behan, Sean Scully and two works by emerging Dingle based artist Honora O’Neill. The sale is now on view in Durrow and the catalogue is online.
The three most expensively estimated lots at Gormley’s Irish and international art auction on the evening of June 9 – at €10,000-€15,000 – are by J B Vallely, Colin Middleton and Andy Warhol. They are titled respectively Five Fiddles, Female Figure and Portrait and Love FS II.310. Among 165 works are a study for a portrait of John Edwards by Francis Bacon, Les Fleurs du Mal by Georges Rouault, Five Faces of Eric Clapton by Patti Boyd and a seascape doodle on a restaurant napkin by Mohammed Ali. There is art by Markey Robinson, Mildred Anne Butler, Jack B Yeats, Mainie Jellett, Basil Blackshaw, Gladys MacCabe, Hector McDonnell, John Shinnors, Nano Reid and many more. The catalogue is online.
Colin Middleton – Female Figure and Portrait at Gormley’s. UPDATE: THIS MADE 15,000 AT HAMMER
This oil on canvas of the Wexford waterfront by Kenneth Webb, framed by the David Hendricks Gallery in Dublin, is lot 20 at Sheppards sale of Irish and International Art on June 10. The estimate is €3,500-€5,500. The sale includes art by John Constable, Louis Le Brocquy, Jacques Francois Carabain, James Humbert Craig, Evie Hone, David Hockney, Sean Scully, Cecil Maguire, Kenneth Webb, Pauline Bewick, William Percy French, Mildred Anne Butler, Felim Egan, Charles Lamb, John Behan, Anthony Scott, Elizabeth Le Jeune, Rory Breslin, and many more. There are 436 lots in total and viewing is now underway in Durrow. The catalogue is online.
A large antique Caucasian rug. UPDATE: THIS MADE 800 AT HAMMER
Antique Persian rugs, furniture and decorative objects sourced at auctions in the 1960’s, ’70’s and ’80’s at Kilroan House in Glanmire will come under the hammer at Sheppard’s on March 24 and 25.
Some of the rugs were acquired at the dispersal sale of Malahide Castle in the mid 1970’s and there is furniture from Adare Manor and other prominent Irish and English country houses from when their contents came to market.
Kilroan is brimful of lots collected with discrimination over many decades along with family heirlooms that reach way back. Viewing gets underway at the former family home of Mrs. Rosemary Punch and her late husband John in Glanmire on March 21. After three days of viewing in Cork the live and online auction will be held over the following two days in Durrow.
An 18th century oak longcase clock by James Aickin, Cork UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Auctioneer Michael Sheppard describes this as an exceptionally layered collection. Many of the Persian rugs were acquired at Malahide Castle. Sturdy oak furniture in the house has a timeless appeal. Carved oak pieces offer ultimate sustainabilty and versatility. The selection available here is plentiful and ranges from panelled oak coffers and trunks to armchairs, a court cupboard and refectory tables. Oak is sought these days both by traditionalists and those seeking to make modern minimalist interiors.
At Kilroan,which has been sold, furniture was selected for quality and character. Practical 18th-century oak and mahogany pieces sit comfortably alongside more unusual and expressive objects like a metamorphic library pole which is both functional and a statement piece, a Regency crossbanded sofa table, a yew wood library table, a Regency inlaid cellarete and a Regency ebony and parcel gilt open bookcase. Among the rare early books is a 17th-century translation of Homer’s Iliad along with books on gardening and early maps of Ireland. An iron-bound oak rent box is a 17th century piece. The collection of clocks includes an 18th century oak longcase clock by James Aickin, Cork and an 18th century longcase clock by Maddock of Waterford. There are plenty of clocks to choose from including a 19th century boulle inlaid bracket clock, a 19th century French gilt and marble figural mantel clock, a skeleton clock and a19th century barograph.
Map: The Harbour of Corke sold by Mount and Thos. Page at Tower Hill, London. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Decorative garden ornaments, seats and urns, accumulated over many years, are available along with an exceptional group of terracotta rhubarb forcers.
The late John Punch’s workshop is largely as he maintained it. There are engineering and woodworking machines including a Myford Super 7 centre lathe, an earlier Drummond Bros metal lathe, a Meddings pillar drill, and a Scheppach planer–thicknesser. These are presented along with tools, fittings and sections of old panelling salvaged from the dismantled RMS Celtic which foundered off Roches Point in December 1928.
Silver on offer includes provincial Cork silver, and fine 18th-century Dublin silver. Two 19th-century portraits, traditionally believed to depict John Punch and his wife, have long presided over the dining room. A painting of Dublin Bay by Nathaniel Hone the Younger is accompanied by a presentation plaque recording that it was gifted to a John Punch in the 1840s.
This is a comprehensive dispersal auction with an across the board appeal to all sorts of collectors. The catalogue lists more than 1,300 lots from the Punch collection and other clients.
Looking out at Fountainstown by Anna O’Hara UPDATE: THIS MADE 220 AT HAMMER
A Louis XIV sword, 17th century portrait miniatures, an 18th century silver tea service, a portrait of a noblewoman in the robes of the Order of Malta, a Book of Hours and collectible glass by Gallé, Daum and Baccarat will feature at Sheppards live and online Paradigms and the Unexpected auction in Durrow on March 10, 11 and 12.
These treasures are from a group of 150 lots in the auction from the Blandin family of Château de Chalain, France. They have been held in Ireland for over fifty years by direct descent, curated by its Irish family custodians.
The collection reflects generations of military, civic and cultural history. Among the earliest recorded figures in the family is Charles Louis Blandin de Chalain, owner of the Louis XIV sword (€1,000-€1,500). The blade is broken but an engraved Vive le Roi survives on one side. This offers a direct link to the family’s service under the French crown and is among a number of lots in the auction showing a continuity of lineage from Ancien Régime of France to its long-established Irish chapter.
Rare Gallé World War I vase. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Gallé World War I vases are among the rarest works of the École de Nancy. A Gallé World War I glass vase produced in 1915 with Art Nouveau glassmaking, war iconography and a subject that relates to the Vosges front has an estimate of €5,000-€8,000. It is from the Chateau de Chalain collection.
The Irish dimension of the sale is equally notable. A pair of 18th-century pastel portraits depict Walter Hussey de Burgh (1742–1783), Prime Serjeant and later Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, of Donore House, County Kildare and his wife and cousin Anne. He was one of Ireland’s most prominent legal figures of the period.
A stained glass watercolour study for the south window at Castlehaven church, Skibbereen. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
A set of six stained glass watercolour designs from the late 19th century form an important ecclesiastical archive. Attributed to Arthur Louis Moore & Co., London they were prepared for the Church of Ireland commissioners and reflect Moore’s practice of producing bespoke designs for individual churches. They were made for All Saints’ Church, Phibsborough, Dublin, Christ Church, Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire), Quin Church, County Clare (centre window, south side), St Mary’s Church, Donnybrook, Dublin (south side), Castlehaven Parish Church, Skibbereen, County Cork (south window) also known as St. Barrahane and Rathmolyon Church, County Meath (east window).
The craftsmanship of late 18th or early 19th century Irish workshops can be seen in a flintlock pistol by Dublin maker John Lanigan (1829-1835). A later percussion pistol by James Read of Dublin illustrates the technological transition from flint ignition to percussion mechanism in the 19th century. A pair of Japanese World War II “Big Eye” naval binoculars were probably manufactured by Nikon or Tokyo Kogaku Kikai (Tokyo Optical Company). The lot is accompanied by a US Army certificate permitting the removal of the binoculars at the end of the war.
An Irish 19th century inlaid commode. UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,000 AT HAMMER
An early Fang reliquary. UPDATE: THIS MADE 34,000 AT HAMMER
An early Fang reliquary figure from early 19th century Gabon is, at €30,000-€50,000, the most expensively estimated lot at Sheppards two day sale in Durrow on November 25 and 26. More than 1,200 lots of fine and decorative art, silver, antique furniture and sculpture from Irish and international collections will come under the hammer.
Among them are a 15th century carved oak altarpiece, a landscape by James Arthur O’Connor, exceptional 18th century Dublin and London silver, a pair of Roman marble urns, a French clock garniture and a 19th century French ormolu perpetual calendar. Viewing is underway in Durrow and the catalogue is online.
A Georgian breakfront four door bookcase is among the leading lots at Marshs sale in Cork on November 29. A Regency Cork card table, a set of ten brass inlaid Regency Cork dining chairs, a Georgian sideboard, a French ebonised and gilt drawing room suite and a Regency card table are feature furniture lots. There is a large private collection of Irish and English silver along with dinner and tea services. The sale will be on view from November 26 and the catalogue is online.
19th century ormolu mounted marquetry and porcelain inlaid credenza at Sheppards. UPDATE: THIS MADE €3,800 AT HAMMER
A 15th century Northern European altarpiece is among the highlights at Sheppards sale in Durrow on November 25 and 26. More than 1,200 lots of fine and decorative art, silver, furniture and sculpture drawn from Irish and international collections will be on offer including a Qing Dynasty silk wall hanging from Abbeyleix House. The altarpiece is estimated at €25,000-€45,000.
An English Chippendale giltwood mirror in the rococo and chinoiserie style UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
An array of wonderful choices – from a giltwood Chippendale mirror and a neo classical group of marble Italian putti to an Audemars Piguet royal oak offshore with an alligator leather strap and a pair of hexagonal gilt bronze hall lanterns – will face collectors at Sheppard’s Legacy of the Big House sale in Durrow from October 7-9.
The variety on offer at this three day sale of more than 1,700 lots ranges from a late 17th century Flemish verdure tapestry and a Cork flintlock blunderbuss with a brass barrel to an original film script for Lawrence of Arabia and a marine chronometer by Richard Hornby of Liverpool.
The most expensively estimated lots, at €30,000-€50,000 each, are the elaborate late 18th/early 19th century Chippendale giltwood mirror and the Audemars Piguet royal oak offshore which dates to the 2010’s. A 19th century Irish giltwood console table with verde antico marble top (€10,000-€15,000) and an Italian grand tour pietra dura topped coffee table (€8,000-€12,000) offer contrasting approaches to furniture but each one is laden with style. There is contrast too between a large 12 branch Waterford Crystal chandelier (€2,500-€3,500) and a pair of 19th century hexagonal gilt bronze hall lanterns (€8,000-€12,000).
An Irish gilt console table. UPDATE: THIS MADE 9,500 AT HAMMER
Less expensive but nonetheless seductive style is readily available at the other end of the financial scale. A cut crystal water jug, a silver plated rectangular tray, an Edwardian satinwood chest, a pair of Picasso ceramic plates and a large Japanese mixed metal vase are among a number of lots with top estimates of under €100. With estimates from €5 and €10 up this is an auction for people on any budget and curious collectors at all levels of the market. Collecting is not the exclusive preserve of those who can afford original Picasso artworks, it is a habit that can offer enjoyment for everyone.
Cleopatra after Guido Reni UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Drawn from houses at Longford Terrace in Dun Laoghaire and Rostrevor Terrace, Orwell Road in Dublin and other significant properties the sale kicks off with an 18th century Dublin brass fire fender (€1,400-€1,800). Among the early lots are a Famille Rose ewer (€100-€150), an elbow chair by Butler of Dublin (€300-€500), a Sevres plate with a Watteau inspired theme (€500-€800) and a grand tour specimen marble table (€3,000-€5,000). Lot 52 is a large scale portrait of Cleopatra with the asp after Guido Reni (€5,000-€8,000), lot 284 is a large 17th/18th century gothic carved giltwood frame (€14,000-€18,000), lot 450 is a 19th century gilt and patinated bronze figural music box (€2,500-€3,500) and lot 433 is a patinated bronze statue of Napoleon on horseback (€6,000-€9,000).
The catalogue is online and viewing in Durrow is from 10 am to 5 pm on today, tomorrow and Monday.
An 18th century blunderbuss marked “Cork” UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
PAIR OF 19TH-CENTURY GAINSBOROUGH ARMCHAIRS IN BUTTONED LEATHER UPHOLSTERY
This handsome pair of library armchairs will come up as lot 238 at Sheppard’s three day sale in Durrow from October 7-10. The Legacy of the Big House sale will offer around 1700 lots of Irish and international art, furniture, sculpture, lighting, arms, books and decorative objects. Viewing gets underway in Durrow on October 4 and the catalogue is online. The chairs are estimated at €5,000-€8,000.
Thorvald Hellesen – Abstract Constructivist Composition (Study) UPDATE: THIS MADE 9,000 AT HAMMER
Viewing is underway in Durrow for Sheppards evening sale of important Irish art on September 16. With 263 lots the sale spans two centuries, from 19th century landscapes from artists like William Ashford (1746-1824) to bold contemporary work from artists like Felim Egan and Sean Scully. My Country, a c1956 work by Dan O’Neill is estimated at €20,000-€30,000 as is Ballycastle Bay, Co. Mayo (2021) by Donald Teskey. There is sculpture by John Behan, Sionbhan Bulfin, Rory Breslin and others, a box set by Banksy of the Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem City, Palestine, a watercolour by Jean Dufy and a c1920’s Abstract Constructivist Composition (Study) by the Norwegian artist Thorvald Hellesen (1888-1937), an early adopter of Cubism in Scandinavia, influenced by Leger and the Parisian avant-garde.
