Set of four George II mahogany torchères c1740. UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR £37,800.
This set of four torcheres come up as lot 69 at Sotheby’s Royal and Nobel sale, online from today until January 20. To have a set of four mahogany torchères from one source is extremely rare as they are often found as pairs. Originally used to supplement the fixed lighting arrangements in large rooms, torchères played an important role in the 17th and 18th century interior. The refined form of those in the present lot highlights the quality of the mahogany used in construction. According to Sotheby’s it seems that those offered here were bought or commissioned for the Long Gallery at Blickling Hall, Norfolk. They are estimated at £6,000-9,000.
Rare English Enamel Writing Casket UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
This c1775 English enamel writing casket bears the arms of Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1751-55. It comes up at Sotheby’s live sale of American Furniture, Silver and Decorative Arts in New York on January 19 with an estimate of $15,000-25,000. Measuring ten and a half inches long it is thought to be probably Birmingham.
Sandro Botticelli – The Man of Sorrows. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $45.5 MILLION
A link between Botticelli and the buses, unknown to art history, has emerged on the art market. You wait for ever and then two come along more or less together. One of the last great masterpieces by the Renaissance master will highlight Sothebys annual Masters Week sale series in New York later this month. The Man of Sorrows is estimated to make in excess of $40 million (€35.4 million). It is a late period work from a time when the artist was greatly influenced by the fanatical preaching of hellfire Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola. The most distinctive features are the frontal presentation of the stunningly modern human portrayal of the resurrected Christ and a halo of angels holding the instruments of the passion.
Works by Botticelli are exceedingly rare. In January 2021 Sotheby’s sold Sandro Botticelli’s Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Roundel for $92.2 million (€81.78 million). It is the most valuable Old Master painting ever sold at auction.
Sandro Botticelli – Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Roundel.
A South Italian pietre dure, mother-of-pearl and marble table top, Naples, ate 17th century. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £63,000
This late 17th century Italian table top in the manner of Cosimo Fanzago comes up at Sotheby’s Stone III sale online in London from January 3-19. It is estimated at £50,000-70,000. Exquisite works of art, objects and pieces furniture made of, or incorporating, marbles, hardstones and micromosaics feature in an auction which explores the incredibly rich use of these materials in European Decorative Arts, with an emphasis on their rarity, colour and craftmanship.
Eruption by Cian McLoughlin sold for £52,950 at Sotheby’s in London in November in what has been a very good year for Irish art and artists, established and up and coming. The top estimate was £18,000. McLoughlin features in in Ireland’s National Collection and is participating in the blockbuster Grayson Perry Art Club and Exhibition at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery until next September. Based on Perry’s tv series this is a show made by the public, established artists, and celebrities as powerful and very personal responses to the pandemic. Collectively, they form a lasting artistic record of these unprecedented times.
Studio of Charles Jervas (1675-1739) Portrait of a lady, said to be Catherine, Lady Paisley. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £27,720
This oil on canvas portrait by the Irish artist Charles Jervas comes up at Sotheby’s online Royal and Noble sale in London which ends on January 20 with an estimate of £4,000-6,000. The sitter is said to be Catherine, Lady Paisley, wife of James Hamilton, Lord Paisley. Born in Co. Offaly Jervas succeeded Sir Godfrey Kneller as principal painter in ordinary to King George I in 1723 and was a popular artist often referred to in works by literary figures of the period. His portraits of his friends Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope are in the National Portrait Gallery in London. Bidding for the Royal and Noble sale opens on January 3.
The most important Brontë material to come to light in a generation and two of the greatest Scottish manuscripts in private hands are among a treasure trove of English and Scottish literature at the Honresfield Library saved for the nation in the UK. The Friends of the National Libraries (FNL) has just announced that it has successfully raised over £15 million to acquire the historic manuscripts and books which includes manuscripts by the Brontës, Jane Austen, Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott. FNL will donate every manuscript and printed book to libraries and writers’ houses across the UK so that they are accessible to everyone.
Earlier this year Sotheby’s announced that the manuscripts, first editions, letters and bindings that make up the legendary Honresfield Library – assembled with passion by self-made Victorian industrialists William and Alfred Law at the turn of the 20th century – were to be offered at auction in a series of three sales starting in July 2021. Working together with the UK charity FNL Sotheby’s agreed to postpone the commencement of the auctions to allow for negotiations for the entirety of the library to be acquired by a consortium of institutions for the nation.
Following the appeal to public and private donors over the course of the past few months, FNL has successfully raised over £15 million to purchase the library for the nation.
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for May 25 and June 17, 2021)
It has been a record year at Sotheby’s so far in 2021. Driven by strength and depth of demand and an influx of new collectors the consolidated sales at the company now stand at $7.3 billion. This is the strongest total in Sotheby’s 277 year history.
With more than 20 sales still to go, Sotheby’s standout year to date results includes auctions with a running total of $6 billion and private sales achieving $1.3 billion. As auctions rebounded and clients responded to a seamless digital and physical experience new sale formats and categories attracted a wider audience. A record number of bidders joined in Sotheby’s sales – 44% them new to the auction house. A rise in quality works coming to the market is meeting strong demand from new and established collectors.
A view of the white glove sale of the Macklowe Collection, which made $676.1 million in New York in November
This late George III cut glass 12 light chandelier, described as possibly Irish, comes up at Sotheby’s Town and Country, A Private Collection sale which runs online until December 14. Acquired from Denton Antiques, London in 2003 it is estimated at £15,000-£25,000. The sale also features an Irish cut glass pedestal bowl and a pair of Irish 18th century glass oval wall mirrors by Gresley.
UPDATE: The chandelier sold for £16,380, the pedestal bowl made £504 and the oval mirrors made £6,300.
A marble figure of the Capitoline Aphrodite known as The Hamilton Aphrodite, one of the greatest Roman sculptures in private hands, sold for £18,582,000 at Sotheby’s in London today. It had been estimated at £2-£3million. Dating back to the 1st or 2nd century AD marble lays claim to being the finest single piece of ancient sculpture ever to have resided in Scotland, where it spent 144 years between 1776 and 1919, as one of the main attractions of Hamilton Palace, the seat of the Dukes of Hamilton. The Aphrodite entered the collection of Hamilton Palace in 1776, when it was purchased in Rome by Douglas Hamilton, 8th Duke of Hamilton and 5th Duke of Brandon (1756–1799) from the Scottish neoclassical painter and art dealer, Gavin Hamilton (1723–1798, of no relation to the Duke).
It was acquired by William Randolph Hearst in 1920 and by the Hungarian born New York based art dealer Joseph Brummer in 1940. It was last sold at auction at Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York in 1949.
