Gerard Dillon – Boys Catching Crabs in Connemara sold for £281,600
Irish paintings sold for over £2 million at Sotheby’s in London tonight. Six works by artists Paul Henry (2), Jack B Yeats , Sir William Orpen, Roderic O’Conor and Gerard Dillon brought in £2,040,320 (€2,412,617). The Potato Harvest by Paul Henry made £883,200, Little Spanish Dancer (Girl in Red Shawl) by Sir William Orpen made £358,400, Boys Catching Crabs in Connemara by Gerard Dillon made £281,600, Red Rocks and Foam by Roderic O’Conor made £243,200, A Winter Sea by Paul Henry made £192,000 and Galway by Jack B Yeats made £81,920. There were unsold lots by Sean Scully, Jack B Yeats and Paul Henry. All nine works were from a private collection. The nine paintings carried a combined estimate of £1.4 million (€1.6 million).
PAIR OF CANTONESE 18TH CENTURY EXPORT PORCELAIN VASES AND COVERS
This pair of Cantonese vases made a hammer price of €30,000 over an estimate of €2,000-€3,000 at Adams Townley Hall Country House Collections sale in Dublin yesterday. With a height of 68 they are decorated with views of figures in a court interior and panel of flowering foliage and insects. The covers have finials modelled as temple dogs.
The top lot of the auction was Concert (Three Figures) an oil on canvas by Adam de Coster (1586-1643), regarded as one of the most refined painters of the Flemish Baroque. It made €60,000 at hammer over an estimate of €40,000-€60,000. An Irish 18th century mahogany side table made €38,000, a George III giltwood pier mirror made €36,000, a Louis XIV gold coronation medal made €22,000, a laughing mask by Jean Joseph Carriès made €22,000 and a portrait of the racehorse Bloomsbury with Sam Templeman Up by John Frederick Herring senior made €18,000.
ADAM DE COSTER (1586-1643) – Concert (Three Figures)
The personal Stanley Kubrick collection will be offered by Bonhams in London next February. One of the most respected and influential filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999), left an indelible mark on culture. Be it 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971), The Shining (1980), or Eyes Wide Shut (1999), his films pushed boundaries and redefined the limits of cinema, leaving a lasting impression on the public consciousness that extends far beyond the screen. His influence can be seen across design, music, art, and fashion, as well as in works of countless fellow filmmakers, from Steven Spielberg to Christopher Nolan.of one of cinema’s true auteurs as his personal archive comes to auction for the first time. Featuring iconic props, scripts, equipment and personal possessions offered directly from the Stanley Kubrick Film Archives the auction at Bonhams on February 3 will offer fans and collectors a once-in-a-lifetime chance to own some of the most important artefacts in film history. An online auction will run to the following day. His director’s chair is estimated at £8,000-£12,000.
Kitty Wilmer O’Brien RHA (1901-1982) – Coastal scene with Mountain
Viewing for Whyte’s online autumn art auction is now underway in Dublin. The auction on October 19 offers an array of accessible art at affordable prices. Artists in the sale of 272 lots include Jack Butler Yeats, Roderic O’Conor, Mary Swanzy, Flora Mitchell, George Campbell, Ciaran Clear, Ivan Sutton, John Ffrench, Markey Robinson, Robert Ballagh and Graham Knuttel. The catalogue is online.
Portrait of Col Hugh O’Donel by Hugh Douglas Hamilton
A full length portrait of ‘Colonel Hugh O’Donel’ MP (1760-1799) by Hugh Douglas Hamilton in a pose derived from the Apollo Belvedere at the Vatican is the leading lot at Fonsie Mealy’s sale of contents from Newport House, Co. Mayo on October 20. Hugh was son of Sir Neal O’Donel of Westport, a lineal descendant of Sir Niall Garbh O’Donel (1568-1626) who married the sister of Red Hugh O’Donnell. The portrait is estimated at €70,000-€100,000. There will be viewing at Newport House for three days from October 17. The live and online auction is at The Grace Hotel in Westport.
The Pedlar’s Cart, Achill by Paul Henry at Sotheby’s. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Opportunity knocks for serious collectors at sales by Sotheby’s in London next Wednesday evening (October 14) and at Morgan O’Driscoll on October 20. A group of nine Irish paintings by Yeats, Orpen, O’Conor, Henry, Dillon and Lavery from a private collection at Sotheby’s have a combined estimate of £1.4 million (€1.6 million). Two more works are on offer for private sale. The Amateur Ventriloquist, September Gale and Galway by Jack B Yeats, Little Spanish Dancer girl in Red Shawl and Midday on the Beach by Sir William Orpen, Red Rocks and Foam by Roderic O’Conor, The Potato Harvest, Pedlar’s Cart Achill and A Winter Sea by Paul Henry, Boys Catching crabs in Connemara by Gerard Dillon and Tennis, Hotel Beau Site, Cannes by Sir John Lavery are all available.
The top seven lots at Morgan O’Driscolls sale, on view in Skibbereen until October 12 and at the RDS from next Friday until Monday October 19, have a combined top estimate of over €600,000. William Scott’s Two Pears (1977) is estimated at €80,000-€100,000. In the Market Place of Bruges by Walter Osborne, The Shower by Paul Henry and Untitled No. 9 (1982) by Sean Scully are each estimated at €70,000-€100,000. Abstract Composition by Evie Hone, Achill Cottages by Paul Henry and Reconstructed Head of a Child (1968) by Louis le Brocquy are each estimated at €50,000-€70,000. Among 172 lots on offer at Morgan O’Driscoll there is likely to be much local interest in a brilliant c1835 oil on canvas by Daniel Maclise entitled The Fortune Teller (€15,000-€25,000).
A c1765 Irish George III giltwood mirror from Hamwood. UPDATE: THIS MADE 36,000 AT HAMMER
Marvellous mirrors, fabulous furniture, super silver and a furious fight are among the alliterative delights at Adam’s annual Country House Collections at Townley Hall sale on October 13.
The annual event – one of the highlights of the Irish auction year – this year offers 604 carefully curated lots. It is on view from today and for the next three days at Townley Hall near Drogheda.
The fairest mirror on the wall comes with a price tag of around €40,000-€60,000. This is the estimate for an Irish George III giltwood pier mirror in the manner of Matthias Lock originally owned by the Hamilton family of Hamwood, Co. Meath. It is illustrated in Irish Furniture by The Knight of Glin and James Peill published by Yale University Press in 2007 and in Country Life in 2006. Hamwood was the childhood home of celebrated artist sisters Letitia (1878-1964) and Eva (1876-1960) Hamilton.
A large 18th century Irish giltwood mirror attributed to John and Francis Booker is estimated at €15,000-€20,000. A carved and stone painted pier mirror in the manner of William Kent has the same estimate.
18th century Irish mahogany side table. UPDATE: THIS MADE 38,000 AT HAMMER
An 18th century Irish mahogany side table, similar to one illustrated in Irish Furniture, is estimated at €40,000-€60,000. A pair of 19th century carved mahogany side tables (€30,000-€40,000), a four pillar D end dining table in the manner of Gillows (€20,000-€30,000), an Irish George II architects table and bureau cabinet (€15,000-€20,000), a pair of satinwood inlaid card tables (€15,000-€20,000), a pair of 19th century Irish satinwood, harewood and marquetry commodes (€10,000-€15,000) and a pair of Irish George III carved armchairs (€10,000-€15,000) are among many lots of seriously fine furniture worthy of attention.
A pair of Irish George II silver soup tureens and covers in the rococo style by Robert Holmes, Dublin 1755 (€20,000-€30,000), a set of four Irish silver candlesticks by Jacob West, Dublin c1780 (15,000-€20,000), a c1901 Sheffield surtout de table (€10,000-€15,000) and a fine Victorian silver tea service (€8,000-€10,000) owned by Maud Gonne and a c1770 Cork silver coffee pot by John Warner (€5,000-€7,000) are not the sort of silver lots that you might happen across every day.
The most expensively estimated lot of the auction is a carved George IV white marble chimney piece and polished steel grate (€50,000-€80,000).
The Cork artist Nathanial Grogan (c1740-1807) is regarded as one of the most important Irish genre painters of the late 18th century. An oil on board by Grogan – “Fight at the Inn” – is inspired by a scene from Tom Jones by Henry Fielding published in 1749 in which a furious man hunting Mrs. Fitzpatrick has been wrongly directed to a room at an inn where Tom is entertaining Mrs. Waters. The estimate for this highly charged and comical oil on board is €4,000-€6,000.
A pair of c1755 Dublin silver soup tureens and covers by Robert Holmes. UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD
The auction offers a variety of collectibles from a pair of monumental timber doric columns and green painted obelisk garden planters to portrait miniatures, a sketchbook by George Petrie, a c1830 Worcester Flight Barr and Barr dessert service, a 17th century Antwerp tortoiseshell and marquetry table cabinet and a 19th century giltwood and pietra dura Florentine circular table.
This is not just an auction for the super rich. Among a plentiful selection of lots for under €500 is a Victorian brass postal scales, a Georgian library chair, a lion’s mask door knocker, a stick barometer, a Victorian papier maché tea caddy, Edwardian steamer trunks and a set of five Victorian copper and brass pans.
The live and online sale gets underway at 11 am on October 13 at Adam’s at St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin.
A pair of green painted obelisk garden planters. UPDATE: THESE MADE 1,000 AT HAMMER
Though not the once fashionable variety these tiles made from ancient rocks typical of local geology are pure Cork. During a residency at the National Sculpture Factory in Cork funded by the EU the artist Tanja Haramincic collected local rocks. These were then crushed and powdered, applied to ceramic tiles and fired to high temperatures in an electric kiln. For the final artwork Haramincic made a composition of 96 tiles amounting to a geological map of the Cork area demonstrating a variety of material possibilities. Time spent in Cork encouraged the Croatian artist and architect based in Milan to see the value of landscape and geology and understand their place within deep time. “By acknowledging geological processes that stretch far beyond human existence I approached the use of foraged materials not as something to control but as something to collaborate with, while creating an artwork that tells a story about circularity and time”, she explained. Wow!
The Bulgari Pink, a 24 carat fancy intense pink diamond, will be offered at Christie’s Magnificent Jewels auction in Geneva on November 10. It has remained in private European hands for over 70 years and has never before been offered for sale at auction. The rough diamond was acquired in India during the 1950s by the current owner’s great-grandfather and was later entrusted to Bulgari, where it was transformed into the elegant pink diamond ring seen today. At the time Bulgari, the Roman jeweller, was emerging as a destination for some of the world’s most discerning collectors and patrons, making it a natural choice for a diamond of such rarity. The estimate us CHF10-15 million (US$12-18 million).
Set of Irish Uilleann Pipes. UPDATE: THE CLOSING BID WAS €840
Among the more unusual lots at the timed online sale by South Dublin Auctions on October 11 is a rare set of Irish uilleann pipes. Stamped by the maker Leo Rowsome Dublin (1903-1970) they are estimated at €1,500-3,000. Rowsome was one of Ireland’s most important uilleann pipers, pipe makers and teachers. Born in Harold’s Cross, Dublin he was the third generation of a famous piping family and learned pipe making from his father, William Rowsome. At just 16 Leo became uilleann-pipe teacher at Dublin’s Municipal School of Music, a position he held for approximately 50 years. Rowsome was a pioneering broadcaster and recording artist who revived the Dublin Pipers’ Club and helped establish Na Píobairí Uilleann. His instruments are highly regarded by players and collectors and his own handmade set is preserved in the National Museum of Ireland.
