The week ahead will be exceptionally busy for Irish auctioneers as sales postponed due to the poor weather vie for attention with those already scheduled. Between now and Wednesday evening, at locations from Cavan to Cork, a blizzard of some 8,000 lots ranging from Chinese ceramics to crystal chandeliers will go under the hammer at various locations. Here’s what’s happening where and when.
Auctioneer Damien Matthews will hold an on-the-premises house clearance auction in Ashbrook, Ballyjamesduff, Co. Cavan, on Saturday, March 10th, and Sunday (March 11th) at 1.30pm each day. Some items have also been brought in from other properties including 'The Old Rectory, Broadford, Co Kildare, and in all there are over 1,700 lots including antique furniture, rugs, Irish paintings, silver, china, crystal, jewellery, garden statuary and various collectibles. See matthewsauctionrooms.com
In Cork, Lynes & Lynes Auction Rooms at the Eastlink Business Park, Carrigtwohill, (N25 , Exit 4) is holding an antiques auction at 11am on Sunday, March 11th, with almost 500 lots that include the contents of Charleston House, Midleton, home of the late Senator Trevor West, a former professor of mathematics at Trinity College Dublin. Highlights include Lot 150, a set of eight Georgian mahogany Cork 11-bar dining chairs €4,000-€6,000; Lot 67, two silver-plated and calfskin-bound hip flasks from Concorde (the former trans-Atlantic supersonic aircraft) €30-€60; and also vintage luggage and toys. Viewing Saturday, March 10th, from 10am-6pm. See lynesandlynes.com
On Monday, March 12th, Mullen's Auctioneers, Laurel Park, Bray Co Wicklow, will hold two separate auctions – morning and evening – with a total of 1,000 lots. The first, at 11am, is an "interiors auction" with a selection of 19th and 20th century fine art and furniture and the collection of an unnamed vendor called "The Art of China" - a private collection of some 30 lots of Chinese ceramics and furniture collected in Hong Kong and Beijing during the years 1980-2000. Notable pieces include Lot 311, a Chinese white jade vase and cover €6,000-€8,000; Lot 310, an antique Chinese Tang-style sancai vase, 19th century €5,000-€7,000; and two 19th century Chinese screens: Lot 320, black lacquered and gilded wood (€2,000-€3,000); and Lot 321, carved blackwood and lacquered screen applied with ivory figures (€6,000-€10,000).
Separately, at 7pm there is an Irish and British art and literature sale with affordable art by painters including Graham Knuttel, Harry Kernoff, Maurice Canning Wilks, William Conor, Tony O'Malley and Cecil Maguire, whose Trevi Fountain is estimated at €3,000-€5,000.
Also on Monday, March 12th, in Waterford, R.J.Keighery's City Auction Rooms will hold its antiques auction at 10.30am. Viewing of the over 700 lots is under way. Among the highlights are Lot 726, a Waterford crystal six-branch chandelier, €1,200-€1,800; Lot 750, a Persian Kashan carpet (13ft 6in by 9ft), €800-€1,200; Lot 430, a William IV mahogany rent table on a platform base, €800-€1,200; Lot 512, taxidermy of a golden pheasant in glass case, €100-€150. For full catalogue see antiquesireland.ie
Elsewhere, on Monday evening, March 12th,Morgan O Driscoll Auctioneers in Skibbereen, Co Cork, is offering an alternative to the saleroom – an Irish art action with 247 lots and ongoing online-only bidding which ends on Monday evening between 6.30pm and 11pm. For catalogue and bidding details see morganodriscoll.com
On Monday and Tuesday, March 12th and 13th, the much publicised Interiors Sale, assembled by Niall Mullen and hosted by Victor Mee, with 3,200 lots from various venues and clubs, will take place at the golf club of the Heritage Hotel, Killenard, Portarlington, Co Laois, at 10am daily.
Described as a sort of “Celtic Tiger” clearance sale, it includes fixtures, fittings and memorabilia from Dublin venues Residence, Howl at the Moon, the Shelbourne Hotel and Clerys .
Furniture including bar counters; wine, cocktail and beer glasses; decanters and champagne buckets; coffee machines; fridges curtains; decanters and champagne buckets; artworks; chandeliers; and other light fittings.
Most lots will be sold without reserve, and while absentee and online bidding is available buyers who turn up and purchase in person are promised a 3 per cent discount on the normal 19 per cent auction buyer’s fee.
Among the highlights is a suite of portrait paintings of all 13 former taoisigh by “Johnny Wilson” (a pseudonym for Chinese artist, Zhang Yi) to be sold as a single lot with an estimate of €30,000-€40,000. Viewing on Saturday, March 10th, and Sunday, March 11th, from 11am-6pm. For catalogue see victormeeauctions.ie
On Tuesday, March 13th, John Weldon Auctioneers, on Cows' Lane, Temple Bar, Dublin, will hold one of its regular jewellery and silver sales starting from 2pm. Over 300 lots include a diamond three-stone ring set in 18ct gold, total estimated weight of diamonds is 2cts, colour G, valued at €9,650 in January 2018 and now estimated at €2,500-€3,500; an 18ct gold diamond-set ladies Cartier wrist watch in original box €4,500-€5,500; and an antique diamond and seed pearl set starburst brooch €400-€600. Viewing from noon Saturday, March 10th. See jwa.ie
Also on Tuesday, Mealy's in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny, holds its "spring sale" at 11am with some 700 lots, most notably Lot 144, a Chinese rhinoceros horn carving of a figurine (the horn of the extinct "'wooly rhino" estimated to be 25,000 years old, the carved figurine from the 15th century) (€20,000-€30,000; and Lot 224, a white marble head-and-shoulders bust of 19th century Limerick-born soprano Catherine Hayes by sculptor Richard barter (€3,000-€4,000). Viewing Sunday, March 11th, from noon-5pm, and Monday, March 12th, 10am-5pm). See mealys.ie
Finally, another bumper two-day sale will be held at on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 13th and 14th, at Sheppards in Durrow, Co Laois, with 1,245 lots including furniture, art, china, crystal, jewellery, silver and collectibles.
Among the highlights are two very different paintings of women: one a romantic image of a 19th century Irish peasant girl, the other a portrait of Jane Seymour, the third wife of Henry VIII. Lot 4, The Colleen Bawn, is a large, oil-on-canvas by 19th century English artist Samuel Barry Godbold estimated at €3,500-€4,500. The artist visited Ireland regularly in the 1860s, and this painting is an idealised, romantic image of an Irish peasant girl in traditional dress carrying a creel of turf.
Lot 19 is a portrait of Jane Seymour (c.1508-1537)and the artist is described as a “follower of Hans Holbein the younger” (German/Swiss, 1497-1543). Sheppard’s said the oil-on-panel, measuring 13.5in by 9.5in, in probably dates from the 16th or 17th century and the estimate is €5,000-€8,000.
Seymour married the king after he had ordered the execution, by beheading of his second wife Anne Boleyn. Seymour’s tenure as queen of England lasted just over a year, and she died after giving birth to a son, the future King Edward VI. Holbein was court painter to the king. His famous portrait of Henry VIII was destroyed in a fire but is known from various copies; his very famous portrait of Jane Seymour is, today, in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, and this version is believed to one of many versions made by his followers. Sheppard’s said it had been consigned by the estate of “a deceased Irish-American academic and it was originally acquired in the 1960s from a gallery in Bond Street”.
Among other highlights: Lot 80 is a “a Roman marble portrait head of a man”, dating from circa AD 300 which was acquired by the present owner in Italy in the 1960s (€3,000-€5,000); and Lot 947, is a Nigerian boxed set of six numbered silver napkin rings, each in the form of a “manila”, a west African unit of currency, bought at the British Empire Exhibition in Wembley, London, in 1924 (estimate €150-€250). Viewing begins Saturday, March 10th, at 10am, and continues Sunday and Monday daily from 10am-5pm. For catalogue and online bidding details see sheppards.ie
