The best of Irish art in 2012 may be still to come

This Regency Carlton House Desk made 85,000 at Mealy's-Christie's sale in Mount Congreve.

What distinguishes the Irish market is the scale and the prices achieved. In the New York sales last week a Monet sold for $43.7 million and a Picasso made $41.5 million.

At Sotheby’s in New York this week Mark Rothko’s seminal, large-scale masterpiece, No.1 (Royal Red and Blue) sold for $75,122,500 against a high estimate of $50 million in what has been a very good week for the international Contemporary art market.