Highest-grossing art sale since the crash at Whyte’s this week

Auction brought in an estimated €1.8 million for Irish art on Monday evening, writes Des O’Sullivan.

Just four artworks brought in €790,000 at Whyte’s sale in Dublin on Monday evening. Blue Still Life became the most expensive artwork by William Scott ever sold in Ireland when it was knocked down for a hammer price of €450,000.

From the McClelland Collection, it had been on loan to the Irish Museum of Modern Art for the past eight years. It went to an English agent bidding on behalf of a client.

‘An Irish Bog’ by Paul Henry made €130,000 at hammer at Whyte’s.

Auctioneer Ian Whyte observed afterward that it was sad that the National Gallery of Ireland had not come up with the money for the work, given that Scott — who is ranked in the top ten of British artists — was proud of being Irish and carried an Irish passport.

There is a fine work by Scott in the collection of The Merrion Hotel, but nothing of this calibre by the artist exists in an Irish national collection. The underbidder for the work, who was in the room, was Irish.

‘Blue Still Life’ by William Scott made €450,000 at hammer at Whyte’s.

A tapestry by Louis le Brocquy, Adam and Eve in the Garden made a hammer price of €140,000 over a top estimate of €120,000; An Irish Bog by Paul Henry made a within-estimate hammer price of €130,000, and a rare sceptre in wood by FE McWilliam entitled Man and Wife, sold for a hammer price of €70,000.

The tapestry was sold to America, the Paul Henry to an Irish collector and the F E McWilliam sculpture went to a collector in the Middle East.

The sale brought in €1.8 million, making it the highest grossing art sale at Whyte’s since 2007.

‘Man and Wife’ by F E McWilliam made €70,000 at hammer at Whyte’s.

Other hammer prices included Men and Boats, Connemara by Gerard Dillon (€36,000); Suspended Forms, triptych by Sir Terry Frost (€30,000); Grey Bridge, Regent’s Park, London by William John Leech (€25,000); Three Singers by William Conor (€19,000); Yellow Elk Tree by Barrie Cooke (€10,500); Island Inscape by Tony O’Malley (15,000), and Uisce Gorm by Kenneth Webb (10,000).

Pitch pine, granite cobbles and more...

Des O’Sullivan on a salvage sale at Oranmore which is magpie heaven

An auction of architectural salvage is always of interest to a wide variety of imaginative collectors.

There will be a wide range of architectural salvage at Aidan Foley’s two-day sale of Baily Gibson’s stock in Oranmore next weekend.

Aidan Foley’s two-day sale of the stock of Bailey Gibson Interiors and Salvage at Oranmore, Co Galway, next weekend is likely to be no exception. The 1,200 lots will be sold over two days.

There are pitch pine beams and cast-iron stanchions from Boland’s Mills in Dublin, vintage light fittings, garden furniture and urns and a selection which ranges from French doors to whiskey barrels.

Garden enthusiasts and doer-uppers will be interested in cut kerb stones and old building stones, outdoor lighting, a fountain, statuary, reclaimed brick and granite cobbles.

Viewing in Oranmore is from 11am to 8pm next Thursday and Friday. The auction is on at 10.30am next Saturday and at noon on Sunday week.

Most lots will be sold without reserves.