Adam’s Irish art sale brings in €1.6m

Adam's regards its Christmas Important Irish Art auction as "a barometer of the health of the Irish art market". Managing director James O'Halloran said the sale, on December 3rd, had been "a huge success with 86 per cent of lots sold" for a total of €1.6 million.

The top price, €160,000, was achieved for Early Morning in Donegal by Paul Henry – comfortably exceeding the €70,000-€100,000 guide.

Three other paintings by Paul Henry sold: West of Ireland Scene, €60,000 (€40,000-€60,000); Connemara Cottages, €50,000 (€40,000-€60,000); and Turf Stacks, West of Ireland, €36,000 (€25,000-€35,000). However, his rare painting of an urban scene, titled Grand Canal Dock, Ringsend, Dublin (€30,000-€50,000), failed to sell.

A late-career painting by Jack B Yeats, Sleep Beside (By) Falling Water, made €155,000, within the estimate (€120,00- €180,000), while a painting by him when a young man, dated 1909, Gathering Seaweed, Mayo Coast, made €30,000 (€30,000-€50,000).

A small painting by his brother, the poet WB Yeats, of Roundstone, Co Galway – an oil-on-board measuring just 11.5 x 21cm (4½ x 8¼in) – sold for €4,400 (€2,000-€3,000).

Walter Frederick Osborne's Portrait of Mrs Meade – the wife of a late Victorian lord mayor of Dublin – made €80,000, below the estimate (€100,000- €150,000); while his English pastoral scene, titled Ploughing, made €40,000 (€40,000- €60,000).

Adam's said "one of the surprises of the night" was a watercolour, Unloading the Turf by William Bartlett, estimated at €2,000-€3,000, which was chased by eight bidders and sold for €13,000, "much to the delight of the watching vendor".

Bidders who spotted this "sleeper" may have been aware that last year at Bonhams in London, a painting by William Bartlett titled The Last Brief Voyage: A Connemara Funeral, or The Emigrant's Departure sold for £85,250 – almost 10 times the estimate.

Still Life with Strawberries on Garden Table by Norah McGuinness sold for double the estimate, €20,000 (€8,000- €12,000); as did Sunday Morning, Bloody Foreland by James Humbert Craig, €10,000 (€4,000-€6,000). A nostalgic image, Christmas Eve (Figures on Moore Street) – of shoppers browsing a Dublin toy stall – by Muriel Brandt made €5,200 (€2,000-€4,000).

The Egg Collectors by Mark O'Neill, which used to hang in the Sandhouse Hotel in Co Donegal, made €6,200 (€4,000- €6,000).

A portrait of Brendan Behan by Harry Kernoff, which hung in O'Brien's pub in Upper Leeson Street for many years, sold for €3,200 (€3,000-€5,000). Bridge at Clara – of a crossing over the River Brosna, Co Offaly in autumn – more than tripled the estimate and sold for €1,400 (€300-€400).

In the sculpture section, Portrait Bust of Tiger King, Man of Aran by Sir Jacob Epstein sold for €12,000 (€4,000-€6,000). A unique bronze, Walking Bear by Kilkenny-born sculptor Patrick O'Reilly, made €5,200 (€2,500-€3,500), "evidence of demand for non-traditionalist art in Ireland", says Adam's. For full list of results, see adams.ie