SOLD Hammer price €5200
Le Brocquy (Louis). Eight Irish Writers. A series of eight charcoal Drawings .. printed by collotype lithography on Rives paper by the Imprimerie Arte Adrien Maeght, Paris, in an individually numbered and signed edition of 100 with 25 copies hors commerce .. texts edited by Andrew Carpenter, preface by Seamus Heaney. Dublin 1981.* Inscribed by Le Brocquy on half-title, ‘For Michael / from a distance / of years / with best / wishes always / Louis / November 1981’.The writers pictured are William Butler Yeats, John Millington Synge, James Joyce, Francis Stuart, Samuel Beckett, Thomas Kinsella, John Montague, Seamus Heaney. Each lithograph individually signed and numbered HC 14/25, each loose within an individual folder, the entire in original sturdy folding cloth box, oatmeal, titled in white. The box a little faded with a few marks, generally a fine set of a superb production, very scarce.Curiously, no publisher or designer is named; presumably Le Brocquy was himself the publisher/designer.Provenance: The Yeats Family Collection.
SOLD Hammer price €4200
Signed PresentationLouis Le Brocquy, H.R.H.A. (1916 – 2012)Artist’s Personal Proof[Yeats (W.B.)] Study Towards an Image of W.B. Yeats, coloured lithograph, artist’s personal proof 1/1 only, inscribed “For Michael with my Admiration and Good Wishes Louis, March 1992,” approx. 76cms x 56cms (30″ x 22″). Unique. (1)Provenance: The Yeats Family Collection.
SOLD Hammer price €2000
Signed PressentationLouis Le Brocquy H.R.H.A.[Yeats (W.B.)] “Study towards a Head of William Butler Yeats,” coloured lithograph, signed and Limited 1/35 copies only, dedicated “For Anne (Yeats) with admiration and affection from Louis,” approx. 76cms x 57cms (30″ x 22 1/2″). (1)Provenance: The Yeats Family Collection.
SOLD Hammer price €950
Louis Le Brocquy – The TainSigned Limited Print”Warrior” Man with Sword and Shield, Limited Edn. Print 4 (70) printed by Frank O’Reilly, Swiftbook Paper, signed and dated ‘Le Brocquy 1969, 16’ approx. 54cms x 39cms (21″ x 15″). (1)
SOLD Hammer price €1400
Rare BannerCUALA INDUSTRIES DUBLIN. Embroidery / Lily Yeats. Printing / Elizabeth C. Yeats. A painted and/or stencilled trade Sign, canvas, unframed, circa 18 ins x 35 ins, evidently used at trade exhibitions. Fold marks, a few minor stains, o.w.v.g.* After the separation with Evelyn Gleeson, Cuala continued in business for over sixty years, providing employment (both full-time and part-time) almost exclusively to women. Elizabeth Yeats died in 1940, Lily in 1949; thereafter the business was run by Mrs. George Yeats and by her daughter Anne, who finally closed it down about 1980. It was a pioneering enterprise, socially as well as artistically. (1)Provenance: The Yeats Family Collection.
SOLD Hammer price €2300
Yeats (Susan Mary, ‘Lily’). A most attractive embroidered Panel showing a dark landscape, with water to left, above a bright flower border, coloured cotton and silk thread on dark blue silk, signed in pink thread lower left, the image circa 8 « ins x 12 « ins, central fold mark, otherwise in excellent condition. * Lily Yeats, the elder of the Yeats sisters, studied the technique of embroidery with William Morris’ daughter May in London. It was not a happy relationship, and she developed her own style and technique on her return to Dublin to head the embroidery section of Cuala Industries. She designed, made and sold panels like the present for more than thirty years, but the time-demands of the work were such that it never made much (if any) money. She was also a more than competent watercolourist.Provenance: The Yeats Family Collection.
SOLD Hammer price €2200
Yeats (Lily). An attractive embroidered Panel showing the entrance of the old Abbey Theatre with patrons at the door, a street light foreground, coloured cotton and silk thread on dark blue silk, signed lower right, the image circa 10 ins x 8 ins.The Yeats sisters were frequent attendees at the Abbey in its glory days.We believe there may be another version of this panel.Provenance: The Yeats Family Collection.
SOLD Hammer price €340
With a Crown of FlowersO’Hegarty (Mrs. P.S., nee Wilhelmina Rebecca Smyth). A very attractive Child’s Dress, velvet, sack-cloth, silk and embroidery, height circa 32 ins, with a note in the hand of her daughter Gr inne (who married Michael Yeats). ‘Dhein Mam¢r seo do Ghr inne c. 1933 mar fancy dress (g ird¡n). Bh¡ m fin & M ire mar gharrad¢ir is g ird¡n. Bh¡ cor¢in bl thanna orm, agus cat ar mo ghualainn cl’. [Our mother made this for Grainne c. 1933 as a fancy dress for a garden party. I and my sister M ire went as a gardener and garden. I wore a crown of flowers, with a cat on my left shoulder.] Evidently this was the costume representing the ‘garden’. * Wilhelmina Smyth, known as ‘Mina’, was a daughter of a Presbyterian minister from Coleraine. She was one of the first women admitted to study science at London University, where she secured a first class honours degree in chemistry. Against family opposition, she married the Fenian activist and historian P.S. O’Hegarty. They had a son and two daughters, of whom one (Gr inne) married Michael Yeats, son of the poet. After P.S. O’Hegarty became Secretary of the Dept. of Posts and Telegraphs in 1922, they had a house in Rathgar with a large garden, where Mina held occasional garden parties for charitable purposes. Evidently she was a talented seamstress.A charming item, in excellent condition.Provenance: The Yeats Family Collection.
SOLD Hammer price €140
[Yeats family]. A collection of six large Sheets, some folded, with floral and other designs, some coloured, probably for Cuala Press tapestries. These may be by Mary Cottenham Yeats (‘Cottie’), or possibly by other Cuala staff.As a collection, w.a.f. (1)Provenance: The Yeats Family Collection.
SOLD Hammer price €1100
Aonach Tailteann [Tailteann Games] 1932. Two large silver gilt Medals, hallmarked, in original fitted cases, diam. circa 5cms (2″), each engraved ‘FIRST PRIZE ART’ on reverse, obverse with a fine relief portrait of ‘An Bainrioghan Tailte’, with a third medal, silver, hallmarked, in original fitted case, 1928, engraved ‘ART / FIRST’.* Probably these are for work submitted by the Cuala Press. Arnold does not record any medal awarded to Jack Yeats. They are very attractive medals, quite scarce. The Tailteann Games, featuring art and industry as well as athletics, were revived in the 1920s.Provenance: The Yeats Family Collection.
SOLD Hammer price €580
[Yeats family] A green Flag, with an applied gold harp embroidered in silk, with fitted rope at left hand edge, indistinct markings on the rope mounting, approx 38 ins x 54 ins, a few holes but generally in good condition. Evidently used for ceremonial or display purposes, but we cannot say where or when. (1)Provenance: The Yeats Family Collection.
SOLD Hammer price €700
Yeats (John Butler). A small pencil Sketch inscribed ‘Mrs. Yeats – May 23rd 1886’, framed, inscribed rear probably by Elizabeth Corbet Yeats, ‘Pencil sketch of Mrs. John B. Yeats (our mother) by John B. Yeats R.H.A. I liked this little sketch & had it framed for my room at Cuala Press. I leave this sketch to my niece Anne Yeats.’ (1)Provenance: The Yeats Family Collection
SOLD Hammer price €440
Yeats (Elizabeth Corbet, ‘Lolly’) Four Watercolours on board, one of a scene at Lake Garda, signed and dated 1928, signed again and titled rear, 9 ins x 11 « ins, the second also Lake Garda, July 1929, signed and titled rear, 11 « ins x 9 ins; also a smaller watercolour, signed and dated Aug. 1896, of a scene from a terrace, and a fourth, of a view in Hyeres, 1895. * ‘Lolly’, the younger of the Yeats sisters, taught painting for a living as a young woman and published several successful guides, keeping the Yeats family afloat almost single-handed for some years in London. Later she returned to Dublin as manager of the Cuala Press. She had an eye for colour and design, but never had the time to apply herself seriously to painting. Her work is scarce. (1)Provenance: The Yeats Family Collection.
SOLD Hammer price €300
Yeats (Elizabeth Corbet). A good Watercolour on card, 8 « ins x 12 ins, ‘Rosses Donegal’, signed E.C. Yeats, dated Sept 1897, mounted.On the backboard is mounted a printed ‘Information and Suggestions’ sheet, April 1880, evidently from a Protestant church, issued by the Vicar, Alfred Wilson M.A., possibly from a Sligo church.With a smaller watercolour, 7 ins x 10 ins, showing ‘Mist rising under Croagh Patrick, Co. Mayo’, by [the Celtic scholar] Norma Borthwick, titled rear in Jack Yeats’ hand.(2)Provenance: The Yeats Family Collection.
SOLD Hammer price €2100
Cuala Press. Hand Coloured Prints. A collection of eight Poems and Prose Extracts by W.B. Yeats with hand coloured initials, including The Lake Isle of Innisfree (no. 52); Into The Twilight (no number); The pity of Love (no number); The Celtic Twilight (no. 57); The Lover Pleads with his Friend (no. 51); the same, another version with decorative border (no. 50); Had I the Heaven’s Embroidered Cloths (no. 53); The Three Bushes (Ballad Sheet 2), one edge unevenly trimmed; eight designs in all, mostly in plastic sleeves.As a collection, w.a.f. (1)Provenance: The Yeats Family Collection.
SOLD Hammer price €1000
Cuala Press. Hand coloured Prints. A collection of 12 Designs by various hands, including The Nativity (no number); The Christ Child (no number); Saint Brigid (no number); Saint Patrick’s Breastplate (no. 246); Saint Mary (no number); A Nursery Song (no number); St. Patrick (no. 245); The Hymn of Saint Columba (no. 268); The Young Saint Patrick (no. 269); The Boatman of Kinsale (no number); Clonmel (no number); Leafy Munster (no number), 12 designs in all, mostly in plastic sleeves. As a collection, w.a.f. (1)Provenance: The Yeats Family Collection.
SOLD Hammer price €900
Cuala Press. Hand Coloured Prints. A collection of 14 Designs by various hands, including Silver Apples (no. 59); Coole Park (no. 60), two versions; The Rainbow (no. 226); Saint Brigid (no number); untitled (no number); Christmas Hearth (no number); Saint Brendan The Navigator (no. 265); untitled (no number); untitled (no. 259); Glendalough (no number); Joy Be With Us (no. 294); Glendalough Co. Wicklow (no number); Shepherd! (no number); An Invitation (no number), 14 designs in all, mostly in plastic sleeves.As a collection, w.a.f. (1)Provenance: The Yeats Family Collection.
SOLD Hammer price €210
Cuala Press. “St. Patrick’s Breastplate,” Irish Hymn, early 5th century, sometimes called ‘The Deer’s Cry’, attributed to St. Patrick. Translated by Cecil Francis Alexander, picture by The Lady Glenavy. Printed and published by the Cuala Press. Single folio sheet, unfolded, with hand coloured device at end, numbered 246; also with a small sheet containing a single verse of the same, with hand coloured initial by Elizabeth Corbet Yeats. An attractive item. (1)Provenance: The Yeats Family Collection.
SOLD Hammer price €680
Cuala Press. Hand Coloured Prints. A Collection of 13 smaller designs by Jack Yeats, including The Wren Boys (no. 14); Dublin Quays (no. 26, two copies); Saint Patrick at Tara (Colour Sample no. 15); The Ballad Singer (no. 12); The Shanachie (no. 9); The Connaught Toast (no. 35), 2 copies; The Midland Toast (no. 36); The Ancient Mare (No. 29); Fair Day (no. 13); The Jockey (no. 25); An Old Slave (no. 10); untitled (no number); A Cradle Song (no. 61), 5 copies; 13 designs in all, mostly in plastic sleeves.As a collection, w.a.f. (1)Provenance: The Yeats Family Collection.
SOLD Hammer price €950
Cuala Press. Hand Coloured Prints. A collection of twelve large Designs by Jack Yeats, including Evening (not numbered); A Shop in Sailor Town (no. 31); The Island People (no number); Farmers at the Fair (no. 30); The Hurley Player (no number); The New Ballad (no. 11); Leafy Munster (no. 24); Rune of Hospitality (no. 23); The Breastplate of St. Patrick (no. 32); She Moved Through The Fair (Ballad Sheet 5); The Playboy of the Western World (no. 33); The Post Car (no number); twelve in all, mostly in plastic sleeves.As a collection, w.a.f. (1)Provenance: The Yeats Family Collection.