A SCULPTURE by the late Edward Delaney has sold for €190,000 making it the highest price on record for a sculpture by an Irish artist.
The previous record holder was FE McWilliams's Eve, which sold for €95,000 at Sothbey's in 2006. King and Queenby Delaney is a 2.5m bronze pair that was expected to fetch between €12,000 and €18,000 in an auction last Wednesday night.
Stuart Cole of James Adams Auctioneers said: “There has been very little work by Ed in the past few years and this is one of his largest works of a masterful quality.”
The sculpture had been kept in a Connemara garden in the 1970s and 1980s by a friend of Delaney. It was placed in the care of the Irish Museum of Modern Art weeks before his death in September.
“Even in the current climate when good things come out they make money, but this was a surprise to us all,” Mr Cole said.
It is understood that the sculpture was purchased by a UK collector. “It’s a great pity that he didn’t live to see his work break records,” Mr Cole added.
Other Delaney works also sold at far higher than their estimated price. The bronze Seated Dog was estimated to make between €4,000 and €6,000 and reached €32,000; the abstract piece Organic Formwas estimated at between €2,000 and €4,000 and reached €15,000; Anna was estimated at between €10,000 and €15,000 and reached €38,000 and Running Figure, which is also known as Daughter, was estimated at between €4,000 and €6,000 and sold for €21,000.
Delaney is best known for his statue of Wolfe Tone in St Stephen’s Green and the Thomas Davis statue that stands opposite the gates of Trinity College.