IMPORTANT IRISH ART 25 MAY 2026

110 74 Rory Breslin (b.1963) THE JANUARY MARINE MASK [CLEW BAY SERIES] porcelain; (no. 1 from an edition of 3) 17.25 by 11.75 by 6in. (43.8 by 29.8 by 15.2cm) The Clew Bay Marine Series are a collection of bronze ‘seascapes’, chronicling by season the wealth and variety of sea life in the bay. A microcosm of the abundance and richness of Irish marine life and of our human relationship with the sea, the works celebrate the beauty, diversity and also the tenacity of life on our coasts. The latent energy that permeates the sculpture underlines that dynamic tenacity, pushing the techniques of bronze sculpture extensively to gain spatial and emotional tension and immediacy. Breslin is usually associated with bronze sculpture but is constantly experimenting with various materials and techniques. With this wall sculpture, the translucency and beauty of porcelain is explored to great tonal effect. Redolent of a mesopotamian headless, great straps of sugar kelp, laminaria saccharina, shroud the downcast face of the youth. Adorned with cockles, an ancient food found in shellfish middens throughout Europe and queens scallops attached by their byssus which shade the upper countenance of the mask. Further textured fronds of the kelp encapsulate the face from either side and below. A pair of sea bass, Prospero’s reconciliation offering after years of conflict, arc inwards to below the chin. Below the chin are periwinkles and a necklace of the mermaid’s purses of the lesser spotted dogfish. The skins surface is adorned with the periwinkles cousin, littorina obtusata and the footprints by the of the giolla brighde or oystercatcher, servant of St Brigid. €3,000-€5,000 (£2,610-£4,350 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot74