a biannual magazine
art
for collectors of material culture
world
Antiques & of
Visual Arts Exploring the subculture of manga and anime
The Collector’s Market What drives the soaring prices for Chinese art?
Ancient Nigeria: A legacy of extraordinary artworks These rank with the most aesthetically striking and technically sophisticated in the world
From Australia to New Zealand New light on an elaborate silver centerpiece made for the Dunedin Exhibition of 1865
Meissen or England? Where was the first piece of hard-paste porcelain made outside of Asia?
FEBRUARY – AUGUST 2011 ISSUE 80 AUSTRALIA $16.95 NZ $20.95 SINGAPORE $20.00 UK £7.00 US $13.00 €10.50
Contents 126
AROUND THE AUCTIONS
70
The Dunedin Exhibition Suite of 1865 retailed by JM Wendt made by Julius Schomburk
Auction highlights from the major houses
John Hawkins
ART 14
Hugh Hudson 26 46
78
A Holman Hunt painting lost in Australia
Dorothy Erickson 92
of hard-paste porcelain
Ian A C Dejardin
William H Jay
Bessie Davidson: Portrait of Mademoiselle Le Roy c. 1920
94
Michael Petry’s Bad Seed at the Soane Museum Promoting Western Desert art
110 117
Ming Wilson 4
Art in Early Renaissance France Martha Wolff
109
18
Tony Keniston 58
International outlook
61
Happy hunting at TEFAF
42
144
115
Lucien Pissarro’s Eragny Press Jon Whiteley
CONTRIBUTORS DECORATIVE ARTS AND DESIGN
INDEX OF ADVERTISERS LIBRIS
PHOTOGRAPHY 10
24
Reinstating the lost collections at Leighton House Museum Daniel Robbins
Elspeth Moncrieff 143
New galleries for the National Gallery of Australia Helen Musa
ARTNEWS Chinese crackers in London: Soaring prices for Chinese art
EDITORIAL HERITAGE
Donald Friend: Adam & Eve c. 1957-61 Glenn R. Cooke
56
Imperial Chinese robes from the Forbidden City
Colin Colahan: Capturing Australian identity abroad Cherrie Prosser
103
The art of goldsmith Jacqueline Mina Amanda Stücklin
Peter Thorley 100
Africa’s cultural and artistic heritage: Ife art in ancient Nigeria Enid Schildkrout
Elspeth Moncrieff 88
Correcting a misconception: The European discovery
Seeing America through the eyes of Norman Rockwell
Tracy Cooper-Lavery 84
Jamie Linton (1904-1980): A leading Australian silversmith
Anderson & Low: The girl in the red hat 2010 Gael Newton
Thomas Pitts’ neoclassical epergene of 1790 Robert Reason
32
Vases made by Verreries et Cristalleries de Baccarat in 1880s Florian Knothe
36
Chinese jade – The collectors’ market Christopher Proudlove
40
Sakiyama Takayuki’s ‘Listening to Waves’ vase made 2009 Daniel McOwan
50
Italian Renaissance maiolica: Fantasy forged from fire Diana Stone
2 World of Antiques & Art
COVER (Detail) Anderson & Low (est. London 1990–); Jonathan Anderson (b. England 1961), Edwin Low (Chinese, b. Malaysia 1957, England from 1974), The girl in the red hat from Manga Dreams series 2010, inkjet colour print from digital photograph. National Gallery of Australia, purchased 2010
art
A
Holman Hunt painting lost in Australia Through the migration of his siblings to the colonies, works by Holman Hunt, a founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood also came to Australia and as so commonly occurs, a painting has become lost
William Holman Hunt (English 1827–1910), Self-Portrait at Age Seventeen, 1845, oil on canvas, 39.3 x 45.7 cm. Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
14 World of Antiques & Art
art
Seeing America through the eyes of
Norman Rockwell In what may be a controversial move the Director of Dulwich Picture Gallery believes Rockwell to be one of the great American painters of his generation, well able to hold his own with the Old Masters in the Gallery’s collection
Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), Bridge Game-The Bid, 1948, oil on canvas, 46.5 x 38.5 cm. Saturday Evening Post cover, 15 May 1948 © 2010 Images by The National Museum of American Illustration, Newport, RI, USA and the American Illustrators Gallery, NYC © 2010 Saturday Evening Post covers by SEPS, Curtis Publishing Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), Charwomen in Theater, 1946, oil paint over photographic base, 36.8 x 27.9 cm, Saturday Evening Post, 6 April 1946 cover, © 2010 Images by The National Museum of American Illustration, Newport, RI, USA and the American Illustrators Gallery, NYC © 2010 Saturday Evening Post covers by SEPS, Curtis Publishing
26 World of Antiques & Art
acquisition The Corning Museum of Glass
Vases made by Verreries et Cristalleries de Baccarat
T
(France est. 1764), 1880s
he influence of Chinese imagery in
among other designs, his many disseminated
Western Europe during the eighteenth
prints of ‘Chinese figures’ have been described,
century and the European
and emphasising their relevance for the
development (mostly in France and
decorative arts. Pillement’s prints had a strong
England) of the chinoiserie style have been much
stylistic influence on many media such as
studied and its important contributions to the
decorative painting, woven tapestry and silk,
rococo style thoroughly documented.
printed fabrics and wallpaper, marquetry and
Specifically, the enormous influence of Jean Baptiste Pillement’s (1728-1808) oeuvre, and
lacquer, enamelled porcelain, engraved and enamelled glass. This influence was not limited to the eighteenth century, as it would again play a role in the late nineteenth-century revival of both the rococo and chinoiserie styles. Now in the collection of the Corning Museum of Glass is a large rock crystalimitating glass vase made by Baccarat in the 1880s and engraved with a chinoiserie scene after a print by Pillement that testifies to the ongoing interest in this genre. During the last two decades of the nineteenth century, Verreries et Cristalleries de Baccarat (established 1764) made a variety of glass vases imitating the stylistic properties of objects in colourless and smoky quartz. In addition to copying the thickness and colour of carved rock crystal, individual objects were cut, engraved or gilded with pictorial programs or individual elements that emphasised their exotic nature. Bamboo, phoenix and dragons were favourite oriental motifs. The interpretation of Asian domestic wares or artefacts influenced the shape and size of vessels that took their form from brush pots and vases, and thereby sometimes alienated an
Vase made by Verreries et Cristalleries de Baccarat (France est. 1764), 1880s, glass, engraved, chinoiserie scene after Jean Baptiste Pillement (1728-1808). The Corning Museum of Glass
32 World of Antiques & Art
decorative arts & design
The Dunedin Exhibition Suite retailed by J M Wendt, made by Julius Schomburgk Leading Australian silver expert throws new light on an elaborate silver centrepiece and the pair of accompanying tazzas made for the Dunedin Exhibition of 1865 fields, a second major discovery in 1862 did nothing to dissuade new hopefuls. Like many gold prospectors, professional businessmen made their way to the goldfields to establish services for the miners, including stores, post offices, banks, pubs and hotels. The men who owned these businesses often made more money than the miners. It was this Dunedin business community that decided to hold an exhibition in 1865 to show the merits of New Zealand and create new business for those who were successful as a result of the gold rushes. It was to be the first exhibition in New Zealand, a celebration by a city created by gold only seventeen years earlier. The Exhibition Building is an example of the power of gold to create instant wealth. Among The 1865 Dunedin Exhibition Building from the Illustrated London News
John Hawkins
the highlights were a candelabra epergne and two tazzas of outstanding quality made by the
unedin, the Gaelic name for
Adelaide goldsmith J M Wendt (1830-1917). The
Edinburgh, was founded by the Lay
North Otago Times of 9 March 1865 described...
Association of the Free Church of
tables containing splendid samples of
Scotland on the South Island of New
manufactures in the precious metals. Those
D
Zealand in 1848 and transformed by the
which attract most attention are a group from
discovery of gold in central Otago, southwest of
Adelaide, manufactured by Mr Wendt, of that
Dunedin in 1861. By 1865 it had become the
city. As a guide in designing the central piece,
largest city in New Zealand.
which is a solid silver epergne and candelabrium,
The rush started at Gabriel’s Gully, named after
Mr Wendt obtained from Otago samples of our
Tasmanian born Gabriel Read who had
tree-fern and has used its forms for the principal
prospected for gold in both California and
standard of the piece. Around the base of this
Victoria before arriving in Otago in 1861. He
fine piece of workmanship, sheep with their
discovered gold in a creek bed close to the
shepherds, emus, kangaroos, cattle, and horses,
banks of the Tuapeka River near Lawrence on 20
are all depicted. The grass-tree of Australia, and
May 1861. By Christmas of that year 14,000
a little creeping plant, are beautifully delineated.
prospectors were on the Tuapeka and Waipori
In these and in the cornicopaes which complete
70 World of Antiques & Art
world of antiques & art online u re a biannual magazine for collectors of material cult
a bian nu WORLD OF ANTI QUES & ART
al mag az
ine fo r colle c
tors o f mate ria
l cultu re
State of the market:
From Australia to London collecting trends are strong
Review of a major Sydney auction New look for London fairs
CELE WOME BRATING PIO N PHO TOGRA NEER PHERS
Ancient crafts: new discoveries / fresh applications
MELDIN G KNO WLE & INFLU DGE ENCE Alex R
FEBRUA
A recently uncovered ancient Roman mosaic floor on show in New York Tiffany’s mosaic glass screen a national heritage in Mexico From decorating jars to jewellery designs: Enamelling is taken to new heights in the UK RY -
eid, Van G & the G lasgow ogh Boys
INSPIR
ED CO
AUGUST 2010
MICS Retellin g India’ s epics AUSTR ALASIA INDIGE N NOU
S ARTS Tommy Australia Watson, a le adin n Indige nous ar g tist Treasure s from Borneo Batik: an cient cr for mod aft ern desi Prized gners New Gui nean ar tefact
Fostering the arts: New titles reviewed
Celebrating Australian art Vida Lahey, one of Queensland’s best-loved artists 78TH ED ITIO N
AUGUST 2010 - FEBRUARY 2011 ISSUE 79 AUSTRALIA $16.95 NZ $20.95 SINGAPORE $20.00 UK £7.00 US $13.00 €10.50
FEBRUA RY ISSUE 78 - AUGUST 201 0 AUSTRA LIA $16 SINGAP ORE $20 .95 NZ $20.95 .00 UK US $13.00 £9.50 €10.50
Save 48% on all our publications
Subscribe today! 1 year $16
CLICK HERE
Saving of 48%
International subscribers - download and avoid the postal fee a saving of 79% Note: Charges are in Australian currency $AU
Payment: We accept Australia Post money orders and credit cards. Please do not send cash.
WORLD OF ANTIQUES & ART
You might also like COLLECTABLES ONLINE CLICK HERE for a preview
97TH EDITION
How to Subscribe Online: http://www.worldaa.com takes you to our home page and follow the prompts. Phone: Order on + 61 02 9389 2919 between 8.30 am-5:00 pm EST, Monday to Friday. Post: Complete a subscription form and post to: Antiques & Art in Australia Pty Ltd PO Box 324, Bondi Junction NSW 1355 Australia
MARCH – APRIL 2011
Prices for World of Antiques & Art Online
SUBSTCO R NOWIBE
collectables online@
worldaa.com
trader
A u s t r a l a s i a ’s l e a d i n g a n t i q u e s a n d c o l l e c t a b l e s m a g a z i n e
AUST $9.95 NZ $13.95
world of antiques & art online a b i a n n u a l m a g a z i n e f o r c o l l e c t o r s o f m a t e r i a l c u l t u re
a b i a n n u a l m a g a z i n e f o r c o l l e c t o r s o f m a t e r i a l c u l t u re
CELEBRATING PIONEER WOMEN PHOTOGRAPHERS
State of the market: From Australia to London collecting trends are strong Review of a major Sydney auction
MELDING KNOWLEDGE & INFLUENCE
New look for London fairs
SUBSTCO R NOWIBE
Alex Reid, Van Gogh & the Glasgow Boys
Ancient crafts: new discoveries / fresh applications
INSPIRED COMICS Retelling India’s epics
A recently uncovered ancient Roman mosaic floor on show in New York Tiffany’s mosaic glass screen a national heritage in Mexico
CLICK HERE
From decorating jars to jewellery designs: Enamelling is taken to new heights in the UK
Fostering the arts:
AUSTRALASIAN INDIGENOUS ARTS Tommy Watson, a leading Australian Indigenous artist Treasures from Borneo Batik: ancient craft for modern designers Prized New Guinean artefact
New titles reviewed
Celebrating Australian art Vida Lahey, one of Queensland’s best-loved artists
AUGUST 2010 - FEBRUARY 2011 ISSUE 79 AUSTRALIA $16.95 NZ $20.95 SINGAPORE $20.00 UK £7.00 US $13.00 €10.50
FEBRUARY - AUGUST 2010 ISSUE 78 AUSTRALIA $16.95 NZ $20.95 SINGAPORE $20.00 UK £9.50 US $13.00 €10.50
welcome to the best in fine & decorative arts
Subscribe today! The World of Antiques & Art is the resource for collectors. Published for 45 years, articles from across the
art
art
A
Hugh Hudson
Holman Hunt painting lost in Australia
T
he Pre-Raphaelite artist William Holman Hunt (1827-1910) has been portrayed on television as an earnest, bearded man whose morality was
tested to breaking by the siren call of his model
globe are written by expert curators,
Through the migration of his siblings to the colonies, works by Holman Hunt, a founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood also came to Australia and as so commonly occurs, a painting has become lost
scholars and journalists.
and muse, Annie Miller. Despite her alluring looks, his early triumph in painting came unexpectedly in the form of the work called The Scapegoat, an unsettling representation of a goat in a desolate Near-Eastern wasteland. It is a reinterpretation of Christ’s sacrifice, rendered surreal by Holman Hunt’s heightened palette. Although his family scarcely featured in the television series, Desperate Romantics, an
This Australian-based bi-annual
Australian connection lies in two of his sisters and a brother immigrating to Victoria in the midnineteenth century, and their descendants preserving the memory of the family’s artistic
journal challenges the traditional
heritage. Drawings by Holman Hunt of his sister and his son came to Victoria through the family in 1923, and are now in the collection of the National Gallery of Victoria.
Elliott and Fry (London) signed portrait photograph of William Holman Hunt. Courtesy Autograph Collection, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne William Holman Hunt (English 1827–1910), Emily Hunt, 1857, pen and brown ink and wash, 11.8 x 10.8 cm. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
A Holman Hunt painting came to Victoria at
approach to collecting, from
the same time, last seen by the family in 1928 and is now considered lost. The last confirmation of the painting’s existence lies in the Autograph Collection of the State Library of
covering ephemera and the
Victoria that acquired a collection of documents concerning William Holman Hunt and his family in 1951. A clue is in a letter written in 1928 by the manager of the Trustees Executors and Agency Company Limited of
decorative arts to fine art. Explore
Melbourne to William Peagram, the artist’s nephew living in Armadale, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. The letter reads, ‘Mrs A. Thurman’s Estate. In
the myriad of collecting options
the assets of the abovementioned Estate we note a small painting stated to have been executed by the late Wm. Holman Hunt R.A. [sic] at the age of 15 years. The subject is the
including textiles, photography, philately, numismatics, jewellery,
William Holman Hunt (English 1827–1910), Self-Portrait at Age Seventeen, 1845, oil on canvas, 39.3 x 45.7 cm. Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
head of a small child and we understand that the painting was brought to Australia a few years ago by your son for delivery to Mrs Thurman. The painting not being specifically bequeathed, is amongst the list of articles which later will be disposed of either at auction or as
14 World of Antiques & Art
World of Antiques & Art 15
porcelain, silver or furniture – to name some key areas. World of Antiques & Art has it covered, from heritage to culture to investment.
Uncovering lost works More intruiging than a ficticious murder mystery is following an art historian on the trail of a lost work
More to read • Collecting trends • Auction results • Exhibitions
art
art
Seeing America
Ian A C Dejardin
through the eyes of
Norman Rockwell
Visual arts
In what may be a controversial move the Director of Dulwich Picture Gallery believes Rockwell to be one of the great American painters of his generation, well able to hold his own with the Old Masters in the Gallery’s collection
‘R
ockwell is terrific. It’s become too tedious to pretend he isn’t,’ wrote New Yorker art critic Peter Schjedahl in Art News,
September 1999. I couldn’t agree more. My own epiphany about Rockwell occurred a bit before that, at one of the great exhibitions of his work that periodically circle the United States. However, one should not underestimate the strength of anti-Rockwell feeling that existed— and indeed still exists—in some circles. As a ‘Brit’ with very little in the way of qualifications to justify my commenting on another country’s idiosyncrasies, I can only assume that the
Challenging traditional perspectives: Are art critics always right?
opposition is something to do with what you might call ‘brand America.’ Norman Rockwell’s America must have seemed like a travesty to those who saw the grittier ‘truth’ about the ‘land of the free’ in issues like the wars in Korea and Vietnam, and the civil rights struggle (although Rockwell did, of course, tackle the latter issue in at least one very famous image, the vivid sketch The Problem We All Live With. To the Woodstock generation, Rockwell’s images were, simply, lies—and ‘Rockwellesque’ a term of abuse. To which, the only possible retort must be a very American ‘Lighten UP!’ Of his greatness as an illustrator, there can be no doubt. The extremes of reaction to his work are in a way testimony to that. His sunny, occasionally sentimental images of American life would not make some people so very angry if it
Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), Cousin Reginald Plays Pirates, 1917, oil on canvas on board, 76 x 76 cm, Country Gentleman, 3 November 1917 © 2010 Images by The National Museum of American Illustration, Newport, RI, USA and the American Illustrators Gallery, NYC
acquisition
acquisition
The Corning Museum of Glass
The Corning Museum of Glass
Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), Charwomen in Theater, 1946, oil paint over photographic base, 36.8 x 27.9 cm, Saturday Evening Post, 6 April 1946 cover, © 2010 Images by The National Museum of American Illustration, Newport, RI, USA and the American Illustrators Gallery, NYC © 2010 Saturday Evening Post covers by SEPS, Curtis Publishing
Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), Breakfast Table Political Argument, 1948, oil study, oil on acetate on board, 26 x 27.9 cm, Saturday Evening Post, 30 October 1948 © 2010 Images by The National Museum of American Illustration, Newport, RI, USA and the American Illustrators Gallery, NYC © 2010 Saturday Evening Post covers by SEPS, Curtis Publishing
object shape from its original usage, as seen
Vases made by Verreries et Cristalleries de Baccarat
Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), Bridge Game-The Bid, 1948, oil on canvas, 46.5 x 38.5 cm. Saturday Evening Post cover, 15 May 1948 © 2010 Images by The National Museum of American Illustration, Newport, RI, USA and the American Illustrators Gallery, NYC © 2010 Saturday Evening Post covers by SEPS, Curtis Publishing
26 World of Antiques & Art
with the smaller vase in the museum’s collection
(France est. 1764), 1880s
World of Antiques & Art 27
illustrated on this page. Distinguishing this smaller example from the many designs that make direct reference to an Eastern repertoire of
T
he influence of Chinese imagery in
among other designs, his many disseminated
Western Europe during the eighteenth
prints of ‘Chinese figures’ have been described,
century and the European
and emphasising their relevance for the
development (mostly in France and
decorative arts. Pillement’s prints had a strong
England) of the chinoiserie style have been much
stylistic influence on many media such as
studied and its important contributions to the
decorative painting, woven tapestry and silk,
rococo style thoroughly documented.
printed fabrics and wallpaper, marquetry and
Specifically, the enormous influence of Jean Baptiste Pillement’s (1728-1808) oeuvre, and
lacquer, enamelled porcelain, engraved and enamelled glass. This influence was not limited to the eighteenth century, as it would again play a role in the late nineteenth-century revival of both the rococo and chinoiserie styles. Now in the collection of the Corning Museum of Glass is a large rock crystalimitating glass vase made by Baccarat in the 1880s and engraved with a chinoiserie scene after a print by Pillement that testifies to the ongoing interest in this genre. During the last two decades of the nineteenth century, Verreries et Cristalleries de Baccarat (established 1764) made a variety of glass vases imitating the stylistic properties of objects in colourless and smoky quartz. In addition to copying the thickness and colour of carved rock crystal, individual objects were cut, engraved or gilded with pictorial programs or individual elements that emphasised their exotic nature. Bamboo, phoenix and dragons were favourite oriental motifs. The interpretation of Asian domestic wares or
motif, the birds and bamboo encircling the vase are exemplary of this fashion. Considering these cultural influences, it becomes obvious that the style of the large colourless vase follows that of a Chinese ceramic with a bulbous body and a four-lobed
Cross culture in glass
rim. Baccarat produced this model repeatedly and several different surface cut decorations are known to decorate the same glass blank. The fine depiction on this larger vase may be the most detailed in its cutting as well as the most accomplished in its design. The larger object is embellished with an eighteenth-century chinoiserie scene. More than
From the Corning Museum of Glass acquisitions that explore the effect of the Orient on the West and the impact of the West on east Asian glassmaking
the continuous employment of a Chinese inspired theme and the ongoing or revived interest it represents, this application of Pillement’s famous print of the ‘Chinese dancer’ alludes to the height of the chinoiserie style under Louis XV and to the oeuvre of one of its principal designers. The historicising nature of this selection celebrates the high style of this genre and a moment in design history when the Western world looked to France and England to assimilate their ‘Chinese’ styles. This phenomenon and the cross-cultural influences in east Asian and western European glassmaking are fascinating topics for further exploration.
Florian Knothe
artefacts influenced the shape and size of vessels that took their form from brush pots and vases, and thereby sometimes alienated an
Vase made by Verreries et Cristalleries de Baccarat (France est. 1764), 1880s, glass, engraved, chinoiserie scene after Jean Baptiste Pillement (1728-1808). The Corning Museum of Glass
FURTHER READING - Fiske Kimball, The Creation of the Rococo (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1943) - Katie Scott, The Rococo Interior: Decoration and Social Spaces in Early Eighteenth-Century Paris (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995) - Jean Pillement, Etudes De differentes figures Chinoises inventees Et dessinees par J: Pillement, a Paris chez Leviez, 1758 - Maria Gordon-Smith, ‘The Influence of Jean Pillement on French and English Decorative Arts,’ in Artibus et historiae, vol. 21, no. 41 (2000), pp. 171-196, and no. 42 (2000), pp. 119-163
Vase made by Verreries et Cristalleries de Baccarat (France est. 1764), c. 1880s-1890s, glass, engraved. The Corning Museum of Glass
32 World of Antiques & Art
World of Antiques & Art 33
decorative arts & design
Africa’s cultural and artistic heritage:
Ancient Cultures
Ife art in ancient Nigeria Ife, an ancient city-state of Yoruba-speaking people in West Africa (now south western Nigeria) produced artworks of extraordinary diversity and sophistication
The refined, life-like sculptures (figs. 2 and 3) demonstrate not only the dignity and selfassurance associated with the idea of dynasty but also the misfortunes and violence that could befall human beings, including startling representations of disease, deformity, and punishment, rendered in stone and terra-cotta that show afflictions caused by both divine and worldly forces (fig. 4). Artists working in the fourteenth- and fifteenth centuries produced copper-alloy sculptures
From Africa artworks that are technically among the most sophisticated in the world
representing royals that mark the height of an
Enid Schildkrout
extraordinary flowering of artwork. A pure copper mask (fig. 5), a full king figure (fig. 6), a
efore the twelfth century, Ife was a
royal torso, and a tiny figure of a queen curled
cluster of agricultural settlements
around a pot and supported on a round stool are
whose people laid out patterned
among the most important works ever found in
pavements made of potsherds, cast
West Africa. Spectacular copper-alloy sculptures
remarkable works in copper alloys and created
found at nearby sites along the Niger River (figs.
B
terra-cotta ritual objects of extraordinary artistic
7 and 8), as well as two important Benin
quality. By 1100 CE, Ife artists had developed a
bronzes, demonstrate the widespread influence
refined and highly naturalistic sculptural tradition
of Ife art throughout the region. A group of
in terra-cotta and stone. These works were soon
naturalistic copper-alloy heads, which might have
followed by copper-alloy sculptures made with
been portraits of real individuals, seems to have
the lost wax technique—many of them of such
been made in a very short period of time, perhaps
exquisite beauty that Ife’s place in the history of
by a few artists working in a single workshop. Most
African and world art was assured.
of these sculptures, buried under houses and
Comprising idealised portrait heads, exquisite
located in outdoor shrines, were discovered
miniatures, expressive caricatures of old age,
haphazardly during the twentieth century. Some
lively animals, and sculptures showing the
were found in shrines that are still in use, where they
impressive regalia worn by Ife’s rulers, these
were associated with particular rulers and deities.
works reveal the stunning creative range of Ife
The purpose for which the copper-alloy heads
artists. Many Ife works, which rank among the
were made is uncertain. Like many heads made
most aesthetically striking and technically
of terra-cotta, some bear traces of red and white
sophisticated in the world, have been brought
paint, perhaps referring to the tradition of face-
together for a groundbreaking travelling
painting during initiation rites. All of them have
exhibition (fig. 1).
holes in the necks, possibly to secure them to a
4. Osangangan Obamakin, Ife, Figure of a man with elephantiasis (Wuchereria bancrofti) of the scrotum, 12th-15th century, terra-cotta, h: 29 cm. Photo courtesy Museum for African Art/Fundación Botín
wooden stand or figure. Most have large holes in
decorative arts & design
decorative arts & design
1. Ita Yemoo, Ife, Janus-headed sceptre with gagged heads, 14th-early 15th century, copper alloy, h: 9.2 cm. Photo courtesy Museum for African Art/Fundación Botín. 2. Wunmonije Compound, Ife, Head with crown, 14th-early 15th century, copper alloy, h: 24 cm. Photo courtesy Museum for African Art/Fundación Botín
The Dunedin Exhibition Suite
the top, probably for the attachment of crowns, suggesting that they may have served as mounts for the display of royal regalia during rites of renewal and purification. About half of the copper-alloy heads have fine vertical facial lines that represent painted or scarified marks or beaded veils. Ife artists created terra-cotta sculptures and
3. Ife Palace, Ife, Head called ‘Lajuwa,’ 12th15th century, terra-cotta, h: 32 cm. Photo courtesy Museum for African Art/Fundación Botín
5. Ife, Mask called ‘Obalufon,’14th-early 15th century, copper, h: 33 cm. Photo courtesy Museum for African Art/Fundación Botín
vessels depicting a wide variety of human, animal, and otherworldly subjects. Some
6. Wunmonije Compound, Ife, Torso of a king, early-mid-16th century, copper alloy, h: 37 cm. Photo courtesy Museum for African Art/Fundación Botín.
retailed by J M Wendt, made by Julius Schomburgk Leading Australian silver expert throws new light on an elaborate silver centrepiece and the pair of accompanying tazzas made for the Dunedin Exhibition of 1865 fields, a second major discovery in 1862 did nothing to dissuade new hopefuls. Like many gold prospectors, professional businessmen made their way to the goldfields to establish services for the miners, including
the ornamentation, the artist has been more
stores, post offices, banks, pubs and hotels. The
successful than in his treatment of the tree-fern,
men who owned these businesses often made
the noble grace of which has not been realised.
SUBSTCO R NOWIBE
more money than the miners.
It was this Dunedin business community that
tree fern the Dixonia, the actual source of Wendt’s inspiration.
The connection between Wendt and the New
result of the gold rushes. It was to be the first
Zealand town of Dunedin is most likely to be
exhibition in New Zealand, a celebration by a city
John Lazar (1801-1879),1 Dunedin’s Town Clerk.
created by gold only seventeen years earlier.
The Exhibition Building is an example of the
John Hawkins
Zealand tree fern is no match for the Australian
decided to hold an exhibition in 1865 to show the merits of New Zealand and create new
business for those who were successful as a
The 1865 Dunedin Exhibition Building from the Illustrated London News
This is an unfortunate comment as the New
Lazar, who was born in Edinburgh, arrived in Sydney on 26 February 1837 under the name of
power of gold to create instant wealth. Among
Lazarus. He claimed to be a tailor and also to
the highlights were a candelabra epergne and
have appeared on the London stage. In 1848
two tazzas of outstanding quality made by the
Lazar became associated with George Selth
unedin, the Gaelic name for
Adelaide goldsmith J M Wendt (1830-1917). The
Coppin who had successfully established the
D
Plate from Illustrated Melbourne Post, 18 July1865, p. 100, showing Wendt’s exhibits at the Dunedin Exhibition: candelabra epergne, one of the smaller tazzas and the claret jug, engraved by Samuel Calvert before being taken to New Zealand. Samuel Calvert commenced his career in Adelaide where he arrived in 1848 leaving for Melbourne in 1852. Photo J B Hawkins Australian Silver Reference Library Julius Schomburgk (b. Germany 1812 arrived Australia 1850 d. 1893), maker, J.M. Wendt (b. Germany 1830 arrived Australia 1854 d. 1917), retailer, Lady Don Inkwell. The inkwell which was valued at 100 guineas, engraved by Calvert for the Illustrated Melbourne Post, and described as the testimonial to Lady Don. ‘Presented to Lady Don by the citizens of Adelaide as a token of respect and esteem.’ Photo J B Hawkins Australian Silver Reference Library
In the small city of Adelaide, Lazar would undoubtedly have come across Wendt. An
Edinburgh, was founded by the Lay
North Otago Times of 9 March 1865 described...
New Queen’s Theatre in Adelaide. John Lazar
Association of the Free Church of
tables containing splendid samples of
occupies an important place in that city’s
William and Lady Don, titled professional actors,
Scotland on the South Island of New
manufactures in the precious metals. Those
theatrical history since his was the first serious
which was highly unusual at this period. Sir
Zealand in 1848 and transformed by the
which attract most attention are a group from
theatrical enterprise undertaken.
William stood nearly 6ft 7in tall. They were
discovery of gold in central Otago, southwest of
Adelaide, manufactured by Mr Wendt, of that
Dunedin in 1861. By 1865 it had become the
city. As a guide in designing the central piece,
largest city in New Zealand. The rush started at Gabriel’s Gully, named after
CLICK HERE
He enjoyed considerable popularity and was
inkwell retailed by Wendt was given to Sir
employed by the father of the Australian theatre,
frequently praised in contemporary newspapers
George Coppin, one time Adelaide partner of
which is a solid silver epergne and candelabrium,
for his endeavours both as a manager and as
John Lazar. The presentation was made by
Mr Wendt obtained from Otago samples of our
actor. In the 1850s Lazar established a jeweller’s
Samuel Lazar, son of John and also a theatre
Tasmanian born Gabriel Read who had
tree-fern and has used its forms for the principal
and silversmith’s business in Hindley Street,
manager and producer.2 The letters of
prospected for gold in both California and
standard of the piece. Around the base of this
Adelaide. He became active in local government,
presentation and acceptance were quoted in the
Victoria before arriving in Otago in 1861. He
fine piece of workmanship, sheep with their
becoming an alderman of the Adelaide City
newspaper. This presentation provides a further
discovered gold in a creek bed close to the
shepherds, emus, kangaroos, cattle, and horses,
Council in 1853 and mayor of Adelaide between
link between Coppin, John Lazar, his son Samuel and the firm of Wendt.
banks of the Tuapeka River near Lawrence on 20
are all depicted. The grass-tree of Australia, and
1855 and 1858. He retired from the Council in
May 1861. By Christmas of that year 14,000
a little creeping plant, are beautifully delineated.
1859 and in 1863 migrated to New Zealand
prospectors were on the Tuapeka and Waipori
In these and in the cornicopaes which complete
where he became the Town Clerk of Dunedin.
70 World of Antiques & Art
Significant silver centrepieces
An earlier inkwell, of comparable design, together with four silver mounted emu eggs also
World of Antiques & Art 71
Fresh research into masterworks which may be the only Australian suite made by a European craftsmen