Saleroom: Part of our heritage under the hammer

By DON MILNE

What constitutes Maori art? Any work produced by Maori artists and craftsmen? Or objects incorporating Maori themes, such as the koru? (So a Royal Doulton teaset from 1907 based on the koru design is Maori art?)

Only objects produced before European contact, the purist might say. And such works have been valued since the days of Captain Cook for, as London expert Michael Graham-Stewart writes in Dunbar Sloane's latest catalogue, "their fine craftsmanship, use of precious materials, complex curvilinear decoration and plentiful depictions of the human form".

"Lesser mortals were prepared to highly prize works made possible by the use of European tools," Graham-Stewart writes, "but few took seriously any Maori artefacts produced from about the end of the Maori war period."

Next Tuesday afternoon should show how perceptions have changed, with the auction of Maori folk art collected by Auckland art dealer John Gow.

Amassed over many years, the collection comprises more than 400 lots; items from other collections, and of Pacific and Aboriginal origin, will also be offered.

So there are such things as a Crown Lynn Wharatane ware plate "with embossed Maori motif border and warrior in centre" (estimate $600-$800), and a carved wooden ashtray with paua shell insert ($100-$200), but also early items that can be sold only to registered buyers and may not leave the country. Among these is an 1860s carved rifle butt from the East Coast ($2000-$3000); there are pre-European adzes, and carved cigarette boxes.

And there are two elaborately carved "thrones" from early in the last century, estimated at $30,000-$50,000 and $40,000-$70,000.

Kitsch, some might sneeringly say of some of it.

Yet such objects are part of our heritage, an aspect of kiwiana hitherto largely neglected. Has their time come?

Looking back, Webb's April sale was, they say, their best ever, totalling around $5 million for the three days. Contemporary works sold exceptionally well, with records for Peter Siddell ($90,000, before buyer's premium and GST) and Richard Killeen ($55,000). Early works by Michael Smither continue to attract high prices, Sarah with Cup (1965) going for $82,000.

A tiny watercolour of the fish market at Rotterdam by the great J.M.W. Turner fetched $200,000, while a Frances Hodgkins Still Life with Landscape from 1930 went for $410,000 to a local private buyer - a world record for this important artist.

Works by Hotere and McCahon, predictably, found ready buyers, and the market for good New Zealand photography seems to be looking up, with a double portrait of Tony Fomison by Shirley Grace going for $2100. A 1926-27 portrait of Whakarewarewa guide Georgina by Una Garlick, first woman member of the Auckland Camera Club, reached $1400.

Dunbar Sloane also had a fine Hodgkins, from the same Canadian source, which fetched $325,000 (and promises another, from Britain, in his August sale). Oddities in his sale were a painted door by Allan Maddox ($3000), and a painted table leg by Philip Clairmont ($1100).

Coming up: Cordy's next art and antiques sale is on June 17.

Webb's next major art sale is July 1, with another very strong offering indicated, including works from the 1970s and 1980s from the collection of Lin and Bill Fumpston, parents of artist Rodney. An exceptional example from Ralph Hotere's Black Window series could well set a record for the artist. Webb's next affordable art sale is August 12.

The International Art Centre's next sale in on July 31.

Dunbar Sloane's next art sale will be in August, and will include a first offering of paintings from the estate of Christchurch artist Owen Lee.