The hunt for a missing Charles Goldie portrait of a Maori woman has turned to visitors to the owners' Mosgiel home while it was on the market.
The theft was thought to have taken place between February and this month but was only recently discovered by the owners.
During that time they had their house on the market, Senior Constable David Leonard said yesterday.
"The couple had had their house on the market from early this year and we've looked at every other possibility for the painting going missing, and we've come to the conclusion this is the only way it could have gone."
Mr Leonard said it was not particularly well known that the couple had the painting - a head-and-shoulders portrait of a Maori woman looking back over her shoulder.
She has a moko and her hair tied back. The painting is about 24cm by 18cm and is in an oval, wooden frame.
The painting, in the family for more than 60 years, was given to a member by Goldie shortly before he died.
Mr Leonard said the work had never been valued for insurance purposes, nor was a photograph of it available.
Goldie (1870-1947) is one of New Zealand's best-known painters, famous for his precise, detailed portraits of Maori wearing moko.
Victoria University senior art history lecturer Roger Blackley, who wrote a book about Goldie, said paintings by the artist were popular with art thieves.
"There's a long history of thefts of Goldie paintings," he said.
Mr Blackley said the painting sounded like a work from early in Goldie's career. While it was difficult to assess its value, a similarly sized painting from the early 1920s had sold recently for more than $100,000.
- NZPA
