Slice of history on art auction block

Auctioneers are expecting top prices for a rare collection of rubble next week.

But’s not just any rubble – it’s a collection of samples from the long-lost Pink and White Terraces, which will go under the hammer at an art auction. It’s the largest collection to be offered in one lot  from the natural formation, described as the “eighth wonder of the world.”

The terraces on the edge of Lake Rotomahana near Rotorua, disappeared in 1886 when Mt Tarawera erupted, killing 120 people, burying a village and causing widespread damage. Part of the terraces were rediscovered in 2011, about 60 metres below the surface of the lake.

The 35 samples of fossilised flora and silica sinter were from the private collection of James Stewart, a civil engineer who was thought to have collected the samples shortly before the eruption.

In a report after he visited the mountain to inspect what was left he said: “The wonder of the world and the delight of tourists has beyond all reasonable doubt been driven into dust and fine ashes.”

The collection will be sold as one lot at a sale of important, early and rare art at the International Art Centre in Auckland next week.

Director Richard Thomson said it was the largest offering ever sold as one lot and was estimated to bring $20,000.

“But you can never be sure. There is an incredible interest in this type of offering. In March last year we sold two pieces of the Terraces for $65,000, well above what we expected. We had interest from around the world and they were one of the most sought-after things I have ever sold.”

The sale next week features more than 20 paintings and photographs of the Terraces, including The White Terrace by Charles Blomfield, considered the master of terrace portrayal, and a rare 1884 painting by New Zealand artist Joseph Gaut of a Maori woman bathing in the shadow of the Pink Terrace.

Mr Thomson said the sale included some of the finest examples of important, early and works of New Zealand art, ever offered.

One of the paintings, Charles Frederick Goldie’s Kawhena, painted in 1892, was the artist’s first portrait of a Maori kaumatua and could be the first Goldie painting to reach $1 million at auction.

Goldie, who died in 1947, was one of New Zealand’s most recognised and sought-after artists. Another of his paintings, Te Aitu Te Irikau, An Arawa chieftainess, painted in 1911, was expected to bring up to $230,000.

Both oil paintings were being offered for the first time.

“People never tire of Goldie,” Mr Thomson said.

He said Kawhena, also known as Johnny Coffin, was a “national treasure” and was considered one of Goldie’s finest works of art.

Te Aitu Te Irikau was the first of several Goldie painted of the Arawa chieftainess. It was in an original Goldie frame and has been in a private collection in Hawke’s Bay since the 1930s.

“The two Goldies are exceptional examples of Goldie’s ability to show the detail of Maori culture in the moko and weaving,” said Mr Thomson.

“He also captures the soul of his subjects. The mood he portrays in the eyes of Kawhena is quite compelling and with Te Aitu Te Irikau, it is very easy to imagine her as a woman of great reverence and mana but also as a person with a very close understanding and affinity with her people.”

Other works in the sale include several by Sir Peter Siddell, one of only two artists knighted in New Zealand. His 1988 oil, Two Palms, an Auckland cityscape, was predicted to bring $135,000

An unusual oil on two glass panes, Untitled Diptych, by Ralph Hoterewas thought to be his ode to another renowned New Zealand artist, Colin McCahon. It was expected to bring up to $100,000.

Hotere died earlier this year.

Other artists in next week’s sale include Peter McIntyre, (Whangarei Heads, estimated $20,000), Sir Toss Woollaston (Golden Bay, 1948, $28,000), John Gibb (Port Chalmers, $20,000), Frances Hodgkins (Country Colour, Purbeck, $65,000), Evelyn Page (Grey St, Wellington, 1949, $40,000), John Barr Clarke Hoyte (Milford Sound, $25,000).

The sale is at the International Art Centre’s Parnell gallery on Wednesday (November 20).