MORE ART TREASURES

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1061, 27 August 1930, Page 1

MORE ART TREASURES

MR. MOSS DAVIS SENDS FURTHER GIFTS SHIPMENT ON lONIC When the White Star liner lonic arrived at Auckland yesterday morning she brought a large shipment of art treasures from England. The shipment, which is another gift to the city from Mr. Moss Davis, one ot Auckland's greatest benefactors, contains the 70 Medici prints described some time ago, two oil paintings by famous artists, a number of Maori tveapons, and a watch given to Lord Nefkon by Sir William and Lady Hamilton, as well as several other pieces of virtu. BELONGED TO NAPOLEON These include two porcelain vases which formerly belonged to Napoleon I. They are marked with the initial “N.” There is a bronze statuette, “Napoleon on His Charger,” an ivoryfigure of the Saviour at the Last

Supper, and a very fine statue—in Carrara marble a woman. “Old England,” an oil painting by Thomas Creswick, depicts an idyllic country scene in the Homeland. A horse-drawn vehicle is fording a stream, near. a wooden bridge, with a rustic village in the background. This picture was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1847. As long ago as May 5, 1888, it was sold in the Bolckow Collection at Christie’s for as much as £1,050. The purchaser was Vokins and Company. Where Mr. Davis obtained it is not known. The other oil is “Lamia,” which is reproduced here. It is by J. \V. “’ater—house, R.A., and it shows one of that famous painters most celebrated classical subjects. An early Maori canoe. nearly six feet in length, is included in the shipment. It is mounted in a glass case. The canoe is of exceptional quality and proportions, and it is richly carved with tikis and geometrical designs. The prow and stem are particularly fine. On one side of the prow there is a carved bird’s head, inlaid with haliotis shell. RARE SPECIMEN A Liaori chief’s tomahaWk—a very rare specimen—is beautifully carved in ivory, and is of the type used by the tohunga on ceremonial occasions. A large barbed spear, an early tiki of unusual size, a set of neck ornaments in bone, showing the Manaia attacking a Maori. a chief’s neck ornament. and a. chieftainess’s head—dress on combs carved from puriri wood complete the Maori section. Perhaps the most interesting object from an historical point of view is Lord Nelson’s watch. This was made by Thomas Ivory, of Dundee. It ‘is in a gilt case with a shagreen outer cover. The back is engraved “H.N. from XV. & E.H. 1799.” } “Horatio Nelson from W'illiam and {Emma Hamilton, 1799." .