Saleroom: Bidders fight for Island war club

By DON MILNE

Every now and then New Zealand auction-goers are reminded that the art market can be truly global. It may be when a work by one of the lesser-known British Victorian painters fetches rather more than anyone here expected as a London buyer sees the chance to turn a good profit.

Or it may be, as at Cordy's sale last month of Pacific and tribal art, that rarity dictates wide international interest - and a world record price.

The work in question was a Polynesian u'u war club from the Marquesas, that rugged group of islands 1200km north-east of Tahiti.

Dated to about 1800, the big, heavy black wood club, finely carved with masks, sacred lizards and tattoo designs, was offered by a Wellington family which had owned it for 40 years.

Similar clubs had sold in the past 10 years in Britain for £25,000 ($90,000) and in the United States for $US20,000 ($50,000). Cordy's estimate was $14,000.

"These clubs were said to be used for the execution of slaves or prisoners for cannibal ceremonies," said John Maconie, the auctioneer. "This very fine one still has its handle binding of sennit [plaited palm leaves] inset with tufts of human hair - about 50, probably one for each victim."

The club's well-documented history and its undoubted quality attracted postal bids from Britain and Europe, the west coast of the United States and Hawaii, and Australia. New Zealand institutions were clearly not in the hunt.

The final price of $87,500 ($97,340 including 10 per cent buyer's premium and GST) was more than six times the estimate.

Fittingly, the club will go back to near where it came from.

The successful bidder flew from Tahiti for the sale and was, from all accounts, delighted with his purchase.

Last month also saw what is said to be a world record for Clarice Cliff, the British art deco pottery designer.

Her works have risen greatly in popularity - and price.

Still, no one quite expected that a small, brightly coloured, round Sunray vase, just 14.5cm high, offered by Dunbar Sloane in Wellington, would go for $32,000 ($35,200 with premium).

The estimate was from $8000 to $14,000. Clearly, those who suggest that the Clarice Cliff bubble has burst must think again.

In Auckland, the International Art Centre's sale in Holy Trinity Cathedral attracted good interest, with the top price going to a Goldie portrait of the Rarawa chief Atama Paparangi ($121,000 with premium). A Lindauer oil of the familiar subject of Ana Rupene and child sold for $66,000 and his charming portrait of a young European girl with a basket of flowers went for $41,800.

A mixed offering of watercolour landscapes by John Barr Clarke Hoyte fetched $14,300 to $35,200, and bird and animal paintings by Raymond Ching - whose recent portraits are on show in Auckland - reached between $11,000 and $27,500.

An untitled work by Colin McCahon from 1952, related to the On Building Bridges triptych in the Auckland Art Gallery, sold for $71,500.

Coming up: Tonight at the White Heron, Parnell, Dunbar Sloane will offer about 300 works, including a major John Gully watercolour of Milford Sound, and a rare work by Kennett Watkins, described as Auckland's leading artist and art teacher in the 1880s.

The Watkins oil shows a Maori family, complete with black-and-white terrier, canoeing on the Waikato. Dated from 1881, it is estimated at between $125,000 and $200,000.

Webb's last sale of the year is on December 12. The offering of about 200 lots has five McCahons, including a recently discovered set of ink and wash drawings, plus a good selection of contemporary and historic New Zealand works.