Maori chief’s New Zealand artwork could sell for $2.5million at auction

An artwork by renowned New Zealand artist Charles Goldie will be auctioned next month and could sell for up to $2.5 million.

The painting, by Maori chief Kamariera Te Hau Takiri Wharepapa, was held in Goldie’s private collection until his death and is “considered his finest work”.

According to the director of the International Art Center, Richard Thomson, their company has been selling Goldie’s works for more than 50 years and has never seen one of his paintings of such high quality.

“This painting is unique in so many ways,” he said.

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The piece was originally sold in 1957 by Goldie’s wife, Olive, and traveled to Melbourne and then London, where it has remained in private ownership ever since.

Kamariera Te Hau Takiri Wharepapa was known to be a great Iwi chief and orator who visited England in 1862 with a group of Maori to visit the Queen.

The sale of the artwork will be accompanied by authentication documents, including a letter from Olive stating that it was the work of her late husband, as well as a handwritten letter from Goldie confirming that she was one of his favorites.

The auction will take place on April 5 at the Auckland International Center for the Art.

Also on sale will be Marlotte, Paris, 1894an oil painting by Goldie expected to fetch $250,000, a watercolor by Frances Hodgkins and a painting by Sir Peter Sidedell.