APPENDIX III: Mrs Hobson’s Album compared with the Grey Albums
Examples of pictures similar to those of the Grey Albums, now in the British Library, London, U.K.
Plate 1: Two Maori girls [The Hobson Album]
Artist: Joseph Jenner Merrett (1816?-1854), New Zealand
Medium: Watercolour on cream wove paper,
Dimensions: 355 x 248 mm.
Date: 1842 or 1843
ATL Reference No. E-216-f-057
Description:
Two Maori girls, probably both in their teens. The taller of the two is wearing a flax cloak, a fringed and tagged korowai-ngore, open to the waist to show her breasts; the smaller is in a white kilt of European fabric, possibly with a fringed flax belt. Her hand is on the waist and her head on the shoulder of the taller girl. A tree, ferns and a small flax are to the left. In the right background is open water and a headland or island. The location is described by the artist in a related view of the two girls as Mauranui.
Two related ink and pencil drawings are held in the Grey album, British Library, Add. MS 19953, folio 51, no. 152 and folio 62 no. 181. The former shows the two girls in a very similar stance, but lacks the background of sea and bush shown in the Hobson Album version. The latter is entitled Two girls at Mauranui. The name Mauranui is no longer in use, but it is likely to be somewhere in the hot lakes district or as far north as Auckland
Plate 2: Maketu
Artist: Joseph Jenner Merrett (1816?-1854), New Zealand
Medium: Watercolour
Date: 1842
ATL Reference No. E-216-f-011.
Description:
Head and shoulders portrait of a young Maori man, wrapped in a blanket. He was Maketu Waretotara, the son of Ruhe, a Waimate chief. Maketu was tried for multiple murder at the Bay of Islands in November 1841 and executed in Auckland on 7 March 1842. There are portraits of him on pages 11 and 141 of the Hobson Album, with his statement on page 101.
In the British Library is another portrait in pencil in the Grey Album, Add. Ms 19953, Folio 78, Plate 218, and a watercolour portrait in the same Album, Folio 45, Plate 132. In addition there is a copy of the Library's portrait on p. 141 by Edward Shortland in the Hocken Library.
Title: View of Koka Puka from Waipa and Otawau. [The Hobson Album]
Artist: Joseph Jenner Merrett (1816?-1854), New Zealand
Medium: Drawing. Black ink and wash
Dimensions: 170 x 257 mm
Date: c. 1841-1843.
ATL Reference number: E-216-f-181
Description:
Mount Kakepuku, a striking landmark conical hill, in the background, viewed beyond clumps of tall trees and low fern, with the roofs of several Maori dwellings, probably of Otawhao Pa, in the left foreground. The viewpoint is likely to be from Te Kopua Mission Station. Mrs Hobson’s Album p 181 fig 63. Relates to Grey Album 19953, Folio 20, Plate 46.
Title: Woman and child. [The Hobson Album]
Artist: Joseph Jenner Merrett (1816?-1854), New Zealand
Medium: Watercolour on cream wove paper
Dimensions: 170 x 120 mm
Date: 1842 or 1843
ATL Reference number A-275-002.
Description:
A Maori woman, wearing a flax cloak, and a blanket, seated in profile in front of a whare. She is holding a baby and reading a book. The baby is dressed in a white frilled bonnet and white gown. The woman's cloak is a korowai-ngore (pompom cloak) with flax tags and woolen pompoms, (and possibly fringe). In the background is a lake and perhaps Ngaruhoe's volcanic peak beyond that. (Merret visited Taupo in 1841). The woman's name is likely to be Ewaka, judging by the inscription on the verso.
A related watercolour and pencil drawing is held in the Grey album, British Library, Add. MS 19953, Folio 81, Plate 229, lacking the background of lake and mountain shown in the Hobson Album version.
Title: View on the Lake of Rotorua. The island of Mo Koia [sic] in the center. [The Hobson Album]
Artist: Joseph Jenner Merrett (1816?-1854), New Zealand
Medium: Ink and wash drawing
Dimensions: 167 x 249 mm
Date: c. 1843
Reference No. E-216-f-059
Description:
Groups of Maori on the foreshore engaged in various activities, including cooking in a large pot to the right. Two war canoes on the lake. Mokoia in the middle distance. The view is framed with trees to left and right, including cabbage trees on the right, alongside a food storage platform.
This is strongly similar to a drawing in the Grey Album Add. MS. 19953, Folio 118, Plate 288 'The Lake of Rotorua', (inscribed on album page beneath image: Title in ink in the artist's hand) although in the latter there are just four people on the foreshore, there are three canoes shown, and the framing trees are larger.
Title: The Waihou River [The Hobson Album]
Artist: Joseph Jenner Merrett (1816?-1854), N. Z.
Medium: Black ink and wash drawing
Dimensions: 167 x 259 mm.
Date: 1842 or 1843
ATL Reference number E-216-f-127
Description:
The Waihou River winding past bush-clad hills which are part of the Kaimai Ranges. Matamata refers to the pa of Te Waharoa on the Waitoa River. In the foreground, one Maori man is standing with a spear, another crouched to his right. Two large canoes are on the river and a row of trees is reflected in the water.
There is a very similar drawing by Merrett in the Grey Album, British Library, Add. MS 19953, p. 81, plate 233, with title The Waiho, source of the Thames. The British Library version lacks the two figures in the foreground and the line of trees on the far bank of the river, as well as the two canoes on the water.
Title: A meeting of visitors Mounganui [The Hobson Album]
Artist: Joseph Jenner Merrett (1816?-1854), N. Z.
Medium: Black ink and wash drawing
Dimensions: 166 x 246 mm
Date: 1843?
ATL Reference number E-216-f-119.
Description:
A meeting of visitors Mounganui, with Tauraga in the distance. View of a powhiri or welcome between two Maori groups, outside Otumoetai Pa, with the outline of Mount Maunganui in the background at the east entrance to Tauranga Harbour. Both groups are standing with bowed heads (remembering the dead) and some of the hosts are raising their arms, while some of the guests are seated, some standing. Two of the guests are holding taiaha, while one holds a tewhatewha (weapons).
There are two very similar drawings by Merrett in the Grey Album, British Library, Add. MS 19953, p. 58 plate 170 and p. 43 plate 124, both untitled. These lack the details of the pa palisade and Mount Maunganui in the background. The British Library drawings show only the two groups of figures
All information and images by kind permission of the Alexander Turnbull National Library of New Zealand. URL: http://www.natlib.govt.nz/collections/digital-collections/timeframes. Accessed 2006.
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