[Adams, John], fl 1844 :[Auckland in February 1844]

Shows a view of the waterfront at Commercial Bay with two sailboats in the left foreground and a waka pulled up by the shore, beside a tent-like shelter in which two figures are sitting. At the right on the shore are some lengths of timber, and near them a bullock cart loaded with wood or straw. Many of the buildings lining the shore and extending up the rise in the left background, are numbered for identification purposes.

The buildings, identified from a numbered key on other similar works, include, from left: St Paul's Church (minus spire), Captain Tucker's house, W S Graham's house and store, New Zealand Banking Company (at top of rise), Victoria Hotel (on waterfront), Williamson and Crummer's, Old Government Store, Exchange Hotel, Scott's Grocery Store, Langford & Gardiner, Royal Hotel (on rise), Theatre, Brown & Campbell, Gibson & Mitchell, McKenzie (druggist), Nathan & Joseph, Commercial Hotel, Acacia Cottage, Cormack (watchmaker), Broadbent's Store, Conroy (solicitor), Mechanic's Institute, Post Office and Customs House, New Building in Queen Street, Rich's Store. The streets shown are Shortland Street, and streets off it, including Queen Street, High Street, and O'Connell Street.

The numbered key to the buildings is based on that at the bottom of the engraving of Adams' sketch published in R A A Sherrin and J H Wallace's "Early history of New Zealand" (Brett, 1890). However this work covers only the central portion of Adams' sketch. See also the similar engraving at B-080-007.

The watercolour spreads beyond the edges of the paper on to the backing card on which it is mounted.

There is a very similar work held in the Mitchell Library of the State Library of New South Wales. It is of virtually the same dimensions. Because of the provenance of the Turnbull Library's work, with a likely previous owner being John Leech, it is possible that the work was a preliminary drawing for a later print; the other possibility is that it is a copy of such a preliminary drawing.

The medium is watercolour and gouache, with the numbers written in ink. There is no sign of a print beneath the paint. There is a sheen on parts of the surface, made in part by gum arabic buffed with a stylus. The bubbled or pitted effect in the sky is not oil, nor can it be felt by touch as uneven, but there may have been some ingredient in the paint used for the sky to cause this effect.

Quantity: 1 watercolour(s).

Physical Description: Gouache on paper 184 x 378 mm, stuck to heavy card, 203 x 400 mm

Provenance: Previously owned by his grandmother Helen (Nellie) Smith, the daughter of John Leech who owned a picture-framing shop in Queen Street, from 1855.