Murray J P fl 1880-1890s :Taitook Pah Pelorus. [ca 1880].

Shows scene in pa with four rectangular wooden huts (including one in left background) and one circular thatched hut (or possibly haystack). A woman cooks on an open fire, in the company of two dogs, and a man stands at right foreground looking towards the viewer. At centre is a cabbage-tree in bloom and at left a willow. To the right behind the campfire is a rack which may hold drying flax or eels. A trailer/cart stands beside the cabbage tree. There is a distant white fence at the bottom of the hill at right. In central distance is another dwelling, with a partially eroded hillside behind it.

Dunbar Sloane catalogue notes in 1974 : "Most important historical painting on the site where the town of Picton now stands", but this is inaccurate, as the pa on that site was called the Waitohi pa.

"Canvas and gold" by Norman Brayshaw, 1964, (page 232) says: Hemi Whiro was the chieftain of the Taituku and Te Hora Pas in 1860 and on his death in 1890, the lands passed to his son Peter Hemi who held rank as chief until about 1925.

According to list of landowners 1884, Peter Ahradsen was a cabinetmaker in Wellington. He is listed in Wises 1880 as an upholsterer in Wellington.

Sold to the Library as the work of an unknown artist; however removal of the glued-on mat revealed the signature J. P. Murray.

Other Titles - Taituku Pa

Inscriptions: Recto - J Murray; Mat recto - beneath image - [Title]; Verso - (Stuck-on pieces of paper, one of which is an envelope with addressee's name: Mr Peter Ahradsen; and the other has circular rubber stamp: NZ PICTON 9 JY 80).; Verso - bottom right - Picture only.

Quantity: 1 watercolour(s).

Physical Description: Watercolour 360 x 565 mm.

Provenance: Previously sold at a Dunbar Sloane auction, 2 May 1974, lot 109 for $1400.00.