Keulemans, John Gerrard, 1842-1912 :Kokako. [Between 1899 and 1906?]

Shows three kokako in a native bush setting: the North Island kokako or blue-wattle crow; the South Island kokako or orange-wattle crow and the albino kokako.

The image is similar to the kokako painted by Keulemans for Walter Buller's 'Birds of New Zealand', 2nd edition, 1883, Plate I, with the addition of an albino bird. The original watercolour for the 2nd edition is the ornithological library of the British Museum, Natural History, at Tring. Ross Galbreath, Buller's biographer, suggests in a letter to the Alexander Turnbull Library dated 12 December 2005 that this may be one of 'a number of Keulemans paintings of albino New Zealand birds, probably done for Buller in his last years in England in 1899-1906. Shortly after the death of Buller's grand-daughter, Miss Gwen Buller in the mid-1980s a collection of these were sold through ... Sotheby's [then through] McArthur & Co [Auckland] ca 1987.' Keulemans had also provided an image of kokako for the 1873 edition of Buller's work, but the poses are different from these.

Quantity: 1 watercolour(s).

Physical Description: Watercolour 510 x 662 mm.

Provenance: Earlier sold at McArthur's, Auckland, 10 May 1985, lot 23.