Inscribed 'Maori the fishmonger selling cray fish' on separate paper

This early watercolour depicts Maori selling crayfish in front of the Shortland Street store of Auckland watch and clock maker William Buchanan. A member of Auckland's growing business fraternity, Buchanan is named in Jury Lists of 1860. Public Notices of 1861 list Buchanan as offering a' £5 Reward' for the return of 'a heavy gold watch and gold guard chain' with the 'maker's name Philips, Cockspur Street, London'.

By 1865 circumstances had changed and through a column in the colony's Daily Southern Cross newspaper, creditors are respectfully asked to 'settle all accounts .... at the late place of business'.

Interestingly a link between the artist Charles Heaphy and the Buchanan family exists through marriage. It is further recorded that Charles Heaphy and his wife Kate raised Kate's niece, Ethel Buchanan as her own daughter. Artistic contributions include Heaphy's carefully drawn maps along with paintings and drawings which valuably record early New Zealand life. At the time these watercolours (lots 37 & 38) were completed, Heaphy was in Auckland. In 1866 he was appointed Auckland Provincial Surveyor.