21 Nov 2013

Goldie Kawhena painting sets auction record

7:18 pm on 21 November 2013

A Charles Frederick Goldie painting of Ngati Mahuta kaumatua, Hone Kawhena, has sold for a record auction price.

The 1892 portrait went to a private New Zealand collector for $733,000 on Wednesday night in Auckland.

It is Goldie's first painting of a Maori elder, and was the only painting he did of Kawhena.

The International Art Centre director and auctioneer, Richard Thomson, says the piece is of great historical interest and will stay in the country.

He says the price beat the 1995 auction record of $704,000 for a Colin McCahon painting.