Art treasure safely back from tour

A Dunedin art treasure crafted 152 years ago, and believed to be worth more than $1 million, is safely back in the city after an international tour lasting nearly 18 months.

And nobody is breathing a bigger sigh of relief than Dunedin Public Art Gallery public programmes manager Robyn Notman, who was dispatched with a padded security case to bring it home from Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates.

The work is the 1857 oil on wood painting The Bouquet, by British painter John Frederick Lewis (1805-76).

It was purchased from Christie's in London, England, in 1946, by gallery staff in Dunedin using interest from the 10,000 Peter Smeaton bequest fund - one of numerous works added to the gallery's collection thanks to Mr Smeaton's generosity.

Ms Notman said representatives from the Tate Britain, in partnership with the British Council in the United Arab Emirates, had contacted the gallery in late 2006 seeking to borrow The Bouquet.

The work, in the Orientalist style, was wanted by organisers of the Lure of the East: British Orientalist Painting travelling exhibition, she said.

Once the deal was agreed, The Bouquet left New Zealand in January last year, travelling as part of the exhibition to galleries in the United States, the United Kingdom and Istanbul, Turkey, before finishing in Sharjah.

Ms Notman was given the task of returning it home to Dunedin in a week-long trip from May 4-11 this year.

She flew to Sharjah and, after several days acclimatising to the 35degC-40degC heat, was told to arrive outside the Sharjah Art Museum at 4.30am, where she would be met by a uniformed museum representative.

Once secured, the case and painting did not leave her hands - or the uniformed museum representative her side - until both she and the painting were safely on board an Emirates flight to New Zealand later that day, she said.

"Once I picked the painting up, I couldn't let the painting out of my sight.

"It's not chained to my wrist but you are touching the case the whole time.

"You become quite anxious with a treasure."

Despite the nerves, the hospitality of Sharjah officials was "fantastic" and the trip home to Dunedin uneventful, she said.

"[But] I have to say, by then I was quite tired and quite relieved . . . to know it was safe," she said.

The courier costs were met by the exhibition organisers, and she believed sharing the painting was a wonderful way to promote the Dunedin collection, and the work, to a wider international audience.

chris.morris@odt.co.nz