Two Rare Watercolour Designs For Australian Christmas Greeting Cards (In Scrapbook)
c1880s. The watercolours are housed in a hardcover scrapbook with paper boards and cloth spine, containing numerous decorative memorabilia. One watercolour is captioned “A Merry Christmas”; the other “A Merry Xmas” lower centre and upper right respectively, 11.6 x 17.8cm and 15.3 x 20.1cm (watercolours), 37.5 x 25 x 1.3cm (scrapbook). Both watercolours are laid down. Scrapbook cover and pages have creases, soiling and surface loss. The watercolours depict very finely rendered naïve Australian bush scenes, both with Christmas greetings within the image. One painting shows twelve Indigenous men with spears, hunting by a riverbank; the other image includes two bushmen at camp by a stream, with a billy in the fire. One man is carrying a rifle with a kangaroo slung over his shoulder. “The practice of exchanging Christmas-themed greeting cards first became popular during the mid-nineteenth century. Christmas cards available in Australia, however, portrayed only English and European scenes. On 26 February 1881, Sydney stationer John Sands advertised an art competition offering prizes for original Christmas card designs showcasing ‘Australian subjects.’ Seven hundred (700) designs were submitted and displayed at the Art Gallery of NSW in May, with 24 designs placed into production and ready for sale by early December.” Ref: Margot Riley, State Library of NSW.
Item #CL208-8
Price (AUD): $5,500.00 other currencies