stamped on centreboard 'Reuben Watts SILVER' and stamped on oars 'WATTS', 'SILVER'

height 240 x width 400 x depth 71 mm (excluding base)

gift of Mr W Hudson, Auckland, 1947, collection of Auckland War Memorial Museum, 1947.11, S71

During the early 20th century all areas of the crafts underwent revivals due to the influence of the English Arts and Crafts movement.

William Reuben Watts (b 1869, Manchester, England – d 1940, Auckland, New Zealand) was in small body of craftspeople, artists and architects working in Auckland in the 1920s who were motivated by the movements’ ideals.

After moving to Auckland from Wellington, Watts took a position with the city’s leading jeweller, Adolph Kohn. After a trip to England in 1921, Watts set up his own business Durham Street East. From his workshop he produced a vast range of jewellery and his reputation spread.

Writer Douglas Lloyd-Jenkins has noted that, ‘Watts styled himself as ‘an art metalworker’ Large-scale commissions came from yachting and racing clubs for trophies and from churches for liturgical silver. On a more domestic scale, the workshop produced beaten copper wall plaques and light fittings designed to add to an Arts & Crafts ambience to the walls of local houses.

This immaculate replica silver model of a whaling boat was made as a presentation trophy in the 1920s by Watts - although it appears never to have been used.

silver model of a whaling boat, W Reuben Watts (b 1869, Manchester, England – d 1940, Auckland, New Zealand), Auckland, New Zealand, 1920s

[Model whaling boat, sterling silver, electroplated copper, glass and ebonised wood. Reuben Watts, Auckland, c. 1920 - gallery card]