An album of 12 early watercolour drawings of Australian Aborigines made a surprising £72,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Forum Auctions in London on June 9.
The dozen 8½ x 7in (22 x 17cm) sketches on wove paper (two with the watermark 1804) are thought to be by Captain Joseph Swabey Tetley (1778-1828), a colonial naval officer and amateur artist. He was first lieutenant on board HMS Porpoise, the ship that brought Governor William Bligh to Sydney in August 1806.
Two other albums with duplicate examples of these watercolours are held in the Mitchell Library, New South Wales. There are some minor differences between the sets that uphold the suggestion that two are contemporary copies created by Tetley after an original set of drawings once owned by George Charles Jenner (fl.1805-22).