Kōrero: Furniture

The Viennese immigrant and Auckland resident Anton Seuffert was perhaps Australasia's finest colonial cabinetmaker. The design of this writing bureau, made around 1865, is based on the 18th-century French Louis XV style. It features marquetry in inlaid veneers of kauri, pūriri and rewarewa. The images include a moa beside a tree fern on the central door panel and a Māori man and woman on the two side doors. Although the design is European in origin, the iconography locates the piece firmly in New Zealand.