MUSEUM EXHIBITS REARRANGED

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23131, 21 September 1940, Page 12

MUSEUM EXHIBITS REARRANGED

Annual Spring Cleaning Completed

The Canterbury Museum will present a clean and well-scrubbed appearance and a healthy smell of disinfectant when it is reopened to visitors on Monday after the annual overhaul and spring cleaning. Floors have been scrubbed until they have lost all traces of the thousands of footprints of the last year, woodwork and glass cases have been polished, the animals have been groomed, fur and feathers have been treated to keep moths away, valuable Maori carvings have been carefully examined and treated with anti-borer materials, one Maori porch has been reconditioned, and hundreds of specimens have been overhauled and checked for possible decay. Among the changes in the musetlm the most . interesting will be found in the room now known as the Hall of Fine Arts. This room was originally the statuary room. It now houses the Henry Seager collection, which includes china and porcelain and some period furniture, and a large general collection of pottery, china, and porcelain, as well as prints and engravings, some large oil paintings, and the statuary. The pottery exhibited includes some extremely old specimens, some of them dating from the stone age in Europe. The general development of the history of pottery, porcelain,, and china is indicated by the arrangement of the cases. There are examples of the earliest pre-wheel pottery among which some Pueblo (New Mexico) and South American pieces, and an Anglo-Saxon cremation urn are particularly interesting. Examples of pottery made on a wheel include some very early European pieces and numbers of more modern bowls and vases. The china and porcelain are representative of different ages and different countries in Europe, separate space being devoted; to the examples from Holland, France, Italy, Germany, and England, A reproduction of the famous Portland vase, and a four-handled posset mug, dated 1612 {one of a set of mugs so valuable as to be numbered by collectors) are shown in the English case. Valuable Loans - To make the collections of these pieces of pottery- and porcelain more complete, several specimens have been lent to the museum. Lady Kinsey has lent two Meisen figures, Mrs W. A. Moore some Japanese ivories, and Miss M. Molineaux a modern DoUlfon vase in the classic shape with rose decoration by the famous Doulton artist, E. Raby. The reorganisation of this comprehensive collection of porcelain has made it possible for visitors to see more clearly and more easily the development in different ages and different countries. It has also left more room available for valuable prints and engravings, including a set of six Hogarth works dated 1745, to be shown in a good light. In the entrance to the museum the space is devoted to models of ships engaged in the Lyttelton-Wellington steamer service—Rotomahana, built 1879; Mararoa, built 1885; Wahine, built in 1913; and Rangatira, built 1930. The models, which are built to the same scale, have been lent: by the Union Steam Ship Company and the Otago Museum.

Regret at the death of Mr Amaud McKellar was expressed at the annual meeting of the Kaiapoi Woollen Company, Ltd., yesterday. Mr McKellar had been a director of the company since 1921 and chairman from 1927 to 1939. The vacancy oh the board has been filled by the appointment of Mr Denys Hoare.