Original label in artist's hand affixed verso reads: A Centenarian, Kapi Kapi, An Arawa Chieftainess

Provenance: Private Collection Ex Alfred Charles Hanlon KC, Collection, Dunedin

NZ Department of Tourist and Health Resorts and Publicity The Maori (Dunedin, Coulls, Somerville, Wilkie 1938?) p.6, reproduced in colour

Art and the Maori (Wellington, Brooker, 1943), reproduced in colour

Art and the Maori (Wellington, Brooker, 1948), reproduced in colour

Goldie, C F NZ Paintings, Series 1 (Auckland, NZ Art Publications, 1968) p.5, reproduced in colour. Ref. p. 233 C F Goldie His Life & Painting, Alister Taylor & Jan Glen, 1977

Illustrated p. 233 C F Goldie His Life & Painting, Alister Taylor & Jan Glen, 1977

This work was purchased directly from C F Goldie by Alfred Charles Hanlon KC, 1866 - 1944.

Alfred Charles Hanlon was one of the most outstanding criminal advocates in New Zealand's history. He is remembered as defending counsel for the infamous Minnie Dean in her trial of 1895. Born in Dunedin, Hanlon married the daughter of Richard Hudson, founder of the biscuit-making firm R. Hudson & Company. In a career extending over fifty years, he was President of the Otago District Law Society in 1902 and 1914 and appointed King's Counsel in 1930. At over six feet tall Hanlon was an impressive figure both physically and in the courtroom, where his skills became legendary. Drawing upon a rich command of the English language and a sense of the dramatic, Hanlon attracted a viewing public as he appeared in courts throughout the country.

A great sportsman with a strong dislike of class distinction, Hanlon was a popular 'man of the people' often wearing a spring of sweet scented Boronia in his buttonhole. He died in Dunedin in 1944 aged seventy seven. In 1985 a television drama was made on the life of this colourful character.

Ahinata Te Rangituatini, also known as Kapi Kapi, of Rotorua (c.1800-1902) was one of Goldie's favourite sitters and he painted her at least twenty two times. She was an Arawa Chieftainess, a member of the Tuhourangi tribe living at Whakarewarewa. The sister of the Arawa chief Haerehuka, Kapi Kapi survived the 1886 Tarawera eruption and witnessed the assault of Pukeroa Pa at Ohinemutu. On her shoulders were scars of wounds self-inflicted with pieces of obsidian as a sign of mourning. According to the historian and friend of Goldie, James Cowan, Kapi Kapi worked until the end of her long life, evidence, in his opinion, that the 'old-time Maori' were 'truly a Spartan race'. Kapi Kapi was renowned for her moko, which Goldie depicted in fine detail. According to Cowan, she was the only Maori woman painted by Goldie who had a rare spiral nostril tattoo. She died at the age of 102 after falling into a hot pool, it is said deliberately as was the custom among some of the aged Maori.

Reproduced with kind permission of Alister Taylor. C F Goldie: His Life & Painting and C F Goldie: Prints, Drawings & Criticism, Alister Taylor & Jan Glen, 1979