Lot 163

- in good condition with no visible signs of repair or damage
- very light overall surface scratches consistent with age and use
- the original box with overall wear consistent with age and use


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Private collection, Sydney

This cigarette case was presented as a gift to famed Australian artist Tom Roberts (1856-1931) from His Royal Highness the Duke of York and Cornwall (later King George V) in 1901 as a token of appreciation for painting the ‘Big Picture'—officially titled 'The Opening of the First Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia by His Royal Highness the Duke of Cornwall and York, 9 May 1901'. This painting depicts the first-ever sitting of the Australian Parliament, held not in Canberra, but at the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne.

It was commissioned by the Australian Art Association Proprietary Ltd and presented to King Edward VII on 3 July 1904 as a gift from the Commonwealth of Australia; hanging at St James's Palace until 1957, when it was placed on permanent loan to Parliament House, Canberra where it can still be viewed today.

The ‘Big Picture' is monumental in size measuring 358.4 x 504.3cm and includes 269 portraits of the people who attended the historic occasion; including the Governor-General, the members of the Senate and House of Representatives, and Australia's first Prime Minister, Edmund Barton.

Roberts had a well-established reputation as a portrait artist, and to achieve all of these likenesses, he travelled to Sydney and London to make individual sketches of the key figures in the painting. He noted each person's height, weight, and even hat size.

Roberts received a handsome fee of 1,000 guineas to complete the work, and the commission appealed to his sense of history. Nevertheless, two years of work to complete the painting took their toll, damaging his eyesight and health.