King Solomon

This painting is of King Solomon and is being sold in London in December. The following is a press release from Bonhams.


A double-sided painting entitled ‘King Solomon’ by Svetoslav Roerich is one of the top lots in the Russian Sale taking place in New Bond Street on 1st December. Estimated to sell for £300,000 – 400,000, this work has never been exhibited or published before and has only previously been known to a small group of specialists.

One of only two existing works from the unfinished series of paintings depicting the most important religious figures and spiritual teachers of the past, this magnificent portrait was painted in 1923 in Paris where Roerich stopped on his way to India.

Roerich’s interpretation of King Solomon, who built the first Temple of Jerusalem, is instilled with complex symbolism and is depicted as a vehicle for mystical experience: his Solomon has tasted from the chalice of his fate and sacrificed himself for the creation of the Great Temple. This symbolic interpretation was most likely suggested by the Roerich’s father, the legendary Nicholas Roerich who wrote the essay ‘Strings of Earth’ about Solomon’s desire to build a unified Temple.

Consequently, Svetoslav Roerich decided to model the portrait of King Solomon on the likeness of his father, who was indeed considered a spiritual teacher and cultural leader at the time. As a result, this interesting portrait can be seen as the personification of Nicholas Roerich as the celebrated builder of the Temple, known for his great wisdom, wealth and power.

The reverse side of the painting reveals Roerich’s talent as an illustrator. The scene of the falcon hunt is one of a series of illustrations for the edition of European Fairy Tales commissioned in France in 1923, but the series was never completed.

A magnificent painting of the Himalayas by Nicholas Roerich, entitled ‘‘Himalayas, from Ting-kye Dzong’ is estimated to sell for £80,000 – 100,000. The painting was executed in 1928 in Darjeeling, India where Nicholas Roerich and his expedition party arrived after crossing Mongolia and Tibet. The painting is characteristic of Roerich’s ability to turn a mountain landscape into a symbol of life’s grandeur and beauty. Roerich only needed a few lines to create a scene of exceptional beauty and grandeur making it easy to see why he became known as the ‘master of

Historic book

This interesting item is coming up at Special Auction Services in Newbury, Berks.

The description reads: "Masonic interest: A cabinet card portrait album presented to Magnus Ohren, Past Grand Overseer of England, with detailed inscriptions from fellow masons, including two manuscript autograph letters from Sir Henry Irving and two from Edward Terry, 1902, bound in crocodile skin."

NZ Masons lose charity status

From stuff.co.nz

Freemasonry's national executive is conceding defeat in its battle to maintain the charitable status it has held for decades.

Last year, the secretive society's highest body in New Zealand, the Grand Union, lost the tax-exempt status it had held since 1933.

Responsibility for determining charitable status was passed from the Inland Revenue Department to the Charities Commission in 2008, forcing thousands of organisations to reapply for tax exemptions.

High-profile organisations including Greenpeace and the Sensible Sentencing Trust have had their applications rejected.

Freemasons New Zealand appealed to the High Court last month, arguing that the Grand Lodge's primary activities were "beneficial to the community" and therefore charitable.

As well as directly charitable activities such as university scholarships (which the commission conceded were charitable), the lodge also teaches public speaking and lessons on ethics to its members, which it argued should also be considered charitable.

Acting for the Crown, Tania Warburton argued that many of the activities of the Grand Lodge were primarily for the benefit of its members, not the entire community. She said its membership, limited to men over the age of 21 who reached the rank of master mason, was too exclusive for a charity.

Judge Simon France rejected the Freemasons' appeal. He concluded that the activities of the Grand Lodge, and freemasonry in general, "do not benefit the public other than indirectly and intangibly by seeking to produce members who are better citizens".

Laurence Milton, the grand secretary for Freemasons New Zealand, said the decision meant the Grand Lodge would have to apply for separate charitable status for its Fund of Benevolence, which did most of its charitable work.

The administration and other activities of the Grand Lodge would now be subject to tax.

"We'd have liked the decision to have been in our favour, but it really won't affect our charitable activity all that much at all. It just means a bit more work for me and my office," Mr Milton said.

The organisation spent $3 million to $4m on charity in New Zealand each year.

Mourning ring

Here's a rather splendid-looking ring (possibly a mourning ring) coming up for sale at the Netherhampton Saleroom in Salisbury, Wilts, on October 6. It is valued at £1,000.

The description reads: "A Masonic diamond, red glass and enamel ring, early 19th century, the bezel set with four red pastes in the form of a cross above a white enamel ground cut with twelve tears, each accented by a rose cut diamond, the champleve enamel shank decorated with a series of Masonic symbols including the letters D, S O and cross patée at the shoulders, a rose diamond set sun and crescent, the square and compasses, the gavel, an axe, two crossed swords, the Star of David, and the perfect ashlar, the shank with a neatly soldered resizing band within, finger size K1/2. The Cross on the bezel is used by the Masonic Knight Templar but also by the Rectified Scottish Rite, one of the oldest extant Masonic Orders in the world. The twelve tears on the face may suggest the present example was a mourning ring. "