Royal Doulton 'Maori Art' Coffee Set by Augustus Hamilton

A Royal Doulton 'Maori Art' demi tasse sixteen-piece coffee set, comprising: six cups, six saucers, sugar and cream, cake plate and lidded tureen. Printed marks to base. Decorated in a Maori kowhaiwhai rafter design, adapted by Augustus Hamilton for Doulton. Note: Augustus Hamilton (1 March 1853 - 12 October 1913) was a New Zealand ethnologist, biologist and museum director. He wrote on the fishing and seafoods of the ancient Maori people. He also wrote on the art and workmanship of the Maori in New Zealand with a series of illustrations (from photographs). Hamilton became the second director of the Colonial Museum in Wellington, following James Hector, in 1903. He was one of the principal ethnologists in New Zealand at the time; he helped develop the Maori Antiquities Act in 1901 and was the main proponent for building a National Maori Museum.