Ocarina (flute)

The blue and white porcelain ocarina (flute) came to South Australia with a Danish immigrant ‘John Smith’. We know that he was born in 1827 but not when he came to South Australia, or even his Danish name. Most of the Danes, Norwegians and Swedes who came to the colony were sailors who had deserted their ships and settled as wharf labourers at Port Adelaide. ‘John Smith’ may have been one of them.

The ocarina is a conical shape with protruding mouthpiece toward its widest end and a rounded point at the smallest end. The widest end tapers further to a thinner rounded point and is painted dark blue as the centre of a flower in the decoration pattern. The ocarina has a smooth white porcelain finish with blue flower pattern, similar to Meissen pattern, with characteristics of a traditional Germanic design. There are eight circular finger holes in two distinct curved lines on the upper side, three larger circular holes in triangle formation on its underside and one oval shaped hole at the end of the mouth piece. The mouth piece itself is a flattened cylindrical shape. It is decorated on the underside with two crossed leafed 'branches' whilst the upper side is decorated with three flowers emerging from a single stem with six leaves, three on each side. The ocarina is packaged in velvet covered box however this does not appear to be the original packaging.

The ocarina was last owned by John Smith's great grand-daughter Mrs Jean Elizabeth Elsie Quast.