 | | Lot No. | | *** | | Description: | An Outstanding & Historically Important Kumete Food Bowl. A highly important Maori Kumete Food Bowl by Patoromu Tamatea, c. 1860s. This bowl has been in a bank vault for 110 years and has never been sighted by the public. Provenance - Given to Robert Graham M.P., formerly the Superintendent of the Province of Auckland in 1878 by the Chiefs of the Arawa Tribe in acknowledgement of settling peace between the waring Hapus of the Arawa Tribe. Graham spoke fluent Maori. This Kumete is recorded in Roger Neich's book 'Carved Histories' Photographed on Page 245 with more information on Page 247, Fig. 15.36. Figure-supported bowl attributed to Patoromu Tamatea. A drawing was made by Rev. Richard Laishley purportedly in 1866 which is a very early date for this form of bowl. P. 247 Roger Neich - 'Carved Histories' 'Another very similar figure-supported bowl, also obviously the work of Patoromu, was photographed by Josiah Martin in the 1890s (Fig.l 15.36) but its present location is unknown. This bowl was drawn and painted in fine detail by Rev. Richard Laishley, reportedly in 1866. His watercolour drawing is now in the British Museum. If the date of Laishley's drawing is correct, this is additional proof that Patoromu was carving figure-supported bowls of this fineness and complexity of composition in the mid 1860s, several years before the first documented Ngati Tarawhai examples, again perhaps suggesting that Patoromu might have been the innovator of these bowls'. A tour de force of Patoromu's skill and possibly one of his earliest Kumete. Passed down in the Graham family over the generations (the vendor is a family member). H. 30 cm. Width 40 cm | | Estimate: | *** | | Price: | *** | | Category: | Tribal — New Zealand Maori | |
