Rare Patoromu Tamatea carving could fetch $300k at Auckland auction

The kumete whakairo was sold a second time about five years ago, Artvisory consultant James Parkinson said.

“Each time it’s effectively doubled in price; the first time was about $65,000, the second about $160,000.”

A 19th-century presentation bowl, which was among only three of its kind made by Ngāti Pikiao master carver Patoromu Tamatea and gifted to former MP Robert Graham, could fetch up to $300,000 at auction. Photo / Artvisory

However, that wasn’t how the potential sale price of between $260,000 and $300,000 listed in the auction documents was calculated, Parkinson said.

“I haven’t sold anything else as important as this … there are only three of these bowls and two are in museums – one in Auckland War Memorial Museum and one in Te Papa … and they’ve both been [historically] made into donation boxes.

“This is the most authentic of the three.”

Robert Graham, pictured in 1860. The MP was gifted the Patoromu Tamatea-carved presentation bowl, now under auction, after negotiating an agreement between two warring chiefs. Photo / John Nicol Crombie, National Library

Museums, private collectors and iwi had contacted him about the auction, but he couldn’t say for sure who might be among the bidders.

“Buyers don’t tend to declare their interest. You often don’t know until the day.”

The kumete whakairo is carved with two figures – each modelled in a crouching position – holding it in their outstretched arms and supporting it on their legs with their chins resting on the rim, Parkinson said.

“Each figure with four-fingered hands and naturally rendered face [is] decorated with tā moko. The bodies of each [are] extensively carved with rauponga (notched ridges and parallel grooves) and pikorauru (spiral) designs.”

Large figure-supported, lidded presentation bowls such as the one gifted to Graham were a departure from traditional forms, according to Te Papa’s item details for one of Tamatea’s two other kumete whakairo.

“[He] is attributed with the development of the carved presentation bowl, a developmental and innovative response to an increased demand for Māori carvings from Europeans during the 1850s and 1860s.”

Carver Patoromu Tamatea carved various figures, weapons, bowls, boxes, walking sticks and tobacco pipes for the tourist trade. Photo / Artvisory

Tamatea, who lived in the Rotorua area, carved various figures, weapons, bowls, boxes, walking sticks and tobacco pipes for the tourist trade, according to Te Papa.

The kumete whakairo is registered under the Protected Objects Act, so cannot be taken out of New Zealand.

However, the Indigenous Arts of the Southern Hemisphere Auction had been given special permission to take it to Australia for viewing before the first parts of the Indigenous Arts of the Southern Hemisphere Auction in Melbourne today and tomorrow, Parkinson wrote on Instagram this week.

The bowl will return to New Zealand next week before its own November 24 auction, he wrote. The sale of taonga has come under criticism, but he said he had not heard any concerns raised about this piece, something he put down to its history, Parkinson said.

“This was made for a Scottish[-born] politician who brokered a land dispute. If you had a hei tiki [carved pendant] … or a weapon … that belonged to an important chief, certainly I wouldn’t be selling that.

“There’s certain things I won’t sell, but pieces like this I feel comfortable offering.”

Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.