Kumete - Wooden bowl
			Waka: Te Arawa Iwi: Ngati Pikiao Hapu: Ngati Tamateatutahi Locality: Rotoiti Region: Rotorua Source: Captain Gilbert Mair Acquisition date: 1890 Material: Wood, paua shell Measurements: 56 x 61 x 38cm Museum location: Auckland Museum Specific location: Ko Tawa Exhibition Previous collections: Capt Gilbert Mair Collection Ethnology no: 117
	Pathway: Patoromu Tamatea began to carve this large kumete in 1865 at the request of Sir George Grey. However the bowl was left unfinished after Patoromu and some of his iwi were captured by Te Kooti. He was taken to Tahora, where the bowl was hidden in a totara tree. When Patoromu and the other prisoners were rescued by Ropata Wahawaha and Kepa Te Rangihiwinui, he retrieved the kumete and finished it. However, by this time Grey had left New Zealand, and the bowl eventually passed into the hands of Captain Gilbert Mair. The kumete arrived in the Auckland Museum as part of the Mair collection. It was made into a coin box and positioned at the museum entrance, where it was used to collect donations. During his visit to New Zeland, Paul Gauguin sketched Patoromu's kumete and subsequently incorporated it into two of his paintings, 'Still life with flowers and mangoes' (1901) and 'Te Rerioa' (1897).
	Catalogue description: This dark brown matai kumete is supported by two squatting figures (one naturalistic and one wheku). On the lid are two projecting back to back figures, reclining so that the heads touch. To either side of these is a low-relief koruru head. The entire kumete, including the figures, has been carved with rauponga designs. Paua shell insets have been used in the eyes of all the figures, and around the rim of both the lid and bowl itself. A metal hinge and lock has been attached to the kumete. The kumete has been signed, "NA PATOROMU" on the neck of the naturalistic figure.
	References: Neich, R. 2001. Carved histories, p 246-7, 378, 394-5, fig 15.35

	'Na Patoromu'