Tā Moko panel

Tene Waitere was a master carver from the Rotorua district , who experimented with both composition and technique. He was born about 1853, and grew up among his Ngāti Tarāwhai whānau in Ruato, on Lake Rotoiti. Trained by outstanding carvers such as Wero Taroi and Anaha Te Rāhui, he made carvings for meeting houses in the Rotorua district and for the model village at Whakarewarewa. His work there included the meeting house Hinemihi, carved for his grand-daughter, Rangtiaria Dennan (Guide Rangi). The panel was commissioned in 1896 to illustrate tattoo patterns for August Hamilton's book on Māori art. One of Tene Waitere's most innovative works, it shows two men with full moko, and a woman's face in oblique profile.

I te tau 1901, i whakaputaina tuatahitia tētahi pukapuka nui ki Aotearoa, The Art Workmanship of the Maori Race in New Zealand. He mea tuhi nā Augustus Hamilton, nō muri mai, ka tū te tangata nei hei Tumuaki i te Colonial Museum (ko Te Papa te ingoa ināianei).

Koianei te wā tuatahi i aro nuitia ai ngā toi Māori e te Pākehā. He tuatahitanga hoki te momo o ngā whakairo a Waitere. He mea tono nā Hamilton.

E whakaatuhia ana te tohungatanga o Waitere ki ngā tauira o ngā papa o muri. Ka tūtakitaki ngā tikanga toi Māori me ngā tikanga toi Pākehā i te hanganga o ngā kanohi nei. E whakamātauria ana ngā tauira tā moko me te kanohi kotaha.