Overview
Kumete & Figure Supported Bowls
Kumete and figure-supported-bowls are a free-standing carved container, and are not designed to be hung suspended from the ceiling like wakahuia and papahou. They form a separate category of larger presentation bowls, containers and troughs that are made primarily for the presentation of foods and other goods. Early types were probably largely un-carved.
Early tourism in the 1850’s, especially in the Rotorua region, gave rise to some dynamic and innovative derivative forms that were designed to appeal to a burgeoning non-Māori interest in Māori wood sculpture. Among the more popular examples of this type of kumete, or figure-supported-bowls, that emerged in response to this demand are ornately carved bowls, often lidded, supported upon two opposing human figures. Another popular type to emerge was the dog-shaped bowl.
Ngati Tarawhai and Ngati Pikiao of Te Arawa in particular specialised in these forms, as well the manufacture of a range of taonga for the Rotorua tourist art market in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.