Wharetana Ware 1034 bowl

These photos from Siena03 are of her most unusual 1034 bowl that she took to the Portage Ceramics Crown Lynn Roadshow.
She has concerns about the figures that are depicted as upside down when the bowl sits on it's base
and feels that this would be disrespectful to the Maori Culture, so has taken the photos with the bowl upside down. She would be most grateful if anyone has any ideas as to why the figures have been placed this way.

Just to let Siena know -
one of the Wharetana collectors has had a look at your photos
and has only seen this bowl once before.... at the Crown Lynn Roadshow on Sunday
Yes they were there too !
It's my guess that this bowl will be worth much more that the guestimate that Jim and James gave!

My opinion, as a long time Crown Lynn and New Zealand pottery collector, about this piece is that most likely it is one of the experimental pieces which had been tried out at the same time as the Wharetana pieces. Obviously it has never been put into production. Personally i have never seen this piece before, but i think that it is a magnificent piece of Maori art. Now, the reason it has been made upside down: i do not have an answer. It could be for any reason actually. But with regards to value, i believe that as a piece of rarity only, it has to be worth very close to a real Wharetana piece of the same caliber, if not more. If that piece had been offered to me, i would happily pay a generous amount of money. But again, as it has never been on the market, it is up to the individual to make his own valuation of it.
Regards, Manos.

Thank you Manos for your thoughts.

We look forward to many more posts from you, our respected collector.

Thanks for your replies. My mother worked at Crown Lynn in the late 50's so maybe she rescued it from a reject bin. In any event it has sat unused as it doesn't look right with anything in it or with anything standing on it (I don't know what the Maori protocol is around this either).

I'm not looking to sell at the moment but I am very happy that its existence is known.

Siena03

A great find nevertheless..how amazing that your mum worked there in the 50s. Did you take a look at the film clip in "Crown Lynn History" up the top? It is from the 1940s and gives great insight into what it must have been like working in the factory.

Any anecdotes??

They refer to the bowl as Wharetana ....