Women have traditionally made the kwam, using the spiral coil technique, while the men applied the decorative elements with paint and carved designs. Some of the strict sanctions relating to the kwam are apparently no longer adhered to because this highly decorated type of vessel is now made for commercial sale, however restrictions concerning its manufacture continue to be adhered to. As important cult objects kwam were kept in the haus tambaran and used in yam cult activities and for feasts during ceremonial occasions. During their initiation period, young male initiates, eat only the ‘white soup’ made from coconut, taro and yams, served in the kwam. The entire surface of the bowl is decorated with patterns, figures and geometric designs. Kwam are always painted in red, black, yellow and white. The facial motif is variously considered to represent the face of ‘man’, but there appears here to be other stylised representations which may be of nggwal (ancestral spirits), or the spirit ngwalandu (butterfly), the white cockatoo, wama, or the black cockatoo, mange. Traditional dyes were occurred naturally, black was obtained from charcoal, white from river stones, red either from a paste from the red seeds of a shrub, Bixa orellana, from river stones or from the burned stem of a tree that grows near water, and yellow from clay. This vessel is part of a large representative collection of contemporary pottery and pot making tools made in 1972 as requested by the then Auckland Institute and Museum. Field notes pertaining to this collection and photographs taken at the time of manufacture are held in the Auckland Museum Library.
