Cummings’ esteemed paintings were among the first to focus on Maori people.

The portrait sold by Richard Winterton Auctioneers is set to return to New Zealand after being won by an online bidder there, who fought off competition from Australia to secure the lot.

The 20cm by 15cm signed oil on canvas depicts a man with traditional Maori Ta Moko face tattoos wearing a hei-tiki pendant and, although undated, was probably painted in the 1930s or 1940s.

The canvas, which spent six decades tucked away in a drawer, was consigned for sale at The Lichfield Auction Centre, Staffordshire, UK, following a valuation in person after an initial enquiry via email.

Vera (Veronica) Cummings was a New Zealand painter and student of renowned portrait artist CF Goldie.

Born in Thames – a small town on New Zealand’s North Island – in 1891 to parents of Scottish and Irish descent, the family later moved to Hamilton, Tauranga and Auckland.

Something of a prodigy, at the age of 11 Cummings was one of the youngest students to receive a scholarship to attend Elam School of Fine Arts and studied under Goldie.

After graduation, she continued to paint alongside Goldie and frequently depicted the same people, often elderly Maori from a hostel near the Aukland suburb of Parnell.

Cummings herself lived in Parnell near Judges Bay and died in Auckland in 1949, aged 58.

Her paintings continue to sell well at auction; her work ‘Portrait of a Maori Woman’ is part of the collection of the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.