Featured Help ID’ing Native American doll.

Not single rod - looking closely there is more than one element in the coil. The stitching looks like split willow skeins, and is not particularly even. The start on the base is not a technique I have seen on NA baskets before.

The two colors in the simple design may be significant. The tan color looks like buff willow, but I can't tell if the darker color is a different material or dyed willow. Can we get a close-up, in good light, of the design area?

And I would really like to see how the handles are made and attached, if possible. Can they be unveiled?

 

Ya...the base is weird for NA...
Hey , JD.....get in there are tell us what the outer coils are wrapped around....I'm still seeing a single rod...but...maybe other rods are hiding behind it.....
it's not bundle coiled.... that I can see...

The fabric looks to be stitched around the handles....???

 

A section from the bottom of the basket - I see at least 2 elements in the coil in some places, which may be willow as well. They do not appear to be a careful 3-rod stack as used in some NA baskets, but certainly not a grass bundle.

 

i saw that.....but I still see single everywhere else.......
i need better pics....
& I'm off the NA......

Maybe @Taupou knows the basket..?

 

By the way .. many women back in the day made their own sewing basket with any spare suitable basket that was available, gussied it all up with silks and lace and Volla, a very pretty basket to use !! I don't believe native women would use all that finery .. it would more likely be leather and beads ... chewed leather to fit it properly on the basket with fancy and beautiful beadwork to put their mark on it. The basket itself may or may not be native made but the decorations are definately not. Sewing basket .. Joy.

 

The basket, from what I can see of it, appears to be African, Barotse (somtimes called Lozi), from south-central Africa. The baskets are made from Mukenge tree root, and use multiple-rod coiling. I'd agree, no Native American basket makers use this combination of materials, construction methods, and design patterns.

The doll is not Native American, as has been pointed out.

The beaded gourd you mentioned sounds like it is Masai, from Kenya in eastern Africa. (You might want to show it here in a separate post, before you sell it as Native American, just to be sure.)

 

thank you for joining the fray Taupou !!!!

 

My first impression was that it might be African (no, really! ). But looking at some examples of Barotse baskets I am not sure. The Mukenge root seems to have a shinier surface, and seems to be prepared more carefully to create skeins of even width. The stitches are also made more carefully, more evenly spaced and rarely splitting the stitches in previous rounds. I found one view of the base of an oval Barotse basket, and the start is different as well:

 

I found a very nice Siletz basket that had been made into a sewing basket, with a cotton lining loosely stitched in. I took the lining out to reveal a beauty. (Just wanted to post to make @komokwa jealous.)

 

THAT is LOVELY !!! ... Joy.

 

envious.......sure.......but I don't do jealousy !!!

 

Me neither Komo .. I'm quite happy with what I have .. my children, grandchildren, and pretty good health !!!
Joy.

 

But I sort of covet that basket !!!

 

Just a sewing basket someone called a dressing basket I guess.

 

I have the basket stored in a different state for now and I think these are the only photos I have at the moment. Next time I’m down there I’ll grab some more photos!!!

 

May be a while before I’m in the same place as the basket but I will when I can! Thanks for digging in!

 

That was my opinion as well.