Featured Thoughts on broken baskets

Thanks for the observations.

 

above.....they're calling it Hopi 1930......I can't verify....but....the rod coiling and larger flat weave rim treatment......seem similar to your ......... ahem ..... wonderful basket !

whom ever it is....

 

Thanks!

 

Doesn't look Hopi to me...........
@komokwa, can you please provide a link to the image you posted, so we can see what else they said or showed?

 

Definitely not Hopi, despite what they call it. Hopi coiled baskets are made only on Second Mesa, and they are always bundle-coiled, with a coil made up of grasses (usually galleta grass) and wrapped with thin yucca strips.

Another example of why the internet is often a poor choice for reference purposes. For example, up to 80% of the New Listings on eBay for "Native American Indian baskets" are incorrect, many are not even Indian baskets. It's a frustrating experience for sellers who use that site for "reference" on their own items. And yet, it's one of the most-popular choices for sellers selling outside their area of expertise.

 

@Taupou - what are your thoughts on Pottery's little burden basket (on page 1 of this thread) that started this latest conversation?

 

ya, cuz it's not Hopi....
I just threw it up cuz the weave and rods looked similar...
that's why I didn't credit the site.....
I was tired......and frustrated not finding a proper answer.....
that's on me......
I should not have even said what the site proposed it to be , cuz like Taupou said...Hopi...bundle coiled grass......we all know that....
I was just sloppy...and having a hard time trying to find an Apache burden basket to confirm your thoughts......but those baskets have the rods from top to bottom...they're not coiled......
so I just threw this up .......

I'll be less frivolous in the future...

as Taupou points out.....eBay is a morass of errors......but so are some well meaning web sites..

Here's the site....there's the basket.......the info is in error...

http://www.forttumbleweed.net/nativebaskets.html

 

Quite an extensive mea culpa...........

But you are right that the technique resembles Pottery's little burden basket. We just need to figure out who made it.

I just checked the website - unfortunately no other views of their "Hopi" basket. And a few others misidentified. Truly a dead end.

 

Quite an extensive mea culpa......

from a basket expert....who should know better than throwing names around...

I new the second I hit ..post reply....that I was gonna take a hit !

but that basket...had the look...

 

Self-criticism: ok. But definitely no criticism from me!

I love the learning, and the discussions, and everyone's generous help with all the broken things I find (and torn, and ripped, and faded, and..... )

 

Here's my newest broken basket.

Any thought as to its origin?

It's 8" tall, 8" wide at the bottom, and then tapers to 6" wide at the (broken) mouth.

Thanks for any comments!

 

Your basket looks like a type made by the Cubeo people of Colombia. These are currently being sold by Yanapuma. Their small size matches your dimensions, 8x8".


https://www.yanapumashop.com/produc...65135&pr_ref_pid=7244823199913&pr_seq=uniform

Yours appears to have the same reinforcement at the rim, with the additional hoops incorporated in the twining.

The start looks similar as well, as shown on these other examples -

https://www.ebay.com/itm/276043927871?hash=item404580113f:g:8moAAOSwWL9kYuNA&amdata=enc:AQAIAAAAwKuUUBjaIyhmIZwX55s4b82Oo+cRW6vBiCzYcgd8h1p76Sy/4i8N3XRDD0G/e/Op98eUqB9C++sTO9axhaJqSYec1omVARll10MX7zu1Zo4gPUMG5rZurl0P6Yn6fWTGkhVljUpxG80D4sI+nOblD0QcPJ8PWrLp/GkdauRt9ggeeDZYlBWIaV/aozVN0Nbjfsn9l5Zs1tefd/fq8Iuw1HM2J08NMq/k5LIFifYWsfJLnSdUDRiR9+O6ugNk2H8OMA==|tkp:Bk9SR8CXhZfUYg


https://magdamade.co/products/liana-vine-basket?variant=41962134536353

Yours is slightly different in shape, and appears to have some age, so it may have seen original use rather than being a recent import.

 

Wow-- that looks just like it. I'll keep looking at these-- and trying to see when baskets were made for sale / tourists / export. This one does not look used, but does look older.

Thank you @2manybooks!

 

One thing to note - on the ones clearly made for sale, the bottoms are made flat so they will sit on a counter or table. With yours, the bottom appears not to be flat, but slightly conical/rounded. You see the same difference in ethnographic pottery, where the objects will be set on an uneven dirt floor. In the case of baskets, they might also be hung. I wonder if that is how the damage occurred on yours - if it was suspended from the rim with weight in it.

 

Interesting. Thanks for the thought. Yes, it is rounded, and does not sit upright. Nor is there wear on the very bottom, so hanging makes sense.

 

Ok- here's my latest broken basket:





I feel confident that it's a Siletz basket, which makes sense as the Siletz people are local. Also, it matches another basket that I've definitively ID'd.

My only question is, the direction of the construction on my two baskets looks to be opposite. One seems made left to right, and the other one seems right to left. Does anyone know if two similar baskets would have been woven in opposite directions?

Thanks as always!

 

Sure looks Siletz - that type of braided rim is pretty distinctive. Although most traditions are consistent in weaving direction, I don't think it would be impossible for a left handed weaver to prefer to work in the opposite direction.

 

2many books is right, sometimes it's as simple as one basket maker being right-handed, while another is left-handed!

In other tribes, (unless the weavers are all right-handed) it's the traditional way of making a basket, or the way they were taught.

You're right, it's Siletz. But the Siletz Reservation is a Confederated Tribe, composed of people from 27 different tribes or bands, originally from western Oregon, southern Washington, and northern California. So the style that became known as "Siletz" is a combination of traditional techniques of both the weavers, and their tribal heritage.

Still, it is possible to determine several individual basket maker's unique "style." You might try contacting Robert Kenta, who has been the Cultural Resources Director for the Siletz for years, and who is an expert on their basketry. He would be the one who could answer your questions.

 

Wow. Thank you for the feedback!