Collection place: Round Valley, Mendocino County, California / Accession number: Acc.221 - Hearst Museum Portal Search Results

Start Over Collection place Round Valley, Mendocino County, California Accession number Acc.221

Hearst Museum object titled Basket, accession number 1-9578, described as Small, new. Plain twined; 3-strand twining 1.5 cm radius from start, 2 rows about 3.5 cm from start, 2 rows about 3.5 cm from start, 2 top rows, one row at 3 and 4 cm from edge. White overlay, 2-faced; top of design band, right angled peaks; middle, 3-strand rows with dotted stripe between; below, top peaks design, inverted. Basket has a hair in it.

Hearst Museum object titled Basket, accession number 1-9577, described as Small, new. Plain twined except for one cm radius of 3-strand twining from start, third row from top a lattice-twined shoot. White, 2-faced overlay; white ground with band of triangles, left apex bisecting the right side of the next triangle to the left.

Hearst Museum object titled Bowl basket, accession number 1-9576, described as Small twined basket. Per Ralph Shanks and Justin Underhill: 3 tags with cat #, 1 with Wailaki small, globular, close-twined bowl basket, possibly used (debris on the exterior surface of the bottom). Cross-warp start, followed by ⅓ inch of 3 strand twining, followed by plain twining to the rim. An inch from the start there is 1 inch of alternating single weft row bands of bear grass overlay and undecorated conifer root, followed by the primary overlay area that has a background of bear grass and two decorative overlay bands of fern stems (possibly maidenhair fern) the overlay is placed over top of wefts of conifer root and warps of hazel. The rim was closely trimmed however a lot of the last weft row is missing, exposing warp sticks. The overlay is irregular double-sided overlay. Mild indentation at bottom of basket, work direction is rightward, mild undulations to the surface of the basket, overlayed portion of the basket is quite stiff. Starting knot is over-stitched in a manner different from that typically found in NW California. The alternating bands of bear grass and conifer are also not typical. no maker's hairs were found. Small, twined. In good condition. Mainly overlay, 2-faced. White background with reddish-purple designs; white stripe just below rim. Upper design: dark and light triangles form a band of larger triangles. Lower design: a two-step design of 2 equidistant dark lines is repeated horizontally. On the bottom are alternating rows of white and brown, to within 3 cm of the start of basket. 3-strand twining 2 cm radius out from start.

Hearst Museum object titled Carrying basket, accession number 1-9575, described as Conical carrying basket, ornamented and not openwork. Rim strengthened with rod bound with hide. Tag: "Yuki". Per Ralph Shanks: Conical twined burden basket. Used, with stains and debris. The basket has a crossed warp starting knot. The warps are peeled shoots. The wefts are unpeeled bear grass overlay designs and a background of conifer root. The first inch and a half wefts are leather. There are three reinforcing rods in the interior of the base and one at the rim, held on by leather. The design is diagonal zigzags up to below the rim. Directly below the rim there is a horizontal band of stacked triangles and trapezoids, in the style of a primary band. These designs are common in the Wailaki, Lassik, and Yuki areas. Starting at the base the basket has three strand twining alternating with plain twining once at the base, and then plain twining to the rim, where there is one row of three strand twining. The basket slightly undulates. The rim is trimmed. There is leather lashing a large interior reinforcing rod to the rim. The overlay is primarily on the exterior with some visible on the interior. The basket has an exterior workface, a rightward direction, and an up to the right slant of weft twist. There is a hair woven into the basket around five inches below the rim. Per the 1900 US census, George Block from Round Valley is Wailaki. There is no record of a Nanny Block; George Block's wife's name on the census is Ellen, who is also noted as Wailaki. Since the collection note states that this basket was collected from "Wife of Geo. Block" it is assumed it is Ellen that is being referred to. The basket has characteristics that match Wailaki, Lassik, and Yuki techniques and materials, but based on the Census data it is likely this is a Wailaki basket.