Twined basketry. 2 dark zigzag bands, each with flat edge facing towards the central straw - colored band. There is an R and a swastika drawn in ink on the interior of the basket. Tag: "Kl. R. Tr. att.". Per Ralph Shanks: Twined woman's basket hat. Crossed warp starting knot. There are several breaks in the basket. The warp material is probably hazel. The weft material is conifer root. The weft overlay design has a red-dyed woodwardia background with maidenhair fern and beargrass designs. The last weft row is tied down with string. Starting at the starting knot, there is three strand twining for 1/2 inch, followed by 1 inch of plain twining, followed by one weft row of lattice twining. Plain twining continues to 1/2 inch below the rim where there is one weft row of lattice twining. The rim is trimmed. The main design is a horizontal band of alternating triangles surrounded by right triangles. The basket has a rightward work direction, with an up to the right slant of weft twist. The workface is on the exterior. The overlay is primarily single-sided, with the design on the exterior. The basket is from Northwestern California possibly Karuk based on the extensive use of red-dyed woodwardia.
Donor:
Lloyd W. Swift
Collection place:
Northwestern California
Verbatim coll. place:
California
Culture or time period:
Northwestern California tribes
Collector:
Frank Bishop and Josephine Hall Bishop
Collection date:
ca. 1900
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Basketry (object genre), Caps (headgear), and Twined weaving
Function:
2.4 Fine Clothes and Accoutrements not used exclusively for status or religious purposes