Basket

Object Details

Tswana artist

Label Text

In southern Africa, women weavers produce a variety of well-constructed baskets of fibrous tree root or palm-leaf fiber using coiling, twining or plaiting techniques. Large, tightly coiled baskets such as this are usually constructed with palm fiber. The weaver binds thin, pliable weft strands of palm firmly and evenly around the warp, which consists of bundles of fibers. She then coils the warp in a counterclockwise direction to the required depth, beginning at the base.

Using an overstitch technique to sew the coils together, and at the same time working with tinted strands in the weft, the weaver creates darker designs in the basket, working upward from the base to the rim.

Description

Cylindrical fiber coiled basket decorated with a geometric pattern consisting of diagonal rows of lozenges divided through the center by double lines.

Provenance

Michael Graham-Stewart, London, -- to 1989

Exhibition History

Art of the Personal Object, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., September 24, 1991-April 9, 2007

Published References

National Museum of African Art. 1999. Selected Works from the Collection of the National Museum of African Art. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, p. 168, no. 124.

Content Statement

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Credit Line

Museum purchase

Late 20th century

Object number

89-9-1

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Type

Textile and Fiber Arts

Medium

Plant fiber, dye

Dimensions

H x W x D: 38.8 x 37.6 x 37.5 cm (15 1/4 x 14 13/16 x 14 3/4 in.)

Geography

Botswana

See more items in

National Museum of African Art Collection

National Museum of African Art

Topic

Household

geometric motif

male

Record ID

nmafa_89-9-1

Metadata Usage (text)

Usage conditions apply

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ys7e7945f83-c4f6-4255-b7d4-808ad634e8fb