Basket Item Number: Na1169 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Oval birch bark basket that tapers to a square base. Basket is formed from one piece of birch bark and is stitched at both ends. Reinforced wood rim is lashed to body of basket with spruce root--small segments of spruce roots are dyed red. Sides are decorated with a scraped vegetal design of four plants, with crosshatching on one end and the base left undecorated.
Basketry filled a vital need as containers for storage, domestic use and transportation of goods. Some had multiple uses; others were made for specific functions. After European contact baskets often used in trade and as sale items. Forms may have been altered to meet European tastes.
domestic storage; transport
Birchbark was cut to size, steamed, folded and sewn at four corners. Rim is lashed with spruce root, exterior scraped to decorate.