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Description

Conical, coiled basket of false emboidery with splint foundation, watch-spring base construction, and bifurcated stitches. Main design that consists of two horizontal rows of downward pointing, light yellow-brown triangles edged with dark brown on a brown background and bordered by dark brown. The triangles alternate in such a way that the downward points of the larger, upper row of triangles connect to the upper corners of the lower, smaller row of triangles. The inside of the basket reflects the same pattern from the outside but has the appearance of four brown petals with a larger brown petal above in between. The double rim is brown.

History Of Use

Woman’s field, or burden, basket (ohumba); used to carry harvested crops and agricultural tools, such as a hoe and pounder. Grass weaving is done by both men and women, but baskets are traditionally woven by most women. Angular and, specifically, triangular patterns are common among Ovimbundu basketry.

Specific Techniques

Dyes used in this basket are yellow, dark brown, and light brown. Yellow dye is made from roots of wild rhubarb (ocilunguluila). The roots are pounded and placed in cold water with the grasses used to create the coils. Afterwards, the mixture is placed in a fire to boil for half an hour, turning the grasses amber-yellow. To create the brown dye, yellow and red dye are mixed together. Red dye is made by cooking leaves from an evava plant and boiling them in water with bark of the ukondo tree. After they are sufficiently simmered, they are mixed with ash and buried. The process produces the red colouring.

Item History

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