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Description

Coiled basket and lid with watch-spring base and lid construction. Button handle and flange on lid. Decoration is sewn on and consists of pieces of wool sewn on in tufts. Near the base is one horizontal row of red thread bordered by purple thread.

History Of Use

Molly Lee notes: "The evidence suggests that Yup'ik women made coiled baskets for sale..." and that "...this style of basket was only made in the Nushagak area. "[T]he coiled basket was not indigenous to this area, where a loosely twined grass carrying and storage basket known as the issran was the norm (2002:49). Lee also states that: "Nushagak basketry is distinguished from other Yup'ik baskets of the same period by its size and fineness... For instance, [a] Nushagak example has six revolutions of coiling to the vertical inch, whereas the Kuskokwin Bay Yup'ik basket from about the same time period has three revolutions of coil to the vertical inch. Most Yup'ik baskets of that era are lidded and six to ten inches tall. But the Nushagak variety is usually taller (some ten or more inches tall, wider and tends to be unlidded... embellished with rows of geometric designs in contrasting colours - most often red and dark blue wool or embroidery floss (2002:52)." [Lee, Molly: Nushagak Baskets: A Case Study in Arctic Fusion, American Indian Art Magazine. Scottsdale, Arizona: American Indian Art Inc., 2002.]

Cultural Context

tourist art; basketry