Basket Item Number: A2.679 from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Basket with four sides that taper towards the base. The basket is woven in simple coiled work (bifurcated stitches) with an elongated watch-spring base construction, partial beading, and double horizontal rows of beading five rows apart in red and black.

History Of Use

Burden basket. Tsilhqot’in weavers made coiled cedar-root baskets imbricated with cat-tail grass and cherry bark (for the darker designs). Animals, figures and geometric designs in bands are worked into their sometimes playful designs in bullrush and cherry bark on cedar root. Baskets were used extensively in communities for carrying, storage and cooking and for trade and sale to non-natives. Today baskets continue to be valued in First Nations communities for their cultural importance and continue to be used as gifts, in trade and are made for sale.