Museum Purchase: Helen Thurston Ayer Fund.

Museum Purchase: Helen Thurston Ayer Fund.

Gift of Miss Henrietta E. Failing.

Rectangular woven basket in a tight, square weave. Base is a small rectangle, and walls flare out toward the wide mouth. The exterior is decorated by thick vertical stripes of imbrication containing evenly spaced red and light brown horizontal lines. There are three stripes on each of the basket’s long sides, and two on the short.

Small woven basket with braided handle on top and around sides. Woven end at rim by handle.

Medium size woven basket with braided handle on top curled to side. Woven grass end tied by handle inside the basket.

Medium size woven basket with braided handle on top, braided circular decoration along the rim.

Small woven basket with braided handle on top. Woven grass tied at rim by handle.

Large woven basket with two braided handles on sides at rim.

Bamboo umbrella frame. Frame consists of a thick centre piece holding a round top that supports 14 extendable ribs connected at their bottoms by cotton strips tied to each end. Inner wooden supports are attached high up on the ribs, as well as to a sliding circle that moves up and down the centre piece in order to extend the umbrella. The handle at the bottom end is covered in black cloth tape. A painted gold top piece (part b) is attached to the umbrella by a nail.