This basket tray, in the complexity of its design and the quality of its execution, is perhaps the ultimate expression of the Mission basket weaver's art. It was probably made expressly to be sold to a non-Native collector. Fancy Mission baskets destined for the marketplace often incorporated human and animal figures, especially snakes. This complex composition features a lizard in the center with opposing rattlesnakes curling up the sides of the basket. A bat and several quadrupeds with long flowing tails complete the design.

Chilkat blankets, created by a complex form of tapestry twining, are the best-known textiles of the Northwest Coast. Emblems of nobility, they are prized for their crest significance, as well as for their beauty and fine workmanship. The labor-intensive process used to create a Chilkat blanket includes procuring and processing the materials, spinning the mountain goat wool wefts and the cedar bark and wood warps, dying the wefts, and weaving the blanket. The highly abstract designs of crest animals on Chilkat blankets fill the entire design space. The center panel of this design represents a diving whale, with the broad head filling the lower half while the spread-out tail flukes occupy the space along the upper border. A rectangular human face appears in the center of the whale's body.

Gift of Miss Lila McGlinch.

Gift of Mr. Herbert Malarkey.

Museum Purchase: Indian Collection Subscription Fund, Rasmussen Collection of Northwest Coast Indian Art.

Museum Purchase: Indian Collection Subscription Fund, Rasmussen Collection of Northwest Coast Indian Art.

Gift of Miss Sally Hart.

Gift of Miss Sally Hart.

Museum Purchase: Helen Thurston Ayer Fund.

Museum Purchase: Helen Thurston Ayer Fund.