Extremely large baskets were useful for storing plant materials that would later be processed into food. Lids on these storage baskets protected the materials inside from moisture and insects. This basket is typical of many Hupa baskets, with repetitive geometric motifs divided into horizontal registers encircling the entire basket.

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.

Panamint baskets are usually coiled and are traditionally decorated with geometric designs. Tick marks around the rim are another traditional element. By about 1920 the designs on Panamint baskets were becoming increasingly complex, incorporating figurative motifs such as humans, birds, animals, and butterflies.

This basket is a round-walled variety of the Washo fancy basket (it is called degikup). The design on the basket is organized by a meandering band of patterns known as matcati le'lup (arrowhead opposed), referring to the triangles on the corners of the zigzag band. This band isolates large open areas that are filled with free-floating designs: eight-pointed stars, checkerboard diamonds, and notably, a standing figure with a hat and large hands.

The Elizabeth Cole Butler Collection.

Feathered baskets were an important trade item and a symbol of wealth among the Pomo. They were considered appropriate gifts at special occasions and were used as offerings at funerals and mourning ceremonies. The brightly colored feathers, added to the basket as it is made, provide a design mosaic, while the basketry foundation is left plain. Flat saucer-shaped hanging baskets, like this one, were originally decorated only in red feathers. The addition of other colors and patterns was an innovation that began around 1900 as a reponse to collectors' wishes. Handmade clam shell beads added around the rim along with triangular pieces of abalone shell as pendants increased the traditional value of the basket. Magnesite beads were sometimes used as an alternative to clam shell beads. Referred to as "Indian gold," magnesite is white when it comes out of the ground. Pomo men would ceremonially heat it over a fire - causing the magnesite to turn a golden orange color - before working it into beads.

The Pomo are seven distinct cultural groups that historically occupied the California coast from south of the Russian River northward to the Fort Bragg area and inland to the region around Clear Lake. Although the Pomo made a variety of baskets, they are best known for finely coiled baskets such as these. The basket on the left is constructed with a three-coil foundation. The woven designs on Pomo baskets are usually geometric; figurative designs are rare. Pomo weavers often add feathers and clam shell beads as further ornamentation. The dark plumes are quail topknots, frequently used as accents around the basket rims. The red feathers, from the acorn woodpecker, are very fine; each tuft on the basket is made of several feathers that have been twisted together.