RRN Basic

A simpler, search-only version of the Reciprocal Research Network. This site is optimized for mobile devices like your smartphone, but works well with older computers and browsers too.

To search, simply enter your query into the box at the top of the screen.

Visit the full RRN for access to more powerful search and collaborative research tools.

Basket

MOA: University of British Columbia

3260/55

Cylindrical basket with painted Wasgo (sea wolf) imagery around the side in black with faded white, red and blue details. The upper border is elaborated with geometric designs created through a raised pattern of skip-stitch twining.

  • Narrative

    Basket maker is unknown; painted design attributed to John Cross.

  • History Of Use

    Made in a range of sizes, the cylindrical baskets woven by 19th-century Haida women for berry picking and other uses were often tightly twined of carefully prepared lengths of spruce-root, with alternating bands of dyed and undyed spruce-root wefts creating the striped pattern. The upper border of cylindrical baskets are elaborated with geometric designs created through a raised pattern of skip-stitch twining. Historically, the presence of Haida baskets among the Tlingit, Tsimshian, and Kwakwaka’wakw, and the exchange of weaving techniques and styles through travel and intermarriage, expanded as the market for basketry began to encompass tourists and collectors. By the 1880s Haida weavers were increasingly creating articles for sale to non-Indigenous buyers. The widespread availability of manufactured household goods meant that fewer baskets were required for traditional purposes. Weaving became a way for women to contribute to the family income, often in addition to holding seasonal jobs in fish canneries and salteries. Even though the names of those who wove such baskets were rarely recorded, their anonymity is increasingly being countered as contemporary weavers and other researchers study the historical pieces and bring attention to the personal styles and creativity of individual makers.

  • Type of Item basket
  • Culture Haida
  • Material spruce root, paint
  • Measurements height 12.0 cm, diameter 13.0 cm (overall)
  • Creator John Cross, Unknown
  • Previous Owner Elspeth McConnell
  • Received from Elspeth McConnell
  • Made in Skidegate
  • Creation Date between 1890 and 1920
  • Ownership Date before August 12, 2017
  • Acquisition Date on August 12, 2017
  • Item Classes basketry
  • Condition good
  • Accession Number 3260/0055

Keyboard Shortcuts