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The strength and flexibility of the materials create a basket that is soft and resilient, ideal for containing all kinds of dry material substances from foodstuffs to the raw materials of other arts, such as the mountain goat or dog's wool used in the spinning and weaving of traditional Coast Salish blankets. Skokomish weavers also made the firm, coiled type of baskets that were the hallmarks of Puget Sound, Straits, and Fraser River peoples. Created by stitching coils of cedar root bundles together in a spiral progression outward from the center bottom, the designs on these surfaces are made by the imbrication of grass, cherry bark, or horsetail root bark into the rows of cedar root stitching. The Skokomish coiled baskets also often feature an upper border of wolves or dogs (the latter indicated by their upward-curled tails) like their twined counterparts, and frequently display diagonal patterns related to the chip-carved zig-zag designs of the Columbia River and other traditions. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)
ProvenanceNatalie Fay Linn, Portland, Oregon
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.312.
Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 331.
Culture
Twana (Skokomish)
Basket
Datec. 1910
DimensionsOverall: 12 × 14 3/4 in. (30.5 × 37.5 cm)
Object numberT0153
Credit LineGift of Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw
Photograph by John Bigelow Taylor, NYC
Label TextA branch of the Twana language family of the southern Coast Salish region, the Skokomish are neighbors to the Lushootseed (or speakers of Puget Salish) and the S'Klallam bands of Straits Salish speakers. Skokomish women of the late 19th and early 20th centuries are renowned as the weavers of fine, soft-twined storage and burden baskets embellished with often-complex geometric designs in reddish-brown and black on a neutral grass ground. Vertically-stacked repeating designs like this one are frequently seen, produced in a technique known as overlay twining, and have been identified as "boxes" or "fishnets" by the weavers themselves. Diagonal design movements are also produced by Skokomish weavers on the structural grid of warp and weft elements. These soft-twined containers usually display rim-bands like this one of upright quadrupeds in alternating color tones. The downward-angled tails indicate wolves in the Skokomish and other Salish traditions. This example is average in size for such woven containers. The largest are as big as 18 inches or more in height or diameter, and the smallest can be as compact as a drinking cup.The strength and flexibility of the materials create a basket that is soft and resilient, ideal for containing all kinds of dry material substances from foodstuffs to the raw materials of other arts, such as the mountain goat or dog's wool used in the spinning and weaving of traditional Coast Salish blankets. Skokomish weavers also made the firm, coiled type of baskets that were the hallmarks of Puget Sound, Straits, and Fraser River peoples. Created by stitching coils of cedar root bundles together in a spiral progression outward from the center bottom, the designs on these surfaces are made by the imbrication of grass, cherry bark, or horsetail root bark into the rows of cedar root stitching. The Skokomish coiled baskets also often feature an upper border of wolves or dogs (the latter indicated by their upward-curled tails) like their twined counterparts, and frequently display diagonal patterns related to the chip-carved zig-zag designs of the Columbia River and other traditions. (From the Catalog of the Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, 2nd ed.)
ProvenanceNatalie Fay Linn, Portland, Oregon
BibliographyVincent, Gilbert et al. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2000, p.312.
Fognell, Eva and Alexander Brier Marr, eds. Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection at the Fenimore Art Museum, 2nd ed. Cooperstown, New York: Fenimore Art Museum, 2016, p. 331.
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