Antique Apache Burden Basket

Apache Polychrome Burden Basket. The basket is slightly conical in form with a rounded bottom and flat base. It is woven in the Western Apache style with two heavy willow or cottonwood rods bent into a "u"-shape to support the basket and its cargo. It is twined using sun-bleached willow and devil's claw. The mouth of the basket is stabilized to pevent warping and breakage by a willow rod, soaked and bent into a circle. This suggests an earlier date of manufacture as this purpose was achieved around the turn of the century with a piece of commercial wire. The basket is woven in a design consisting of three bands in black devil's claw with a white willow line repeated diagonally inside the band. This white line has been over-painted with red. The basket is finished with brain-tanned deer hide protecting the stitches where they are most vulnerable against the thick wooden rods and on the bottom over red trade cloth, scalloped and fringed on the hide's edges.

Condition: Good condition. Very minor stitch loss. Patina and fading commensurate with age. Several broken or missing fronges, especially along the bottom.

Circa: 1870s