Antique Apache Burden Basket

Apache Polychrome Burden Basket. Conical shape with a flat base reinforced with two heavier bent rods visible on the inside. THe basket is made by coiling using sun-bleached willow and devil's claw. The mouth of the basket is stabilized to pevent warping and breakage by a thick gauge of commercial wire. The basket is woven in a design consisting of two checkered bands in black devil's claw flanked by two red painted lines and a third band between them in a diamondback pattern also flanked in red with a red dot in the center of each diamond. The basket is edged with brain-tanned buckskin thong and finished in typical fashion with four strips of buckskin vertically and a round buckskin covering over a piece of light blue commercial cloth the bottom. Fringe decorations encircle the bottom and adorn the top of the basket at alternating intervals.

Condition: Good condition. Minimal stitch loss. Patina commensurate with age. Very little fading . Some broken and missing fringes along the bottom.

Circa: 1920