Oval Deep Apache Basket with Handles [SOLD]

The Jicarilla Apache are known to have had contact with Plains Indians at some point in their history. They made raids on the Plains Indians but always returned to their Mountain home.  They went on buffalo hunts and raids for horses and lived in teepees covered with skin or cloth, and they made parfleches like those of the Plains Indians.

They also had contacts with Puebloan peoples and is where they learned their agricultural knowledge and possibly learned pueblo basketry techniques.  Yet, they were and are Apache and their lifestyle adheres closely with that of Apache tribes.

Jicarilla Apache basketry covers a long span of time, but very little is known of their work before they were settled on a reservation in 1887 in Northern New Mexico. All Jicarilla baskets are of coil weave, usually of sumac, but sometimes of willow.  They sometimes use a braided rim somewhat similar to that used by the Navajo and they generally use a five-rod bundle or foundation, resulting in thick coils with a massive feel.  Handles are frequently made, as in this basket, by extending a coil outward and then continuing to sew the next coil in place.  Commercial dye is generally used for design and those strong colors fade to a beautiful mellow shade over time.

This basket or bowl is typical in shape and size of most Jicarilla functional baskets.  They are used for gathering fruit or nuts or other materials and used in household chores as needed.  They are very functional and very attractive.

Condition: very good condition

Recommended Reading; Apache Indian Baskets by Clara Lee Tanner

Provenance: from a family in Santa Fe