Western Apache Basketry Bowl or Tray [SOLD]

Western Apache basket makers did not succumb to making non-functional basket shapes such as flat plaques, wastebaskets, straight-sided and footed vases and gadgets such as match holders, purses, and figures of animals, plants and humans, as did some of the other tribes.  They continued making baskets of the style with which they were familiar which was the style they made for their own use.

It has been speculated that when the Athapascan-speaking Apaches and Navajos arrived in the Southwest over a thousand years ago, they met other native peoples and most likely adopted basket making from the Basketmaker people of the Southwest.  Basket trays such as this one were used for a number of purposes—winnowing of grains, draining cooked items of the liquids, storage, gathering of fruit and nuts, etc.

Most importantly, this shape tray is used for ceremonial purposes—one of which is the young girl’s puberty rite—in which sacred corn meal is held and from which it is dispersed.  The participants in this ceremony are the young girl initiate, her godmother, a medicine man, singers and drummers as well as many friends and families.  The ceremony goes on for four days and four nights during which there are rituals, feasting and visiting and gossiping. The Apache Gaan dance and participate in the ceremony. 

This bowl or tray is typical of those made for use but does not appear to have been used.  It has a three-rod foundation and the design starts with a dark circle at the bottom center and spreads out in a flower petal pattern.  There are other elements pendant from the rim but the floral design is the predominant one.  It is quite likely that this basket dates to the 1920s.

Condition:  very good condition with only a couple of missing stitches.

Recommended Reading: Apache Indian Baskets by Clara Lee Tanner.  This book is currently not available from Adobe Gallery

Provenance: from a gentleman from Colorado who purchased it when living in Albuquerque in the 1970s.