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birchbark basket
birchbark basket
birchbark basket
Basket made of birchbark, porcupine quills, spruce root, silk ribbon, and hide thong. The quills make up the floral motifs on the top and sides of the basket, and are also inserted in a striped pattern on each of the four side seams of the basket. This item was collected by Johann Georg Schwarz in the 1820s, and it is currently housed at the Weltmuseum Wien, Austria.
Read More About This Relative
Birchbark, porcupine quills, spruce root, silk ribbon; hide thong.
Ruth Phillips thinks the long sides and bottom are one piece that has ben folded, and the two short sides are a separate panel; side seams covered in porcupine pieces inserted in a stripe pattern on each edge with a separate lid; bottom seam
Floral; spruce root on the rim/lid forms a triangular contour on the inside.
Johann Georg Schwarz collected this item, possibly when he traveled to Detroit and through Upper Canada in the winter of 1820-1821.
Provenance
Johann Georg Schwarz traveled to Detroit and through Upper Canada in the winter of 1820-1821.
About This GRASAC Record
Unknown Indigenous artist, birchbark basket. Currently in the Weltmuseum Wien, Vienna, Austria, 11991. Item photographed and described as part of a GRASAC research trip January 2016; GRASAC item id 59007.
In January of 2016, a small team of GRASAC researchers visited the collection to study and photograph it: Ruth Phillips, Lisa Truong, Naomi Recollet (Anishinaabe (Odawa/Ojibwe), Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory) and Wahsontiio Cross (Mohawk, Kahnawake). This GKS record was created in December of 2021 by GRASAC RA Aidan Mitchell-Boudreau.