Presentation Bowl
Unknown Artist
1880–90
Medium
devil's claw, sumac, yucca root, orange-shafted flicker (woodpecker) quills; coiled (2 rod and bundle of deer grass or basket grass)
Dimensions
21.5 × 48 cm
Classification
Basketry
Department
Art of the Americas
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Presented by William Albert Price in memory of Mrs. William Albert Price
Accession Number
1917.482
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This basket was made for the Euro-American collectors’ market in the early 1900s but it is modeled on basketry bowls from which the Timbisha (Panamint) Shoshone once served food. When used indigenously, the main view would have been of the interior. The two small, pink crosses, made of flicker (woodpecker) quills, may be a maker’s mark. Made-for-sale baskets testify to Indigenous women’s truly creative, resilient responses to forces that endangered their livelihoods and existence.