Antique Jicarilla Coiled Willow Basket Jar with lugs

ca 1900

9" x 8"

Tightly woven willow basket, natural and dyed, of utility form. A rare form to find in such good condition. 

About the collectors in the family. I think my grandparents George & Anna Siemantel acquired the majority of the pieces. She loved the pottery. He rugs & jewelry. He had an auto dealership during the war and did a lot of trading in NM. He also was foreman for the railroad roundhouse in Las Vegas NM. (He was from Topeka KS and she from Ft.Madison IA) In addition, the two of them and my great uncle, Phillip Schlapp owned a ranch in NE NM. It is now the Elliot Barker Girl Scout Ranch at Angel Fire NM. Phillip & Anna were 2 of 7 siblings. One of the other sisters taught in Watrous NM. And she & her siblings traveled in the summer. I think a lot of the baskets were their acquisitions. (I have pictures of the teachers in a buckboard wagon going to or from Raton.)

Also my mom & aunt Margaret knew Mabel Dodge Lujan & there was a connection to Frida Lawerence. But darn! I remember talk when I was a kid. Wish I'd had more of an idea of the interest. I remember my aunt's excitment sharing with my mom that Mabel had written to her. My aunt gave up an interesting life to be a legal secretary in Raton until she was 76. She and O. E. Berninghaus' son, Charles, had a thing. I still have 2 of his paintings & some sketches, postcards & other correspondence to my aunt. Too bad they arent his fathers. Lol! But we also knew a Russian woman who had an orchard in the valley south of Taos. She was a friend of Gaspard. And showed us the painting he had given her. Its sale saved her property. I could be mistaken - might have been Fechin. 

But I had an interesting childhood. Not much choice to have not become an artist. I have not painted since 2002 having become mired in both my aunt's & then my mother's long term care. They lived good lives - almost 98 & 96 respectively. Not sure I want to live as long. But do want to break out the watercolors. Your purchase helps me extract myself from my "default" residence in Capulin. Hope 2021 finds me in more manageable circumstances.