Makah Oblong Basket with Lid

ca. 1950

2.5" H x 5.375" L x 3.75" W

Hand Twined Nootka from Grass and a Cedar Base with a Golden Tan Field and Dark Brown and Red Colors in a Bird and Men in Boat Motif Design in Pink, Black and Green Colors with a Matching Lid

In Very Good Condition

Makah oblong (or ovoid/oval) baskets with lids are traditional woven items from the Makah people (also closely related to Nuu-chah-nulth/Nootka styles) of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, particularly around Neah Bay.  Makah women have long excelled in basketry using local materials like red cedar bark (for the warp/foundation, split into fine strips) and beargrass (or squaw grass) for the weft, often dyed with natural or commercial (aniline) dyes for colorful patterns. These small lidded baskets, sometimes called "trinket baskets," were made for personal use and increasingly as a cottage industry for trade/sale to tourists and collectors starting in the 1860s–1930s.