Tlingit Basket with Rattle Lid

2.25" H x 3.5" D

Hand Tightly Woven with Darker Brown Geometric Pattern and Woven in Orange Detail with Matching Lid with Rattle Mechanism that is integrated into the lid without visible seams.

Excellent Condition

The Tlingit people, indigenous to the Pacific Northwest Coast (primarily southeastern Alaska), are renowned for their exquisite basketry traditions. Their baskets, often woven from spruce root using a two-strand twining technique, represent both practical utility and artistic expression. Among these, the "rattle lid" (or "rattletop") basket is a distinctive form, particularly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These small, lidded trinket or decorative baskets feature a clever innovation: the lid contains a hidden chamber filled with seeds, pebbles, or even lead shot, creating a rattling sound when shaken—hence the name "something inside" baskets in some historical accounts. This auditory element added whimsy and novelty, making them especially appealing to tourists and collectors during the era of growing American tourism to Alaska around the 1880s onward.

Provenance:  From the Len and Toni Wood Private Collection, Laguna Beach, California