Fancy basket, ca. 1900

Contributed by Abbe Museum

Description

This elaborate basket is covered in curly or periwinkle curls, and was once brightly colored. Anne Molloy Howells described finding this basket in a letter to Gaby Pelletier in 1975:

"Paul wasn’'t able to do Christmas shopping this year. I solved his problem as far as I’'m concerned by leading him to an antique show at the Portsmouth Armory. While he sat and chatted with dealers I whisked from booth to booth looking at baskets. Finally I narrowed it down to 2, quite dizzy by that time. The other [basket] is the most preposterous I ever saw and of course it caught my eye as I stepped in the door. It is round with a domed cover and all except for a small area at the cover’s top decorated with warts or shells.It once had purple and yellow coloring but now gives the impression of a great cone or a hedgehog and in its mass made me think of Olmec heads from Middle America."

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About This Item

  • Title: Fancy basket, ca. 1900
  • Creation Date: circa 2000
  • Subject Date: circa 1900
  • Location: Portsmouth, NH
  • Media: Ash, dye
  • Dimensions: 40 cm x 35.5 cm
  • Local Code: AM392
  • Collection: Anne Molloy Howells Collection
  • Object Type: Physical Object

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For more information about this item, contact:

Abbe Museum
26 Mount Desert Street, PO Box 286, Bar Harbor, ME 04609
(207) 288-3519
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This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. No Permission is required to use the low-resolution watermarked image for educational use, or as allowed by the applicable copyright. For all other uses, permission is required.

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