Extremely Fine 1870s-80s Macah Nootka Bear Grass and Cedar Bark Basket with Indigo Design (Some Damage) shop keeper Just lovely things

Just lovely things

For me it winds up feeling rather transcendent and rather existential

--I presume the woman at left meant to be a spirit and the woman at right to be of the living

1880s tin (1882 patent) certainly shows plenty of wear and aging (almost as if having been through a fire itself

Feels quite like a portrait of a specific relationship

Extremely Fine 1870s-80s Macah Nootka Bear Grass and Cedar Bark Basket with Indigo Design (Some Damage) shop keeper Just lovely thingsThis is the finest Makah Nookta, Native American of the Northwest coast, I have ever had in my possession, and I have handled a fair number and looked at many more than that. Hard to judge scale from photos I know, but the weave here is just impossibly tiny and tight. Stunning. And the banded patterns show the most lovely soft indigo blue; the original more intense purple is visible on the interior. 1870s 80s; there is a very good section on the Burke