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Storage basket with lid
Native American, possibly Mohegan or Pequot
1830–1900
Object Place: United States, Northeast
Medium/Technique
Probably ash, laundry bluing, and Mohegan pink
Dimensions
33.02 cm (13 in.)
Credit Line
Harriet Otis Cruft Fund
Accession Number1989.80a-b
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsBasketry
DescriptionWooden splint basket with peaked lid. Circular plan at top; square plan at base. Slightly swelled sides ornamented with red and green painted decoration representing hearts, vines, and faces. Heart-shaped faces painted in lower center of each side of basket. Faces surrounded by rectangle of painted triangles. Corners of basket painted with intertwined red and green vines.
Marks
On lid: Smith
ProvenanceSaid to have been collected in northern New York state [see note]. Sold by a private collection, New York, to Hurst Gallery, Cambridge, MA; 1989, sold by Hurst Gallery to the MFA. (Accession Date: March 22, 1989)
NOTE: The name "Smith" is inscribed on the lid of the basket, in what is probably a nineteenth-century hand.
NOTE: The name "Smith" is inscribed on the lid of the basket, in what is probably a nineteenth-century hand.