Extremely Fine 1870s-80s Macah Nootka Bear Grass and Cedar Bark Basket with Indigo Design (Some Damage) pretzel shaped backs turned and skirts hiked

backs turned and skirts hiked as they wade out

packed into an old Crystallized Ginger tin

3 1/16 x 5 1/8

and the gestural lines around them

and one of the children's too

Extremely Fine 1870s-80s Macah Nootka Bear Grass and Cedar Bark Basket with Indigo Design (Some Damage) pretzel shaped backs turned and skirts hikedThis 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