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 covers 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."
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 Museum26 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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