Basket

Tlingit women produced thin, flexible twined baskets of finely split spruce roots, decorated in a technique called false embroidery. In this form of embellishment, bleached and dyed grass stems were wrapped around the spruce root wefts at every stitch, forming multicolored designs and a subtle change in surface texture. Most Tlingit baskets, like this large, exquisitely woven piece, feature geometric compositions organized in three successive bands, with identical motifs in the upper and lower bands. Here, the top and bottom designs join visually to form bold but static cross and block-like forms. In contrast, an encircling, golden yellow band filled with stepped chevrons appears to overlay these motifs, providing a strong sense of horizontal movement.