Vintage Hopi Pueblo Indian Small Plaited Yucca Ring Basket with Diamond Design, circa 1970-90's

This basketry form is a standard utility basket for all the Pueblo, while today, most are now made by the Hopi.  Handmade, woven with different colors of carefully prepared yucca leaves, the body is plaited, in this case with diagonal-twilled plaiting that creates the concentric diamond pattern.  The rim is a rugged sumac "ring" around which the ends of the plaiting are wrapped around, thereby creating a distinctive fringe around the outside just below the ring.  This example is woven with white and yellow yucca and is a smaller example, within the size range of 6- to 18-inches in diameter for the form (see: Andrew Whiteford. 1988. Southwestern Indian Baskets, Their History and their Makers. SAR Press, pp. 155-157).

This basket type is unique to the Pueblo Indians and their Anasazi ancestors, with the first examples found in excavations of Basketmaker sites dating to 500 AD.  The construction and the materials used have stayed remarkably uniform for at least 1500 years!

Dimensions:  7-1/2" diameter x 2-1/8" deep

Condition:  Excellent.  Solid with no breaks, fade, stains, or repairs.