basket
- Museum number
- 2011,2016.4
- Description
-
Basket made of pandanus. Coiled, barrel-shaped basket with one handle, dyed with natural dyes (horizontal stripes of pink, orange, red).
- Production date
- February 2011
- Dimensions
-
Height: 40.50 centimetres
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Width: 23.50 centimetres
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Depth: 22.50 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
Batjkit, meaning a flat bottomed twined or coiled basket. This batjkit is made from Gunga (pandanus palm) using a coiling process. The Gunga is coloured with natural bush dyes.
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In 1922 the missionary Gretta Matthews introduced the technique known as coiling to the women of Goulburn Island, Arnhem Land. She probably originally learned it from Indigenous women in southern Australia. From this beginning, coiling spread rapidly across the north, as women taught the technique to their relatives in nearby communities. Coiling now co-exists with the traditional technique of twining.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2011 26 May-11 Sep, London, BM, G91, Baskets and Belonging: Indigenous Australian Histories
- Acquisition date
- 2011
- Acquisition notes
- Purchased from Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts Aboriginal Corporation in March 2011, towards the 2011 British Museum exhibition 'Baskets and Belonging'.
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- 2011,2016.4
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: 11-005
