Southwest Native American Baskets: Identifying Characteristics

Southwest Baskets Overview

The subject of Native American (or American Indian) basketry could fill volumes and has tickled the imaginations of scholars and collectors alike. And as an appraiser, it is always a special joy to value one.

Identifying the origins and tribal affiliations of vintage and antique Native American baskets can be tricky, especially since so many Native peoples in North America made and used them in their daily lives. However, clues can be found in their shapes, materials, construction, dyes, and designs for those interested in reading their hidden messages.

In this article, I’ll discuss some of the identifying characteristics of coiled baskets originating in the Southwestern region. Twined and plaited baskets were also made for more utilitarian uses, but coiled baskets are among the most highly prized for their quality of execution and their design motifs.

Virtually all tribes in this region made baskets, but let’s focus on the tribes that made the coiled baskets that you would most likely run into – Apache, Pima, Papago, Navajo, and Hopi.

Apache (Indé) Baskets

If you are confused by the many types of Apache baskets, you are not alone! The Apache nation is actually a conglomeration of several regional desert and plains dwelling tribes whose homelands have been consolidated into reservations in Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma. Each had their own unique basketmaking techniques, although there is some crossover between certain tribes. Those that were particularly known for their basket weaving skills include the Jicarilla and Mescalero tribes in New Mexico, the Yavapai in central Arizona, and a collection of Western Apache subgroups in southeastern Arizona including the San Carlos, Cibecue, White Mountain, and Northern and Southern Tonto Apache. All are made using a rod foundation, but otherwise their designs can be quite different.

Let’s look at some of the identifying characteristics of baskets from some of these groups.

Jicarilla Apache Baskets

These baskets are generally constructed on a five rod foundation of stiff, thick, shiny sumac shoots loosely coiled and dyed originally with natural dyes and later with bright aniline dyes that faded and yellowed over time. Designs included stars, flower petals, crosses, zigzags, other simple geometric shapes, and occasionally human or animal figures. Often, these designs would be outlined in a contrasting color. Tall, straight-sided storage baskets, fish creels, shallow trays, and large, flat-based bowls, sometimes with handles, were the most common shapes.

Another characteristic of many Jicarilla baskets, particularly their bowls, is the finishing braid around the rim. You can see this in the second and third examples below.

 

Mescalero Apache Baskets

Like those of their Jicarilla Apache cousins, Mescalero Apache baskets were made of large, flat coils that were prone to significant fading and yellowing. In this case, it is due to the use of yucca leaves in the basket construction which turn a golden yellow over time. Their colors are mostly yellow from the yucca leaves and reddish brown from the yucca roots, and their designs include simple geometric shapes, stars, flower petals, and crosses. Common forms include shallow trays, baskets or bowls with flared body walls, jars with sloped shoulders and small mouths, or waterproofed vessels. They have a three rod or a two rod and bunch foundation instead of a five rod foundation, and their rims are straight rather than braided.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Western Apache Baskets

Among the most recognized Apache baskets are the Western Apache baskets. They are made of tightly coiled willow roots with black designs made of devil’s claw seed pods and sometimes small amounts of red designs made with yucca roots.          

Their rims are straight, not braided, and they often feature elaborate designs that may incorporate randomly placed human or animal figures, animal tracks, arrows, crosses, lightening symbols, zigzags, whirling logs, cogs, and stepped outlines. Their forms include ollas, or vase shaped storage jars, trays, bowls, and wide-necked bottles lined with pine pitch to carry water.

Of the Western Apache baskets, San Carlos baskets can tend to be woven with thicker or courser splints that you can easily see as in the first example below. They often have black centers and black bands toward their rims or radiating or diagonal design elements. Their bowls are more conical than other Western Apache baskets.

White Mountain Apache baskets can sometimes be difficult to distinguish from other Western Apache baskets. This may partially be because the White Mountain Apache were more nomadic than other Apache tribes and may have adopted designs from other tribes during their migrations.

Earlier White Mountain designs were much like San Carlos designs with relatively simple geometric patterns. Later, they shifted to more complex repeating designs with stylized human or dog figures. They also sometimes included more use of red yucca root in their designs which grew more plentifully at their higher elevation. This can be seen in the second example below. Some of their bowls were flat based, and they also made oval trinket boxes.

Western Apache baskets in general, and White Mountain Apache baskets more specifically, can be among the finest of the Apache baskets made with the most coils per square inch. The largest and most complex baskets can come with price tags in the tens of thousands of dollars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yavapai Apache Baskets

The Yavapai Apache people were related to the White Mountain Apache, and their baskets can be quite similar in design to White Mountain Apache designs. There are a few key differences, though.

Most notably, their baskets make far more use of the black devil’s claw seed pod dye. Furthermore, while figural design elements in other Apache baskets are defined by the use of the black devil’s claw dye against a plain background, some of the figures in Yavapai baskets are defined by undyed parts surrounded by a black devil’s claw dyed background. This use of alternating positive and negative space can be seen in both examples below.

Another difference between White Mountain Apache and Yavapai Apache baskets is that the designs in the Yavapai Apache baskets tend to be more symmetrical, and design elements tend to be more precisely placed. Figures and animals can tend to be a bit more angular in design.

Otherwise, Yavapai Apache baskets use a similar three rod foundation, use the same willow and devil’s claw materials, and come in trays, shallow bowls, olla-shaped jars, and plaques.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pima (Akimel O’odham) Baskets

The Pima or Akimel O’odham people lived along riverbanks of the Gila River in southern Arizona and in the Sonoran Desert in Mexico. As river dwellers, they made baskets of bundled grass rather than a rod foundation. Typical materials used in their designs include willow shoots, cattail, devil’s claw, beargrass, yucca and yucca root. This makes them significantly softer and more pliable than Apache baskets. They also have braided or oblique stitched rims rather than straight rims as on most Apache baskets. Typical forms include large winnowing trays, olla-shaped storage baskets, lidded jars, and shallow bowls. They are so tightly woven as to be waterproof without being treated with pine pitch or other waxy materials.

Pima baskets are highly geometrically designed and are often feature a dark devil’s claw center, or tondo. Other common designs include geometric whorls, frets, zigzags, rosettes, spirals and squash blossom patterns. They sometimes also incorporate blue beads along their rims.

A signature basket design in the Pima culture is the Man in Maze. It is a sacred image that represents man’s journey in life from birth through death.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Papago (Tohono O’odham) Baskets

Papago baskets are very similar to Pima baskets as their peoples shared a common ancestry and were only separated into distinct tribes in the 19^th century. Once separated, though, the habitat around the Papago villages was harsher, and their baskets had to be made of tougher, unyielding beargrass and Devil’s Claw instead of the softer grasses found around the stream side Pima villages. This makes their baskets considerably stiffer than Pima baskets. Basket forms can be shallow bowls, trays, deep jars, mats, head rings, lidded and unlidded storage baskets, and small trinket boxes. Some of the newer forms include dolls, miniature baskets, and baskets that incorporate open weaving techniques or gourds.

Basket designs can range from simple geometric shapes to more complex shapes and figures. They often depict natural desert landscapes or flora and fauna such as rattlesnakes, lizards, turtles, birds, and scorpions. Their baskets were used for practical purposes such as gathering and storage, but they were also used in cultural ceremonies and often tell a story.

Many of the older baskets have been lost as the Papago people replaced their own basketmaking tradition with purchased ceramic and metal pots and jars by around 1920. A renewed interest in basket weaving was encouraged in the 1960’s to sell to tourists, though, and most baskets sold today are from that period or later. In fact, the Papago people are the most prolific Native American basket makers today.

Papago basket rims, which are straight rather than braided, often have a decorative stitching that is a unique Papago characteristic. This is truer of the newer baskets made in the 1960’s and later, but you can see the trim on the center basket that was made in the 1920s. Like Pima baskets, sometimes blue beads were incorporated into the designs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Navajo (Diné) Baskets

Navajo coiled baskets are made of three-leaf sumac that are then decorated with natural or aniline dyed sumac, willow, or yucca laces. They use a two rod and bundle foundation and have braided finishing rims. Many of the utilitarian needs of the Navajo baskets were achieved through twill plaited or twined baskets, leaving the coiled baskets for more decorative and ceremonial uses.

The foundation for most traditional Navajo baskets is the ceremonial wedding basket. It represents the Blessing Way or a state of balance and harmony between all living creatures. It blesses the owner with happiness, security and general well-being. There are a few interpretations of the design but one is as follows: The center portion represents the emergence of the person into the current world from the prior world.  The inside black portion represents the clouds that make rain. The three red bands represent a rainbow. The outside black portion represents the sacred mountains. And the undyed rim represents the external world including the Sun, Moon and Stars. There is always an opening in the design, or a spirit line, which creates the link between the internal and external worlds. When used in ceremonies, it is always placed to point the way east.

Several modifications to the wedding basket can be found including the double wedding basket, or wedding baskets with people or animals depicted in them. Other designs may include cogs, spirals, whirling logs, bands, zigzags, or Spider Woman crosses. Often designs are split into four quadrants. Many new designs have also been incorporated into Navajo baskets since the 1960s including collages, sand paintings, snakes, rabbits, coyotes, Yei deities, eagles, toads, monsters, corn, and turtles. The basket shown on the right represents the power of the number four which stands for the four Navajo clans, the four sacred mountains, the four cardinal directions, and the journey through the four worlds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hopi (Hopituh Shi-nu-mu) Baskets

Hopi baskets can resemble Navajo baskets at least partly because the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona is completely surrounded by the Navajo Reservation. The Hopi Reservation is divided into three Mesas. All three mesas make plaited baskets, while the Second Mesa also make coiled baskets, and the Third Mesa also make wicker baskets.

Hopi coiled baskets are made by wrapping bundles of galleta grass, shredded yucca or rabbitbrush with yucca. Their colors are usually bleached white with natural or aniline dyed colors in green, yellow, black, and red. Like the Navajo, most of their utilitarian baskets were twilled or plaited, and their coiled forms were mostly plaques and some globular jars for seed storage. Their designs include kachinas, animals, plants and geometric patterns. They are steeped in tradition and ceremonial use for corn harvests, rainmaking, marriages, rites of passage and burials.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Further Information

This is just a small taste of some of the styles and designs of Southwest Native American baskets you might encounter. If you’d like to see more basket collections, please click on the links for the following museums. If you are thinking of starting or growing your own basket collection, considering checking out some of the great online retailers that follow. And if you have a basket that you’d like to have appraised, please reach out to us using our online contact form.

Sample Online Museum Basket Collections:

• Gilcrease Museum
• Gorman Museum of Native Art 
• Heard Museum
• National Museum of the American Indian
• Smithsonian

Sample Online Basket Retailers:

• All Tribes
• Cameron Trading Post
• Cisco’s Rare and Exceptional
• Garland’s
• Gene Quintana Fine Art
• Kilgore American Indian Art
• Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery
• Morning Star Traders
• Toh-Atin Gallery