Lidded Cobra Basket with French Knots

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A coiled sweetgrass basket made by Mary A. Jackson. The basket has a flat, circular bottom and tall, round sides that widen as they extend from the base. The widest part of the body is about three quarters from the bottom. The basket then narrows again to form a circular opening with a straight, shallow lip that is the narrowest part of the basket. At the bottom, the body features a narrow band of darker-colored pine needles set in between two similar-sized bands of lighter-colored sweetgrass. The widest part of the body features a wide band of pine needles, ending slightly below the lip. The removable, circular lid has a rim that extends down to fit over the lip of the basket and a hole at the very top center. Most of the lid is sewn with pine needles, with only a very narrow band of plain sweetgrass towards the center.

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