Cleveland Museum of Art

Presentation Bowl

Date

1880–90

Medium

devil's claw, sumac, yucca root, orange-shafted flicker (woodpecker) quills; coiled (2 rod and bundle of deer grass or basket grass)

Culture

Native North America, Great Basin, California, Death Valley, Timbisha (Panamint) Shoshone

Department

Art of the Americas

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This basket was made for the Euro-American collectors’ market in the early 1900s but it is modeled on basketry bowls from which the Timbisha (Panamint) Shoshone once served food. When used indigenously, the main view would have been of the interior. The two small, pink crosses, made of flicker (woodpecker) quills, may be a maker’s mark. Made-for-sale baskets testify to Indigenous women’s truly creative, resilient responses to forces that endangered their livelihoods and existence. The two small, pink crosses on this basket may be a maker’s mark.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.