13" x 31" to top
KD14

The baskets are predominantly coiled, string or "dilly" bags. They are woven from various natural fibers such as those made from the leaves of the pandanus plant, the bark of trees like Kurrajong, Brachychiton diversifolius, Brachychiton paradoxum and Ficus virens. These fibers are dyed in vivid oranges, yellows, reds, blacks and purples by boiling in ground up roots of plants like Pogonolobus reticulatus and wood ash from Eucalyptus alba.

Maningrida is a small community that sits on the remote northern coast of Australia's Arnhem Land at the estuary of the Liverpool River. During much of the year the community can be reached only by light aircraft.

Baskets traditionally are used for gathering foods like roots, tubers, berries, honey and fish. The baskets offered by Aboriginals: Art of the First Person have been woven for commercial purposes and sale to collectors and museums by the finest aboriginal artists, which come from Maningrida and other aboriginal communities.

In addition to baskets, artists at the Maningrida community also use paperbark, pandanus and palm fiber to weave three-dimensional figurative sculpture. These figures represent common creatures in the area: echidnas, bandicoots, camp dogs, crocodiles and mice. At the moment, our stock of figurative baskets is exhausted.

(We are indebted to Fiona Salmon of Maningrida for the background material included in the foregoing discussion.)

Please note that all items posted on this site, including baskets, are located in the United States and stored in climate-controlled conditions. If you are ordering in the this country, you are spared customs hassels, duties, trans-Pacific shipping and handling and delays in receiving your treasure.

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