Tlingit spruce root baskets are renowned for their tight weaving and colourful patterns rendered in false imbrication (meaning it’s visible on the outside, but not the inside, of the basket). It takes an incredible amount of knowledge, time, and labour to gather and prepare the roots even before the weaving begins, skills that are passed down by master weavers to their apprentices. The weaving process itself is exacting and time consuming, taking many years to master.

Tlingit baskets often display patterns with specific names and meanings that may allude to crests or stories known to the weaver and observer. This basket features three rows of patterns made up of two designs: the top and bottom designs in orange and black are the “Shaman’s hat pattern,” also known as “Spirit around the head,” while the diamond-shaped gold and brown patterns around the middle are called the “Half a salmonberry head” design. [1] This smaller basket is complete and in very good condition.

1. Frances Lackey Paul. 1889. 1944. Spruce Root Basketry of the Alaska Tlingit; Edited by Willard W. Beatty. Kansas: Haskell institute, 1944.

Christopher W. Smith