Navajo Very Old Ceremonial Basket [SOLD]

Ceremonial baskets are used in many ways.  Often, the basket holds sacred cornmeal used during a healing ceremony or during the construction of a sand painting.  Today’s baskets used by the Diné medicine men have evolved to a standard design that has rows of red bands with black designs attached above and below those bands.  Earlier baskets were of many different designs.

This Navajo Very Old Ceremonial Basket features one of the earliest designs.  There are five rows of red topped by partial rows of red with some black short elements below the red rows.  A very simple design but one that certainly had meaning to those using it.  The basket has the herringbone rim that is still used in baskets today.

Condition: very good condition with minor stitch loss

Provenance: from a gentleman in Santa Fe

Recommended Reading:  Navajo Ceremonial Baskets—Sacred Symbols Sacred Space by Georgiana Kennedy Simpson