Akimel O'odham - Pima Basket with Whirling Log Design [SOLD]

O'odham, a name applied to the Arizona tribes previously known as Papago and Pima, is a Uto-Aztecan language group of southern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico, where the Tohono O'odham (formerly called the Papago) and Akimel O'odham (traditionally called Pima) reside.  The members of the two tribes made baskets which were very much alike in earlier years, both using willow and devil’s claw (martynia) for decorative material. Although their baskets may look similar, they are quite different. Pima baskets are much more related to Apache baskets than to Papago ones.

Pima baskets generally feature a black center bottom that then branches out and up to the intended design.  In this basket, the meandering design, when examined closely, resembles a swastika or whirling log. This design was generally eliminated in the pre-World War II period of the late 1930s when it was adopted by the Nazi regime.

Clare Lee Tanner stated “Pimas produced some of the most beautiful close-coiled baskets in the Southwest.  Certainly some of their vessel forms were the most graceful of any, this quality particularly to be noted in the delicate lines of many a tray.  Add to this the fine sewing and thin lines, dynamic patterning so characteristic of many pieces, and there, indeed, is a work of art.” Tanner 1983:157

Condition: this Akimel O'odham - Pima Basket with Whirling Log Design is in very good condition

Provenance: from a family collection from Colorado

Reference: Indian Baskets of the Southwest by Clara Lee Tanner.

Relative Links: basket, Pima, Papago