Ethnofacts, moorish design elements

Baskets are woven everywhere in Africa, and basket-weaving is one of the most ancient crafts in the world. Before the availability of mass-produced vessels, baskets were employed for the transport and storage of foods such as grains, salt and even liquids.They are used as dishes, to cover dishes of food to be served, and as mats for sitting and sleeping, among other things. In remote areas across Africa, girlsstill become proficient at basket weaving before they are ten. As with each of the traditional African arts, baskets help to define and express tribal aesthetics while first and formost being made for rugged use. The materials, depending upon availability, are primarily tree fibers, leather and plastic for wrapping the edges or covering part or all af the body of the basket, calabash gourd, wood or horn. Here is a sample of special baskets from north Africa.

Ethiopia
: 19.5" x 17"”; Excellent injera basket with leather trim and straps to hold down the lid

B1.....................$200

Darfur, Sudan
: 14" x 9"”
Remarkably tightly woven and excellently finished in leather trim

B2.....................$350

Ethiopia
: 19" x 15"”
A colorful lidded serving platform for injera

B3....................$200

Darfur, Sudan
: 20.5" x 8"”
Broad bowl market basket with simple zig-zag pattern.

B4.....................$400

Tuareg marriage basket, Niger
: Black leather covering and fringe

B5..........................$145

Harrar Ethiopia
: 10"” high, 12"” wide
Very beautiful and well made food cover with leather trim and cowrie shells

B6.........................$150

: Tobeqa
: A large and robust basket with a tight lid for storing bread. Morocco

B7......................$200

Tobeqa


: Antique tobeqa bread basket

B8................$175



: Oromo

A traditional container that uses a gourd with basketry, leather strapping and cowrie shells, from Oromo nomads in the Ogaden desert.

B9...........................$85

Kabota basket
: Aswan, Egypt; Leather and reed storage basket with lid

B10.................$75

Rif Berber Hat
: Morocco, a straw hat embellished with wool pompoms and braids, worn traditionally by women

B11......................$100