I-M-186 Fine Pima tray. The Pima, who now prefer to be called “Akimal O’odam”(the River People), live in south central Arizona along the Gila and Salt Rivers. They traditionally spoke the Tepiman (formerly the Sonoran) branch of the Uto-Aztecan linguistic family and are believed to be the descendants of the early Hohokam civilization that thrived in ancient times in what are now southern Arizona and the northern part of Mexican Sonora. The Pima were an agricultural people with sedentary villages producing both pottery and baskets and tend to this day to remain an agricultural people although their weaving tradition appears to have seriously diminished over the past fifty years.
This small tray is not only finely woven but also has a most unusual design most likely the invention of the weaver and called a dream design. The large heavy crosses which are the main theme of the basket are very similar to the spider woman crosses used by the Navajo in their weaving. An even more unusual design element closely resembles a design used by Panamint weavers in the Death Valley region, in all, an unusual and very pleasant combination of design elements. Coiling is to the left using a bundle of cattail leaf (Typha) for the foundation of the coil. The sewing splints are split peeled willow (Salix) for the white and split devils claw (Proboscidea) for the black.
A fine and unusual example. 9 3/4"d. by 2 1/4"deep. Circa 1920. $2,200.00