J-1-11 Maidu, rare four color polychrome bowl.
The Maidu are divided into three groups: the Nisenan (Valley), the Konkow (Foothill) and the Sierra (Mountain) Maidu. These peoples spoke mutually unintelligible dialects of the Maidu language, which belongs to the Penutian Super Family of languages. Their traditional territory is in northeastern California just north of Yosemite and bordered on the west by the Sacramento River with Lake Tahoe to the east.
This rare basket is one of only a few known Maidu examples in which four different colors of material are used in the same basket. Most Maidu baskets are mono chromatic being done in all red designs on a white ground or, less commonly, all black designs. Among the Mountain Maidu one rarely encounters a combination of both black and red designs on a white ground. This example has black, red, and a dyed brown design all on a white ground. Most likely it was inspired by the elaborate polychrome baskets being produced in the Yosemite -Mono lake regions. Even the design is typical of the beadwork related designs being used among these groups. The interior of the basket is completely bifurcated, however, indicating that this is in fact a Maidu example. Coiling is to the left using three peeled willow rods (Salix) for the foundation of the coil. The sewing splints are split peeled redbud (Cercis) for the white, split unpeeled redbud for the red, dyed bracken fern root (Pteridium) for the black and dyed redbud for the unusual brown color.
A rare and significant example for the Maidu collector. 6"d. by 3 1/2"h. $2,950.00