1939.8.13B

Collection type

Object

Description

Riddle, for sifting corn meal after pounding in mortar to remove husks. Native wild cane (rivercane), undyed.

Geographical reference

United States of America

Northern America > North America > United States of America

Cultural groups

Choctaw

Person

Maker Fannie Batteist

Field collector Beatrice Mary Blackwood

PRM source Beatrice Mary Blackwood

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1939

Date collected

1939

Acquisition information

Purchased: 1939

Materials and processes

Material Cane Plant, Process Plaited, Process Basketry

Dimensions

Length: max 350 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1939.8.13B

Research and responses

This basket features on the website for the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Museum Collections https://hinahanta.choctawnation.com/ProficioWebModule/Detail.aspx?rID=OE-OE.2018.02.06&db=objects&dir=COMBINE&osearch=pitt%20rivers&list=global&rname= [FB 4/12/2019]

Basket maker Fannie Battiest Williams Wesley was a well-known Oklahoma and Louisiana Choctaw weaver whose descendants, including granddaughter Eveline Battiest Steele and her sons, have continued the Choctaw rivercane weaving tradition over generations. Information compiled by Jennifer Byram, a tribal member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and PhD student at the University of Arizona.

Associated publications

Illustrated in black and white as figure 10 on page 12 of Basketmakers Meaning and Form in Native American Baskets, edited by Linda Mowat, Howard Morphy and Penny Dransart (Oxford: Pitt Rivers Museum, University if Oxford, Mongraph 5, 1992). Caption reads: ‘USA, Louisiana, Choctaw. Plaited sieve of undyed rivercane. Used for sifting corn meal after pounding in a mortar to remove the husks. L: 350 mm; W: 340 mm. Purchased by Beatrice Blackwood from the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, Golden Gate Exposition, San Francisco, 1939.8.13B’ [MJD 16/01/2013]

Search terms: Food and Drink, Basketry, Sieve, Food Accessory