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1884.43.2.2

Round lid, with a roughly square frame, for a cane basket. There are two vertical cane supports that cross over at the centre from two horizontal supports. For the basket see [1884.43.2 .1] [RM [OPS move] 1/11/2016]

1884.43.2.2

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Collection type
Object
Description
Round lid, with a roughly square frame, for a cane basket. There are two vertical cane supports that cross over at the centre from two horizontal supports. For the basket see [1884.43.2 .1] [RM [OPS move] 1/11/2016]
Cultural groups
Iban
Date / Period
Date made: Possibly before 1878
Date collected
?Prior to 1878
Acquisition information
Donated: 1884
Materials and processes
Material Cane Plant, Material Plant Fibre, Process Twill Woven, Process Chequer Woven, Process Basketry, Process Split
Dimensions
Diameter: max 140 mm, Height: max 77 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1884.43.2.2 PR Cat other PR nos: 3592
Research and responses

See JG Wood 1870 Natural History of Man: Australia etc pp 503 and on 'The basket-work of the Dyaks is exceedingly good, colour as well as form being studied in the manufacture. Of the form of basket called tambok an illustration is here given. The basket is made of the nipa-palm leaf, cut into strips not quite the twelfth of an inch wide, and stained alternately yellow and red. These are interwoven so as to produce a considerable variety of patter, somewhat resembling that which is used the sarongs and other woven fabrics. These patterns are nearly all combinations of the square, the zigzag and the diamond; the last form, however, being nothing more than the square turned diagonal. Although made in cylindrical form, the tambok is slightly squared by means of four strips of hard red wood, which are tightly fastened to the basket by rattan lashing. The bottom of the basket is squared in a similar manner, so as to flatten it and enable it so stand upright, and is defended by thicker strips of wood than those which run up the sides. The lid is guarded by two cross-strips bound firmly round their edges. This basket is exceedingly light, elastic, strong, easily carried and fully warrants the estimation in which it is held. Tamboks are made of almost all sizes, and are extensively used by Dyaks, the Malays and the European colonists'. [AP Leverhulme project on founding collection 1995-1998]

Search terms: Basketry, Basket, Lid

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