AFA Summer 2019

Antiques & Fine Art 89 2019 Fig. 1: Water bottle, Anonymous (Paiute), 19th century. Wood, mud, horsehair. Wrap-twined weaving, 21¼ x 13¼ inches. Lent by the University of Missouri Museum of Anthropology (RRR.62). Members of the Paiute tribe tightly wrapped and twined natural fibers into rounded forms and coated the exterior with mud to create vessels that stored and transported water. The two handles, made from horsehair, would have been attached to a braided strap that enabled women to carry the water bottles on their backs. The carefully engineered shape — with its short neck, rounded shoulder, and pointed foot — nestled into a carrier’s back and distributed the weight evenly, enabling her to carry several gallons of water. Fig. 2: Lidded double-weave basket, Eva Queen Wolfe (Eastern Band Cherokee, 1922–2004), 1995. River cane. Double-woven diagonal plaiting, H. 9 ,W. 6½, D. 6½ in. Lent by Lambert G. Wilson (RRR.84 A&B). Wolfe learned weaving techniques from her mother and her aunt, Lottie Queen Stamper, who taught basket making at the Cherokee Indian School from 1937 to 1966. Wolfe focused on double-weave baskets with river cane so that the tradition “might be retained for future generations.” This technique was on the cusp of disappearing, in part because of the traumatic cultural upheaval that resulted from the Trail of Tears in 1838, when the U.S. Government forced the Cherokee to leave their ancestral homelands east of the Mississippi River. Wolfe’s baskets, and those of contemporary artists working in the tradition she helped preserve, are nationally recognized as works of fine art.