African Basket Hand Woven From Iringa - Tanzania

Description

OVERVIEW
Vintage item
Iringa is a region in southern Tanzania, with its capital also named Iringa. The rural areas of this African region are famous for their hand woven baskets, used across Tanzania. They are twined from local reed grass called milulu and colored with natural plant dyes.
This expertly made round basket is constructed in a somewhat different manner than many Iringa baskets. The very finely woven pale tan grass is evident on the inside, the kicked-up bottom and the upper rim of the basket. The maker then wove another layer of the reed over the exterior in horizontal strips, alternating the rust colored and plain tan ones, joined with vertical strips of tan. There is also a double row of rust strips woven into the upper part of the basket that show through faintly on the upper interior. All in all, a creative departure from the common method.
The basket measures 7 inches tall and approximately 8 inches across. As is typical with these Iringa baskets, it is flexible and durable; they're locally used to store grains and produce so they can take some wear. There is a small amount of rubbing on the bottom edge on the dyed strips of this one, indicated by our arrow in one of our photos. These are not breaks and do not affect the sturdiness of this beautiful basket, which can be used in so many ways.
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