Basket

Description

This basket is typical of those made on the Schaghticoke Reservation by Native Americans of the Paugussett culture in the early 19th century. By the second quarter of the 19th century the Schaghticoke makers developed a distinctive square lid and squat body, lending support to an earlier date for this round-lidded, tall basket. The original vivid red and blue colors swabbed onto the warp standards are also typical of early Paugussett baskets. By the mid-eighteenth century, the Schaghticoke land was home to people of the Pootatuck, Paugussett, Wepawaug, Pequannock and Naugatuck cutlures. Baskets made in this region in the second quarter of the 19th century often exhibit Paugassett traits, such as the round lid with ring construction, mixed with some features later associated with Schaghaticoke baskets made by the Bunker family.