Vintage Basketry Tray with Star, Tohono O'odham

Basketry Tray with Star Design, c. 1960
Tohono O'odham
grass, soap tree yucca, devil’s clay (black/brown)
13" diameter x 3" deep

Tohono O'odham (People of the Desert) gather Sonoran Desert plant materials by hand to weave baskets. The inner coil, the warp, is made from split Beargrass and the outer design, the weft, is typically made from Soaptree Yucca (natural green or sun-bleached white). Sometimes other materials are woven into the basket's design using Devil's Claw (black), or in more rare instances, the root from the Banana Yucca (red).