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Presentation basket
Made by Maria Marta (ca. 1766-1830), ca. 1822
Ventura County, San Buenaventura Mission; Chumash
Collected by Zelia Nuttall in a Mexico City shop, acc. 1920.
1-22478
This remarkable basket is one of the oldest Californian Indian baskets for which we know the weaver's name. One of the very few baskets that is "signed," it was made for exchange and not for native use. By the time of its creation, the Chumash had been making baskets for export for at least thirty years. Although finely woven in traditional Chumash form and materials, it incorporates innovative motifs such as the Spanish royal coat of arms, derived from a peso coin. One of five similar baskets, this example was made for presentation to the visiting Mexican general José de la Cruz. Its Spanish inscription reads: "Maria Marta Neofita De La Mision De El Serafico Doctor San Buenaventura Me Hizo An" ("Maria Marta, neophyte of the mission of the Seraphic Doctor San Buenaventura, made me yr"). Marta apparently ran out of room before she could weave the date.
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