Gullah Sweet-Grass Basket w/ Handle, Handmade in Charleston SC.

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Gullah Sweet-Grass Basket w/ Handle, Handmade in Charleston SC.:
$225.00

“Excellent pre-owned condition but never used. GullahSweet-grass basket,

A work of art! approximate dimensions, 11\" high 12\", 3\" deep diameterThis would make a lovely present for the collector of artisan objects.

Many hours of work go into making such lovely items. This item has such detailed design and expert craftsmanship that it is of Smithsonian quality. Coiled baskets are handwoven from one continuous strand of sweetgrass, bundles of bulrush and pine needlessewn together. Palmetto leaves are woven tightly around the coils of sweetgrass and provide the banding needed to join the continuous coil as it spirals.

Baskets similar tothis one are on display at the Smithsonian. Sweetgrass basket making is one of the very few American folk art media that still exists. Descendants of African slaves who worked the South Carolina rice plantations continue tofashionsweetgrass basketsby hand and sell them in the Charleston and Mt. Pleasant, SC,markets and along the coastal highway. Asdevelopment encroaches, the availability of materials used -- bulrush, palmetto fronds, and most importantly, the sweetgrass from the marshes--gradually disappears.