View source for Basket

{{Short description|Container woven of stiff fibres}}
{{other uses}}
{{More citations needed|date=November 2023}}[[File:Edible fungi in basket 2012 G1.jpg|thumb|Edible mushrooms in a basket.]]
[[File:Dupuis, Pierre - Basket of Plums.jpg|thumb|''Basket of Plums'', painting by [[Pierre Dupuis]].]]

A '''basket''' is a container that is traditionally constructed from stiff [[Fiber|fibers]], and can be made from a range of materials, including wood splints, [[Stolon|runners]], and cane. While most baskets are made from plant materials, other materials such as [[horsehair]], [[baleen]], or metal wire can be used. Baskets are generally woven by hand. Some baskets are fitted with a lid, while others are left open on top.

==Uses==
[[File:Baskets in Haikou 03.jpg|thumb|right|On the left side are live fowl baskets. Directly to the right are flat baskets used for selling shrimp and small fish in [[Haikou]] City, [[Hainan]] Province, [[People's Republic of China]].]]
Baskets serve utilitarian as well as aesthetic purposes. Some baskets are ceremonial, that is religious, in nature.<ref name=hopi>{{cite web|url=http://nanact.org/encounter-the-people/hopi/hopi-basketry.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328125812/http://nanact.org/encounter-the-people/hopi/hopi-basketry.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 28, 2012|title=Hopi Basketry|work=Northern Arizona Native American Culture Trail|access-date=Nov 13, 2011}}</ref> While baskets are usually used for [[Harvest|harvesting]], storage and transport,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.texasbasket.com/new/index.php?main_page=page_3|title=About Baskets|access-date=April 2, 2019|archive-date=September 3, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180903142450/http://www.texasbasket.com/new/index.php?main_page=page_3|url-status=dead}}</ref> specialized baskets are used as [[sieve]]s for a variety of purposes, including cooking, processing seeds or grains, tossing gambling pieces, rattles, fans, [[fish trap]]s, and [[laundry basket|laundry]].
[[File:Mad Honey harvest on bamboo basket.jpg|alt=Mad Honey Hunting in a bamboo basket [1]|thumb|A [[Gurung]] [[Mad honey|mad honey]] hunter hunting cliff honey in a bamboo basket.]]

==History==

Prior to the invention of woven baskets, people used [[Bark (botany)|tree bark]] to make simple containers. These containers could be used to transport gathered food and other items, but crumbled after only a few uses. [[Weaving]] strips of bark or other plant material to support the bark containers would be the next step, followed by entirely woven baskets. The last innovation appears to be baskets so tightly woven that they could hold water.{{cn|date=June 2020}}

Depending on soil conditions, baskets may or may not be preserved in the archaeological record. Sites in the [[Middle East]] show that weaving techniques were used to make mats, and possibly also baskets, circa [[9th millennium BC|8000 BCE]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}} Twined baskets date back to 7000 <ref name=hopi /> in [[Oasisamerica]]. Baskets made with interwoven techniques were common at [[4th millennium BC|3000 BCE]].

Baskets were originally designed as multi-purpose vessels to carry and store materials and to keep stray items about the home. The plant life available in a region affects the choice of material, which in turn influences the weaving technique. [[Rattan]] and other members of the [[Arecaceae]] or [[palm tree]] family, the thin grasses of temperate regions, and broad-leaved tropical [[bromeliad]]s each require a different method of twisting and braiding to be made into a basket. The practice of basket making has evolved into an [[art]]. Artistic freedom allows basket makers a wide choice of colors, materials, sizes, patterns, and details.

The carrying of a [[Head-carrying|basket on the head]], particularly by rural women, has long been practiced. Representations of this in [[Ancient Greek art]] are called [[Canephorae]].

==Figurative and literary usage==
The phrase "[[to hell in a handbasket]]" means ''to deteriorate rapidly''. The origin of this use is unclear. "Basket" is sometimes used as an adjective for a person who is born out of wedlock.<ref name="oed.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/15969|title=basket, n.|work=oed.com|access-date=18 March 2015}}</ref> This occurs more commonly in British English. "Basket" also refers to a bulge in a man's crotch.<ref name="oed.com"/> The word “basket” is frequently used in the colloquial “don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” In this sense, the eggs are a metaphor for a chance at success, while the basket figuratively represents a single method or option.

==Materials==
{{expand section|date=April 2018}}
Basket makers use a wide range of materials, including:

* [[Bamboo]]
* [[Carbon-fiber reinforced polymer|Carbon fiber]]
* [[Metal]]
* [[Arecaceae|Palm]]
* [[Plastic]]

* [[Straw]]

*[[Wicker]] (traditionally made of [[willow]], [[rattan]], [[Reed (plant)|reed]], and [[bamboo]])
[[File:Tressage du panier.jpg|thumb|A young man making a palm basket.]]
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== Image gallery ==
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px" class=center caption="Different baskets">
File:President Lyndon B. Johnson and his puppies.jpg|President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] with a basket of [[dog]]s.
File:Hand Crafted Woven Basket hanging on the wall. 02.jpg|Hand Crafted Woven Basket hanging on the wall.
File:Baskets four styles.jpg |Four different styles of baskets
File:Baskets - Danforth Museum - Framingham, MA - DSC00267.JPG|Baskets - [[Danforth Museum]] - [[Framingham]], MA  
File:Nuu-chah-nulth baskets (UBC2010).jpg|A set of traditional hand-woven native Indian [[Nuu-chah-nulth]] peoples' baskets (Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada)  
File:Baskets for sale (2902069972).jpg|Baskets for sale  in the island of [[La Réunion]], east of Madagascar
File:Straw hats and baskets.jpg|Straw hats and baskets for sale at the [[Luangwa, Zambia|Luangwa]] turn-off on Great East road, [[Zambia]].
File:Storage basket, Pomo people, Honolulu Museum of Art, 2013-16-01.JPG|Storage basket, [[Pomo people]], (indigenous people of California), Honolulu Museum of Art 
File:Trinket Basket, Makah people, Northwest Washington, late 19th to early 20th century, twined and plaited bear grass, sedge, cedar bark - Chazen Museum of Art - DSC01868.JPG |Trinket Basket, [[Makah people]], Northwest Washington, late 19th to early 20th century, twined and plaited bear grass, sedge, cedar bark  
File:Nootka Makah baskets - Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History - DSC06592.JPG|Nootka Makah baskets - Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History
File:Eth1 coffeelady.jpg|[[Ethiopia]]n woman gathering coffee beans in a basket
Image:Seri_olla_basket_1.JPG|[[Seri people|Seri]] Indian pot-shaped basket (Northern Mexico)
File:Bending vines for basket construction - Ponape.jpg|Bending vines for basket construction - [[Pohnpei]]
File:Inuitbasket.jpg|[[Inupiat]] basket of whale [[baleen]] with a walrus ivory finial, [[Barrow, Alaska]]
File:Kelly church black ash basket.jpg|[[Fraxinus nigra|Black ash]] baby basket by [[Odawa people|Odawa]]-[[Ojibwe]] [[Kelly Church]], [[Michigan]]
File:Yurok 20061109192219.jpg|[[Yurok tribe|Yurok]] baskets from [[Redwood National Park]] area, [[California]]
File:VM 5099 in a small hotel in Gaoqiao Town, Xingshan County, Hubei.jpg|Traditional western [[Hubei]] baskets (China)
File:Gullah basket.JPG|[[Muhlenbergia sericea|Sweetgrass]] basket made by the [[Gullah]] culture of coastal [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] or [[South Carolina]], USA 
File:Tragekorb aus Birkenleder.JPG|[[Backpack]] made of birch bark.
File:BMVB Cistell 1388.JPG |Egyptian basket preserved in the [[Biblioteca Museu Víctor Balaguer]], [[Vilanova i la Geltrú]]
File:India Victor Grigas 2011-8.jpg|A woman carrying a basket full of vegetables on her head in [[K R Market]], [[Bangalore]], [[India]]
File:Contemporary bamboo baskets of Bangladesh (01).jpg|Contemporary bamboo baskets of [[Bangladesh]].
File:ਟੋਕਰਾ.jpg| A basket used in [[Punjab, India|Punjab]], [[India]]
File:Ifugao_baskets2.jpg|[[Ifugao people]] baskets in a museum
</gallery>

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Basket weaving]]
* ''[[Canephorae]]''
* [[Weaving]]
* [[Basket weaving#Native American basketry|Native American basketry]]
* [[List of Native American artists#Basket weavers|Native American basket weavers]]
* [[Baleen basketry]]
* [[Fruits_Basket|Fruits Basket ''Japanese Manga series'']]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*[[Ofelia Zepeda|Zepeda, Ofelia]] (1995). ''Ocean Power: Poems from the Desert''. {{ISBN|0-8165-1541-7}}.

==External links==
{{commons}}
*{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Basket |volume=3 |short=x}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110628023536/http://pmacraftshow.org/artists-baskets/ Baskets], The Women's Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
*[https://exchange.umma.umich.edu/advanced_search/query?type=3&title=&keywords=&min_rating=0&max_rating=5&style=+&collection_area=+&medium=&support=&classification=basket&artist=&artist_nationality=+&credit_line=&collection_identifier=&date_created=&location=+&author_lookup=&author_id=0 Baskets at the University of Michigan Museum of Art] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240604151236/https://exchange.umma.umich.edu/advanced_search/query?type=3&title=&keywords=&min_rating=0&max_rating=5&style=+&collection_area=+&medium=&support=&classification=basket&artist=&artist_nationality=+&credit_line=&collection_identifier=&date_created=&location=+&author_lookup=&author_id=0 |date=2024-06-04 }}
*[https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search#!/search?material=Baskets Baskets at the Metropolitan Museum of Art]
*[https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/baskets Exhibition: "A Measure of the Earth: The Cole-Ware Collection of American Baskets" at the Smithsonian American Art Museum]
*[https://www.burkemuseum.org/static/baskets/artists/studylab.html Study Lab: "Entwined with Life: Native American Basketry" at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture]
*[[iarchive:mad-honey-harvest-on-bamboo-basket|Tokari (Bamboo basket):]] Mad Honey Hunting Tools and Equipments

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{{Prehistoric technology}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basket}}
[[Category:Baskets| ]]
[[Category:8th-millennium BC introductions]]
[[Category:Containers]]
[[Category:Domestic implements]]
[[Category:Food storage containers]]
[[Category:Food packaging]]
[[Category:Utility vessels]]