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Treasures

Deerfield Meadows Basket

Deerfield Meadows Basket

© Memorial Hall Museum, Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association

Gertrude Ashley was known for her "landscape baskets." These special exhibition pieces were show-stoppers whose designs were woven into their surfaces. As a result, these baskets were lovely both inside and out. Requiring a great time investment on the part of the artisan, Ashley believed that her landscape baskets were better suited to the museum than the home. The Deerfield Meadows basket is a particularly pleasing example. The simplified shapes of its autumn trees combined with bands of solid color denoting earth and sky seem particularly suited to the grid-like surface inherent to the basket's raffia weave.

Date:
c. 1905
Creator:
Gertrude P. Ashley