Producer unknown to us
Basket satchel
Americas, United States, Great Lakes Region, Minnesota, Nett Lake
Before 1947
Cedar bark, woven
Eva Lips (ethnologist) acquired this item during her exile in the United States from 1934 to 1947
Purchased by the museum from Elisabeth Malüg in 1990
NAm 4982
This basket satchel was woven from cedar bark. A mesh was dropped on each side, just below the thickened upper brim. When the water rice satchel is full, it can be closed with a strap that is passed through these meshes. In addition, it is equipped with a suede strap to hang it up. This item is slightly damaged at one fold and the opposite corner.
Wild rice was one of the main food sources for the indigenous communities living around the Great Lakes in North America. To harvest wild rice, the seed heads are bent over the hull of the canoe from the inside and then tapped with a wooden mallet so that the rice grains fall into the boat. Some communities, such as the White Earth Nation in Minnesota (Anishinaabe, Chippewa), continue to harvest wild rice in the 21st century as a form of sustainable agriculture.
Ethnologist Eva Lips (1906–1988) acquired this piece during her time in exile in the United States from 1934–1947.
Frank Usbeck