Basket

Description

Rectangular basket of chestnut-colored black ash splint. Split rim with single lashing. The rim is half-round on the interior and exterior. The overhead, bonnet-shaped handle is double-notched and attached on the interior on each side.

Notes

The Mount Lebanon Shakers produced both the highest quality and the greatest quantity of baskets among the United Society of Believers. This is the oldest dated Shaker basket known and provides an example of early basket making at Mount Lebanon. The date appears on the handle, where "D.2 1829" is painted in the center. Basket making is generally thought of as a craft dominated by hand-work. The Mount Lebanon Shakers, however, employed an array of machinery in their basket production. They used a trip-hammer powered by water to pound logs of ash into splints used for weaving into baskets. Repeated pounding against the side of an ash log separates the wood along the growth rings, an arduous task previously accomplished by hand. The application of a trip-hammer produced greater quantities of splint or "basket stuff" as the Shakers called it. Parallel saw marks from a water powered up-and-down saw are visible on the runners tacked to the bottom. The Mount Lebanon Shakers used metal files to shape wood forms on many objects but especially on the smooth handles and rims of their baskets. On this basket, faint marks left by a metal files are visible on the insides of the handles. Although the handles are characteristic of Mount Lebanon baskets, the rough hewn rim is not typical. This points to either the utilitarian function of this basket or to a craftsman who was unaccustomed to making fine baskets.