Vintage Handwoven Traditional Wedding Basket Carved Lid

We ship internationally, we group ship multiple purchases to save you money, if you have any questions, email cheetahdmr@aol.com

All our handcrafted or rare collector items come with pages and pages of research, about provenance, with history of the tribes and photos as well, depending on item and whenever possible. 

You are buying the basket on photo 1, we have many other styles of baskets available seen on the other photos, all collector Art pieces of the highest quality, each unique, and available on a regular base in our store.

A true bargain for this traditional vintage (at least 30 yrs old) hand carved & hand woven Collector Basket with a lid decorated with a delicately carved animal motif which retails for over 100.00. It is said that the expensive Nantucket baskets are copied from these. Boxes with such minute weave cannot be found today as this piece took a long time to create and such items were made when time was irrelevant. The basket is in perfect shape as we stored a collection of them for 25 years till we opened our shop upon retirement. Each took one month to weave and carve, and a natural fiber, reduced to a very thin band, was used for the body.  Each basket is one of a kind.

Such baskets are still made in Lombok Island today but, as elsewhere, the quality is going down because time is not taken anymore to achieve perfection. This basket was collected around  the1980’s and is done with a weaving minuteness not found today, as well as the carving, excellent as well.

The recent ones do not come close in quality and tightness to what we located 30 years ago. Our pieces are unique masterpieces of weaving and carving technique, double-woven so tight that they take up to once month to complete. They are a sign of wealth for the natives: the more they own, the richer they are. Baskets with the tightest weave are more valuable for the simple reason that the minute process takes time and dexterity. Size is an average of  7" x  5" x  4" . Basket stands on little wooden legs.

The Baskets are hand-woven with care and patience over weeks from a threadlike fiber treated into a thin weaving product they call orchid grass; it comes in fact from the Dendrobium orchid which stems have been dried, treated and divided into narrow strands. The sophisticated weaving technique combined with the use of the very thin dendrobium thread results in a delicate exquisite double pattern of an incredible sturdiness. The lid bears an insert of fine mahogany or rosewood, indigenous to the area, that was carved with detail and mastery, in the shape of a familiar animal or other subject, by a known carver.

Many of the carved figures on the lid are the same as the ones found on the traditional betel nut crushers. There are birds like the rooster which symbolizes new life each dawn, all kinds of animals, fish and reptiles like the lizard which symbolizes agricultural fertility, the gecko which brings luck and the crocodile or alligator which represents force and power.

There were few cupboards or cabinets in typical Lombok village houses, so baskets of all types and sizes were created and are still used for clothing and trinkets. During a wedding, Lontar Boxes are used to transport dowry textiles while ceremonial baskets are used to present cakes or jewelry and precious items, baskets like this one. Some baskets are used for everyday utilitarian purposes such as coffee picking. Baskets are very strong, light and portable. The necessary materials are available from the fields and the forest and they can be worked on whenever there is a bit of spare time

We ship internationally, and we reduce shipping on multiple purchases.

Our prices are very low as we sell mostly wholesale and we go straight to the source to find these treasures, so you are getting the advantage of that saving as well as the advantage of the wholesale price without having to purchase multiples for a little while longer while we are making room.