{{Short description|Container woven of stiff fibres}} {{other uses}} {{More citations needed|date=November 2023}} [[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.]] A '''basket''' is a container that is traditionally constructed from stiff fibers, and can be made from a range of materials, including wood splints, 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== Baskets serve aesthetic as well as utilitarian 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 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 sieves for a variety of purposes, including cooking, processing seeds or grains, tossing gambling pieces, rattles, fans, fish traps, and laundry.
==History== thumb|A young man making a palm basket. Prior to the invention of woven baskets, people used 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 8000 BCE.{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}} Twined baskets date back to 7000 BCE<ref name="hopi" /> in Oasisamerica. Baskets made with interwoven techniques were common at 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 bromeliads 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 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'' may also refer 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 * Metal * Palm * Plastic * Straw * Wicker (traditionally made of willow, rattan, reed, and bamboo) {{Clear}}
== Image gallery == <gallery widths="200" heights="200" class="center" caption="Different baskets"> File:Baskets four styles.jpg|Four styles of baskets File:Straw hats and baskets.jpg|Straw hats and baskets for sale at the Luangwa turn-off on Great East Road, Zambia File:Nootka Makah baskets - Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History - DSC06592.JPG|Nootka Makah baskets File:Seri olla basket 1.JPG|Seri Indian pot-shaped basket from 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:India Victor Grigas 2011-8.jpg|A woman carrying a basket full of vegetables on her head in K R Market, Bangalore, India File:Gullah basket.JPG|Sweetgrass basket made by the Gullah culture of coastal Georgia or South Carolina, US File:Contemporary bamboo baskets of Bangladesh (01).jpg|Contemporary bamboo baskets of Bangladesh File:Ifugao baskets2.jpg|Ifugao baskets in a museum </gallery>
==See also== {{div col|colwidth=30em}} * Basket weaving * ''Canephorae'' * Weaving * Native American basketry * Native American basket weavers * Baleen basketry * Fruits Basket ''Japanese Manga series'' {{div col end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== *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] *Tokari (Bamboo basket): Mad Honey Hunting Tools and Equipments
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Basket}} Category:Baskets Category:8th-millennium BC introductions Category:Containers Category:Domestic implements Category:Food storage containers Category:Food packaging Category:Utility vessels