2011/17
This is a rectangular willow basket with a twisted handle made using the stake-and-strand method. It is believed to date from the 1950s. It was used at Warren Farm in Culham, Oxfordshire, for various tasks, such as collecting eggs, gathering fruit and carrying thermos flasks into the fields. The donor, a basketmaker and collector of baskets, acquired the basket for an exhibition about baskets at The Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock in 2006.
Descrizione fisica
1 basket: willow
Storico archivio
MERL ‘Object Accession Form’ – ‘Short description (free text): Rectangular basket used for various farm-based tasks such as collecting eggs, carrying thermos flasks of tea to the fields, and gathering fruit. // … // Physical description (free text): Rectangular basket with handle. Made from willow. Made by stake and strand method. Minor damage to some strands, the ends of which appear to have uneven/broken edges. Slight lip to rim. Corners slightly rounded both at base and on rim. Handle appears semi-circular in profile and is affixed by means of twisting round the rim in cross-form fashion. // … // Associated information (free text): This basket was originally acquired by Felicity Wood in preparation for an exhibition that she guest-curated for The Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock, which was entitled 'Baskets' and ran during 2006. In seeking information for this exhibition she published articles in the local press, such as the 'Oxford Times', to encourage interest and to gather relevant material. In response to her article published in the 'Oxford Times', Felicity was contacted by Mrs Vaughan Haskins of … Oxford … who said that she would like to donate this basket for the exhibition. The basket had previously belonged to her good friend, Jean James, who passed away in 1994 aged 86. Mrs James' family had been farmers at Warren Farm in Culham, Oxfordshire, and first came to the farm in the 1930s. Warren Farm was owned by the Morrel family and was a traditional farm which continued to collect the harvest using horses until the late 1950s or early 1960s and raised black pigs. They carried the milk produced on the farm in buckets on a yoke and used it to churn their own butter (unpasteurised) which they believed gave children greater immunity to disease. On occasions when the Morrels went on a shoot, the pet pheasants were kept hidden and protected in the barn on the farm (see separate sheet for further information from Mrs Vaughan Haskins about Warren Farm)... // References: ''The complete book of baskets and basketry' - Wright, Dorothy (David & Charles, 1992)’Felicity Wood No. 109.
1950s