Номер объекта
68/595
Название
Southport boat,
Описание
This basket is a ‘Southport boat’, and was used by the donor for general household purposes, although they were designed originally for marketing butter and eggs. It is a rectangular basket, with a lid, made of buff willow on a frame of ash spelk and with an ash spelk handle. The Southport boat was designed in 1830 by Mr Cobham of Mawdesley and the manufacture was developed by Thomas Cowley, a local basketmaking firm. This one was probably made in the first half of the twentieth century.
Физическое описание
1 basket: buff willow; ash spelk
<DIV STYLE="text-align:Justify;font-family:Georgia;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:16;color:#000000;"><P><SPAN><SPAN>8. <B>Southport boat basket</B><P>This type of basket would originally have been used by farmers when taking their butter and eggs to market for sale. This particular example, however, was used for general household purposes during the first half of the twentieth century. The design of this type of basket dates from the 1830s and was the work of one Mr Cobham. Cobham lived a short distance from the coastal resort of Southport, from where the basket presumably takes its name. Southport boat baskets were produced commercially by the nearby basket making company Thomas Cowley, whose staff made them in a variety of sizes. The basket is made of willow and the handle, ash. There is also an ash band incorporated into the basket's underside to give it greater strength. Part of this band can be seen on the left-hand side of the basket.<P>68/595</SPAN></SPAN></P></DIV>
Архивная история
'This is one of the few baskets to which we can give date and inventor, but because a basket cannot be patented and the design was first-class, the Southport boat has been copied all over the world. Few people today, however, know that it originally had a lid and a band of ash spale running underneath from end to end. // The basket was designed about 1830 by Mr Cobham of Mawdesley, a few miles from Southport in Lancashire. It was taken partly from the Morecambe Bay cockle basket and from other ribbed baskets made by gypsies in the area. The manufacture was developed by a local basketmaking firm, Thomas Cowley, whose men made it in all sizes. The willows were always buffed and there is a tradition that the famous local osier known as Dicky Meadowes, a variety of Salix purpurea, was the only willow that would make it. Since some ‘boats’ were large enough for a child to sit in (for advertisement) this is not likely, but the little willows must have been excellent for the smaller ones, some so tiny that they had to be finished off with a crochet hook. // The handle and the band were made of ash, boiled and then cut thin with a cleaver or billhook. This made the ‘boat’ a great weight-carrier, designed originally for taking butt or eggs to market. // Other baskets made in Mawdesley on the ‘boat’ principle include clothes whiskets, butchers’ baskets, satchel boats and round boats for shopping. The principle itself is peculiar neither to Mawdesley nor to Britain, but there is no doubt that it was never better applied than in Lancashire.’ (Wright, Dorothy. ‘The Complete Book of Basketry’. Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1992. p.120), MERL 'Catalogue of baskets' form – 'NAME: BASKET (SOUTHPORT BOAT) // Acc. No.: 68/595 // Group: MARKETING DAIRY PRODUCE // Neg. no.: 60/13422 // Place of origin: Prob. [Probably] Mawdesley. Given Mrs Bromfield. Edinburgh. // Period in use: First 1/2 20th cent. // DESCRIPTION // Materials: Buff willow. Ash spelk. // Shape and construction: Frame basket. True Southport shape. Spale handle & band end to end. Willow rim & 10 radial stakes. Side randed. Bridge lapped skein. Cover: Frame willow rod. 9 scs. [scalloms] each side. Gap in centre to drop over handle onto bridge. // Dimensions: LB. [length of bottom] 17” WB. [width of bottom] 10 1/2” LT [length of top] 15” WT. [width of top] 10” D. [depth] 8 1/2” // Use: For marketing butter & eggs. Donor used it for general household purposes. // Dialect names: // Distribution: // Additional notes: 22 x 41 x 29 // h [height] x LT [length of top] x WT [width of top] // see S & Prs. [Basketmakers’ Lists of Sizes and Prices of Work] Notts. [Nottinghamshire] 1872. pp.37&38. Unlidded & lidded.'
Дата
1830 - 1968
Наименование
Материал
Техника
Внешняя ссылка
- L:\MERL\Objects\Baskets\68_595_cob.tif - High resolution image
- L:\MERL\Objects\JISC 2012\60 series negatives\60_13422.tif - High resolution image