NATIVE BEADED BASKET(2 pcs) North Sumatra-BATAK people-gold-Amazing !

Description

Up for consideration are 2 beautifully beaded baskets from the highlands of North Sumatra. The Gayo highlands is an area of the Bukit Barisan mountain range that runs along the island of Sumatra. Similar to the Batak people . The Gayo broke away from the Batak , because the Batak are Christian and the Gayo are a form of Islam which includes the belief in good and bad spirits in holy men , both living and dead. They regularly have ritual offerings and sacrifices to the spirits and to holy men and their ancestors. This larger basket is called a wedding basket and offerings of fruit and flowers are carried in it. This is an extremely rare pair of baskets in excellent condition. All the beads are intact. There are stains from the fruit inside. The smaller basket was for gold and tobacco. The beads are sewn and woven in a "peyote stitch pattern" Superb! All intact ! Amazingly the cloth is sewn over the baskets and then gold (foil ? leaf ? ) is laid on the cloth and the beads sewn together in a diamond style pattern. The gold can be seen through and between the beads . How much gold is hard to tell. This is an old ritual basket used for offerings to the spirits and gods. It's difficult to tell , but the beading is great ! This appears to be a matched pair. Age is probably the 1940's to the 1950's.The seed beads are quite small. It must have taken months to make the pair. The gold could be just thin material very difficult to say. The baskets are museum quality. As mentioned the inside has juice stains from fruit and flowers , The outside has some original dirt ( I didn't clean it , but left it in it's original condition. I've had it for 20 years. Although this is called a wedding basket , it was probably used for religious rituals. Offerings to the spirits. A superb example ! The natural smudge on the side can probably be cleaned with warm soapy water and a sponge. I like to keep things... natural as found so new custodians can do as they wish . The large basket is 5 inches high (not including the handle ) 10 inches wide........The second basket is 9 inches long, 6 inches wide and 2 inches thick. For a bead collector this is amazing ! These probably took hundreds of hours to make The diagonal bead pattern is super difficult to make. This was probably a special ceremonial set. Possibly fruit and flower offerings in the large basket with tobacco or betel nut supplies in the smaller one. An amazing beaded set.