This lidded basket made by Sabina Mtetwa with its finely woven intricate design of geometric patterning, seems to fall into the category of those baskets which were made to serve as a ‘wedding basket’. The design adorning the surface depict in symbolic patterns, aspects relating to fertility and femininity. These baskets were apparently presented to prospective grooms filled with home brewed beer, the complexity of the design apparently indicating the manner in which the person who wove with such skill would similarly possess proficiency in other domestic skills.

The fronds of the Ilala palm are still commonly used to weave these fine, water tight vessels, where coils of marsh reeds and grasses are covered by either figure eight or wrapped and stitched Ilala palm fronds. When holding liquid, the material swells, making it watertight and cools the outside, by ‘sweating’ keeping the liquid cool by means of evaporation.

This particular baskets’ displays all the sought after characteristics associated with those of a master weaver. Its firm structure is evidence of the tightness of the weave resulting from the uniform size and thickness of the coils used to shape the overall design and patterning. Individual stitches on the coils are made with small thin strips, with nothing in the construction left to chance. Such a large container needs thicker coils, such as these used here, avoiding any chance of the basket collapsing on itself.

The complex pattern circles the form in a continuous fashion and is repeated evenly with various colour changes. This is an object of beauty which displays great skill and demonstrates how every Zulu basket’s shape, pattern, color, weave and size, is a unique work of art, never repeating itself, even when made by the same weaver.

Items associated with the craft of basketry can truly be referred to as art, while still retaining its utilitarian purpose which can be associated with the widest possible range of activities, touching virtually every domestic, social and religious function.

This basket exemplifies the expertise and ingenuity with which artisans utilised indigenous materials to create articles which are considered as the most collectible that the craft of basketry has to offer on a global scale.