Context (CMS Context)
See de Souza’s report in UCMAA paper archives for further information about this object and its social context, together with fieldwork photographs relating to the object. The following information is summarized from the report: (bio): Tuning, who made the basket, is a middle-aged woman from Palanan province, one of a group in the Aurora province as Christian missionaries. The basket is not typical of those made by the Agta of Aurora province. De Souza says of the maker: ‘When asked where she learned how to make it, Tuning said it was really in Palanan, with another Agta...this other Agta must have learnt that in one of the handicraft workshops sometimes rpomooted by religious institutions to provide economic alternatives to minorities in the Philipines’. De Souza adds that Tuning’s type of basket ‘has been one of the few Agta handmade products successful among Pute customers, and because of that, other Agta women are trying hard to learn the technique. They are not succeeding though. This basket seems to be particularly difficult to manufacture and, till now, Tuning is the only one who can make it and she has been doing it full time in order to filfull all the orders. It is also the most expensive Agta artifact that I have found’.
Event Date 27/5/2003
Author: maa

Description (CMS Description)
Rectangular basket with lid. The basket is made from cane and stands on a rectangular wooden base, to which the basket is stitched with narrow strips of cane in a darker colour. The basket has two lighter rings of cane, one around the rim and one further down, both attached with narrower strips of darker cane. The basket is also decorated with four bands of darker cane. The lid has a band of lighter cane around the edge, attached with narrower strips of darker cane. It is decorated with a strip of darker cane.
Event Date 27/5/2003
Author: maa